#Of the Flight of the Noldor

[musingsinmiddleearth]

It interests that Maedhros alone stood back aside when Fëanor set to burning the ships at Losgar. Ever first in his mind was Fingon the friend he loved, yet in obeisance to his father he said nothing when Fëanor determined to abandon those kindred not of his own house.

Maedhros' heart must have grieved for the distance from his friend, and all the more when Fëanor had little more to say but to call them all needless baggage. And when it was Fingon and only Fingon who came to Maedhros' rescue, I think he would have fallen against his friend and begged amid remorse for forgiveness.

[stellavesperis]

I know fanon (including my conception) has Maglor expanding the Noldolantë to include pretty much all the events of the first age he took part in, but as far as I’m aware, canon only specifies the First Kinslaying.

So if it has to end before, say, the battle of sudden flame, where do you think it ends?

[rptv-tolkien]

The Flight of the Noldor

by Michael Foreman

[headlesssamurai]

‘‘Morgoth could not elude Ungoliant, and her cloud was still about him, and all her eyes were upon him; and they came to those lands that lay north of the Firth of Drengist. Now Morgoth was drawing near to the ruins of Angband, where his great western stronghold had been; and Ungoliant perceived his hope, and knew that here he would seek to escape from her, and she stayed him, demanding that he fulfil his promise.  ‘Blackheart!’ she said. ‘I have done thy bidding. But I hunger still.’  ‘What wouldst thou have more?’ said Morgoth. ‘Dost thou desire all the world for thy belly? I did not vow to give thee that. I am its Lord.’  ‘Not so much,’ said Ungoliant. ‘But thou hast a great treasure from Formenos; I will have all that. Yea, with both hands thou shalt give it.’  Then perforce Morgoth surrendered to her the gems that he bore with him, one by one and grudgingly; and she devoured them, and their beauty perished from the world. Huger and darker yet grew Ungoliant, but her lust was unsated. ‘With one hand thou givest,’ she said; ‘with the left only. Open thy right hand.’  In his right hand Morgoth held close the Silmarils, and though they were locked in a crystal casket, they had begun to burn him, and his hand was clenched in pain; but he would not open it.  ‘Nay!’ he said. ‘Thou hast had thy due. For with my power that I put into thee thy work was accomplished. I need thee no more. These things thou shalt not have, nor see. I name them unto myself for ever.’  But Ungoliant had grown great, and he less by the power that had gone out of him; and she rose against him, and her cloud closed about him, and she enmeshed him in a web of clinging thongs to strangle him. Then Morgoth sent forth a terrible cry, that echoed in the mountains. Therefore that region was called Lammoth; for the echoes of his voice dwelt there ever after, so that any who cried aloud in that land awoke them, and all the waste between the hills and the sea was filled with a clamour as of voices in anguish. The cry of Morgoth in that hour was the greatest and most dreadful that was ever heard in the northern world; the mountains shook, and the earth trembled, and rocks were riven asunder. Deep in forgotten places that cry was heard. Far beneath the ruined halls of Angband, in vaults to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended, Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their Lord; and now swiftly they arose, and passing over Hithlum they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire. With their whips of flame they smote asunder the webs of Ungoliant, and she quailed, and turned to flight, belching black vapours to cover her...’’ 

       ―   J.R.R. Tolkien

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"IN HIS RIGHT HAND MORGOTH HELD CLOSE THE SILMARILS, AND THOUGH THEY WERE LOCKED IN A CRYSTAL CASKET, THEY HAD BEGUN TO BURN HIM."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a Tolkien Legendarium piece titled "Ungoliant Demands the Silmarils," artwork by Ted Nasmith, undated. Gouache on illustration board.

"Blackheart!" she said. "I have done thy bidding. But I hunger still."

"What wouldst thou have more?" said Morgoth. "Dost thou desire all the world for thy belly? I did not vow to give thee that. I am its Lord."

"Not so much," said Ungoliant. "But thou hast a great treasure from Formenos; I will have all that. Yea, with both hands thou shalt give it."

