Chapter 15

Of the Noldor in Beleriand

Turgon was working on his own hidden city, which would become Gondolin. As the builders finished their work and Turgon watched them by the river, Ulmo came to him. "By my power in this river I will protect your city," Ulmo told him, "so no one will be able to find the entrance to Gondolin against your wishes."

"That sounds great. Thanks!" exclaimed Turgon.

"However," Ulmo cautioned, "you are still under Mandos's prophecy that death will follow the Noldor, and I have no power to change this. It may be that treason from within Gondolin will someday cause its fall and put its people in peril."

"Yikes. Isn't there anything I can do to stop that?"

"I have a plan," replied Ulmo. "When it comes time for Gondolin to fall, I'm going to send a messenger to warn you, and from this messenger will come hope to both Elves and Men. In order to make sure you recognize the messenger and know he isn't a fraud, I will have him wear a certain helmet and sword." He described them to Turgon and then returned to the sea.

Turgon secretly moved all his people into Gondolin. They made several lovely things, including pictures of the Two Trees of Valinor, but the fairest thing in the city was Turgon's daughter Idril.

While this was happening, Galadriel was having a chat with Melian in Doriath. They were talking about Valinor, reminiscing about the good old days, but Galadriel kept avoiding the subject of what had happened after the death of the Two Trees. Finally, Melian said, "There is something that troubles you and the other Noldor. I can't see what it is, but why will you not tell me more?"

"It's in the past," said Galadriel. "Can't we enjoy the bliss we have now, in case it too is ended in the future?"

Melian looked into her eyes. "Look, I hate to say this, but I don't believe your story that the Noldor were sent by the Valar to aid the people in Middle-earth. If you were, you surely would have brought a message from either the Valar or Olwe, Thingol's brother. Tell me, Galadriel, why did the Noldor really leave Aman? Does some evil lie on the sons of Feanor?"

"Sort of," said Galadriel. She told Melian about the Silmarils and how Finwe had been slain, but she still left out all mentions of the slaying of the Teleri and the oath of Feanor and his sons.

Melian shared all this news with her husband, and Thingol was saddened, as Finwe had been his good friend. "I suppose we can now trust that the Noldor won't become allies with Morgoth," he said, "seeing what he's done to them."

"Agreed," said Melian, "but I would not be too quick to trust Feanor's sons. Some evil lies over them, and although I cannot perceive for what reason, they are under the Valar's wrath."

"True, I haven't heard many good things about them. But they are enemies of Morgoth, and you know what they say about the enemy of your enemy."

"Still, I perceive that their swords have two edges," Melian said grimly, and they left the matter at that.

Morgoth, of course, decided to take advantage of this situation and leaked the truth (albeit with a healthy dose of embellishment) about the slaying of the Teleri. Thingol, of course, was furious to hear this, so the next time Finrod came to visit, he took him aside and said, "I know the truth of why the Noldor are here. I realize you didn't directly kill the Teleri, but I still can't believe you followed the guys who did. I don't want to banish you since we're related, but I'm at least going to ban your language from being spoken by any of my Sindar Elves." This is the reason why Sindarin is the most popular Elf language by the time of the Lord of the Rings, while the Noldor's language, Quenya, is reduced to the Elvish equivalent of Latin and only spoken by the lords of the Noldor.

While Finrod was feeling depressed at his great-uncle's verdict, Galadriel walked over to him. "Hey brother," she said, "why aren't you married yet?"

Finrod, suddenly reminded that not only was his great-uncle disappointed with him but also that his only girlfriend had stayed in Valinor, replied, "I'm not having any kids and in any case, nothing in my realm will last for any kids to inherit it. I swear this as an oath!"

Why did he randomly swear this? We may never know. But it will have consequences later.