Then perforce Morgoth surrendered to her the gems that he bore with him, one by one and grudgingly; and she devoured them, and their beauty perished from the world. Huger and darker yet grew Ungoliant, but her lust was unsated. "With one hand thou givest," she said; "with the left only. Open thy right hand."

In his right hand Morgoth held close the Silmarils, and though they were locked in a crystal casket, they had begun to burn him, and his hand was clenched in pain; but he would not open it. "Nay!" he said. "Thou hast had thy due. For with my power that I put into thee thy work was accomplished. I need thee no more. These things thou shalt not have, nor see. I name them unto myself for ever."

-- "THE SILMARILLION," Chapter 9, "Of the Flight of the Noldor," written by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sources: www.tednasmith.com/tolkien/ungoliant-demands-the-silmarils & Reddit.

[musingsinmiddleearth]

A Maedhros who watched his father call the friend he loved needless baggage.

A Maedhros whose father, according to authorial commentary by Tolkien, was not merely scornful and overproud in the moments leading up to the ship-burning, but was in fact explosively wrathful and maniacally driven.

A Maedhros who alone of his siblings was not caught away in the heady high of chaos and abandonment.

A Maedhros, by all accounts the most reflective and internal of the sons of Fëanor, who was grieving and fearing and probably entirely overwhelmed in that moment and the moments after.

Maedhros was a victim of his father. If the ship-burning alone had been the only time he saw Fëanor in that state, that alone still would’ve been traumatising. But it was not the only time; not even close.

Having Thoughts about a Maedhros who sailed with his father with the assumption they were returning for the rest of the hosts and then realizing they weren't and then the ships were on fire and all he could think about was Fingon on the other shore

[maironsmaid]

Y'all need to see this omfg this is so good holy shit I'm so normal about this

[dfwbwfbbwfbwf]

The Noldor needed to return to Middle Earth.

This is a long one, so I put it under a Read More thing.

I was looking into the Doom of the Noldor, and why the Valar weren't interested in going after Morgoth after he murdered a guy, and I came across the rather reasonable argument that the Valar could only defeat Morgoth after he put a great deal of his influence into Arda, kind of like a giant One Ring, which would weaken him. Which is all fine and good, I guess.

(Not sure why they couldn't just do what they did in the War of the Powers and evacuate everyone out of Beleriand before sending Tulkas in, as that would be far more responsible than what they actually ended up doing, but I digress.)

So that's it then. The Valar plan to just sit around Valinor, chilling, while Morgoth essentially runs around Beleriand with a can of gasoline and a match. And, based off what I've read, it sounds like they were really just kind of doing nothing until Eärendil and Elwing showed up to buy protection. Or it does take three years to sail from southwest Beleriand to the Bay of Eldamar. (It took Eärendil eight total, and four of them were after Elwing showed up, and it is a long journey; there's a reason the Noldor went as far north as they could in Aman before attempting to sail.)

Here's a map for reference. Credit to Karen Wynn Fonstadt. The Helcaraxë is so tiny!

Anyway, I'm going to give those who stayed in Valinor the benefit of the doubt and assume they spent 5 and a half centuries preparing for war.

(Even though the Noldor were plenty ready for it when they left, considering they annihilated Morgoth's army. Yeah, Fëanor died, but who could expect fire demons of nightmares to show up randomly?)

Sorry. I keep getting into tangents. The Valinorians prepare, get a signal from ... something, and sail across Belaegar to destroy Morgoth and save the Men, Elves, and Dwarves. Happy ever after, and the Flight of the Noldor was completely useless and pointless.

Except it wasn't.

Sure, most of that plan would've still worked as intended, except for the "save Men, Elves, and Dwarves" part. Beleriand would have been an utter wasteland by the time they got there without the Noldor's intervention. Morgoth might have conquered even more. Imagine if he got to Cuiviénen, the far south of Harad, even Hildórien.

"That's impossible, dfwbwfbbwfbwf. Even Morgoth couldn't have mustered up the strength to do that."

But is it impossible? Who would have been there to stop him?

Círdan's Falathrim were nearly exterminated, saved only due to Fëanor's intervention. Denethor died because Fëanor was too late. (By how much, it's unclear, but it happened the same Valerian Year, so maybe a few Sun Years. If Olwë had helped, and Uinen not slowed the Noldor, and Ulmo provided a way across, perhaps Denethor would have lived. But I suppose we'll never know.) Melian guarded Doriath with her Girdle, but Þingollo never sent anyone out to engage with Morgoth; he couldn't, because Doriath didn't stand a snowball's chance in Mordor. What Sindar and Nandor were trapped outside the Girdle were certainly no match for Morgoth's forces. I wouldn't be surprised if Morgoth conquered the entire continent (again, save Doriath, but Doriath is about as concerning to him as a mosquito bite) before Iþil rose for the first time. After all, it took him about 19-20 years to take over half the land, and he had about 27 to take the other half.

I don't imagine Morgoth would go after the Khazad, and I don't see the Khazad going after Morgoth. They'd close their doors to all, and Morgoth wouldn't have to worry about them.

Morgoth would still venture east and corrupt the newly awoken Men, and I think some would repent and travel west to become the Edain, but they would either remain in Middle Earth, or be destroyed and/or corrupted upon reaching Beleriand. There would be no Finrod to greet them, no Dorthonion or Brethil or Dor-Lómin for them to settle and thrive in. There would be no Beren, Dior, Elwing. There would be no Hador, Galdor, Huor, Tuor, Eärendil. No Elrond or Elros.

Morgoth would continue south and east. The Nandor and Avari would likely fall - I think the Silvans would be destroyed or subjugated first, as they probably have a smaller population. And with each civilization Morgoth conquers, he has more potential orcs.

I do think Morgoth would still develop his dragons. He's a reptile dad imo.

By the time the Valinorians arrive in this timeline, there's nothing TO save. Even if they manage to defeat Morgoth, it would take longer. More lives lost. More land sunk.

Do I think the Noldor were the only reason this didn't happen? No, but they were a very big one. Their first attack in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath decimated Morgoth's army, something that took him four and a half centuries to build up enough to fight with again. They guarded Beleriand against the northern menace. They made the continent a safe place for Elf, Man, and Dwarf to thrive, something the "King of Beleriand" couldn't accomplish, and the "King of Elves" Ingwë and "King of Arda" Manwë refused to try.

Do I think the original argument of the Valar waging a war of attrition against Morgoth makes sense? Yes. Do I think their plan would have worked? Depends how you define "worked" - they would have defeated Morgoth, but the cost would be too great. This is why Fëanáro was born: to save Beleriand. And even though he was only on the continent for a short time, he did just that. The Valar should have helped him, but they were, at best, foolish, at worst cowards.

Remember to thank a Fëanárion for your existence today.

... No one is going to read this, and if you did, you're insane. But I guess I'm insane for writing it. Have a cookie and milk. 🍪🥛

[wanderer-clarisse]

Ambarussa for day 6 of @feanorianweek!

[eri-pl]

Yesterday I was checking how the Noldor sailed and there's a wonderful paragraph there. It basically goes like: "Ossë didn't attack the Noldor despite his love for the Teleri, because the Valar had said to not interfere with them." And then, after one or it two sentences, "Uinen made some storms and drowned some ships". (Sorry, it's from memory, but this general meaning.)

Which means it basically went something like this:

Ossë: They killed my friends!

Uinen: What are we going to do about it?

Ossë (who is still on probation I guess): Nothing. There Valar forbade us from doing anything. *sniff* Hey, where are you going?

Uinen: ...shopping.

*a few storms later*

Uinen: ... So, my lord, Ossë didn't do anything. And I'm... Well, I'm not sorry, but I'm ready to take whatever punishment you see fit.

Ulmo: You are on clam duty. Both.

Seriously, Tolkien had so many hidden gems. Yeah Ossë couldn't do anything because of course everybody listens to the Valar, well, except Uinen in the very next sentence, she didn't care.

[edennill]

Thinking about Fëanor's speech in Tirion and I'm coming to the conclusion that there must have been huge tension coupled with uncertainty of what comes now in the city up until that moment.

What has just happened is an event of catastrophic proportions, the world they know has just shattered, and it doesn't seem as if there was any organised effort among the elves to even asses the damage, let alone pick up the pieces. They are kingless, they are leaderless, no one has told them what to do. The Valar are convening, but they don't know that, or if they do it isn't helpful for the general mood, because waiting is the hardest thing of all. And then Fëanor appears and takes control of all that energy, and that makes history.

[musingsinmiddleearth]

In the Annals of Aman as published in Morgoth's Ring it is said that Fëanor was in truth exceedingly the more filled with "insane pride and fury" during the burning at Losgar than is presented in the Quenta Silmarillion.

It explains Maedhros' choice of inaction. Not merely was it the obeying of his father to whom he is loyal, but also the fear of a son before a raging father. The fear of one who, though adult, feels as if aged only five in the face of their father, whose fury has sent him to red-flush and speak-spittle, and hasty action. Fëanor must have been terrifying.

It's little wonder Maedhros could only step back in the face of... that. Especially when his six siblings joined his father in their recklessness and fire of wrath.

[shiroandblack]

I recently watched a rendition of Fëanor's speech to the Noldor on TikTok and I gotta say, hearing it spoken gives it so much more power than just reading it.

While reading the Silmarillion I've always thought that it was a very charismatic speech, even if Fëanor is basically asking his people to leave the only home they've known to literally fight a god. Tolkien wrote an absolute banger of a speech where just reading it already has me going "yeah, yeah that makes sense I get why the Noldor would up and leave after hearing this".

But hearing it being spoken and not only read as part of an audiobook, but actually spoken by a voice actor in an interpretation of how Fëanor would've spoken it really gave it a lot more depth that I wasn't expecting. It was very rousing, it's like your mind was silenced and all you can do is hang onto Fëanor's every word. By the time the voice actor finished the speech, I was ready to pack my bags, cross the ocean to a place I've never been to, and potentially die fighting a god. While my brain still paused at the subtle hints of manipulation (because that speech was manipulative to a degree. But I think that deserves its own post), it was mostly overridden by the 'fuck yeah let's do this' mentality.

The people who stayed back (before the Kinslaying of Alqualondë) during the Flight of the Noldor after hearing that speech are the real deal. It honestly takes strength to not get dragged in by the roaring emotions.

[that-angry-noldo]

today on "sad about finarfin" series: everyone expected him to return, but he didn't expect everyone to go on

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

What if there were elves that left for middle earth from valinor before the flight of the noldor?

You know the short story “the ones who walk away from omelas”?

Basically, valinor is perfect, except when it’s not. And while most elves are willing to bend to the valar for protection, a few of them will not.

They don’t leave with fanfair. They don’t announce their escape.

But every now and then, you’ll notice that an elf has gone away.

They walk out of the door one night and board a small ship. And they sail away to find a better place. Or go back home to the land in which they were made.

And then over half the noldor make a big deal about fleeing valinor and those elves go “jesus christ, guys, we made sure to leave without causing a ruckus for the sole purpose of not getting ‘punished’ by the valar”

[eccentricmya]

Prompt: The viewpoint of a Noldo on the ships while Uinen’s tears make the sea rougher

Anon! Thank you for this most inspiring prompt! 🤍💛

I've decided to explore this as diary entries for @silmarillionepistolary week! There will be one entry for each day. Hope you like it ^^

Chapters: 1/7 Warnings: Major Character Death Characters: Original Characters, Uinen (Tolkien) Additional Tags: Epistolary, Flight of the Noldor, Psychological Horror

Summary: Some snippets from the journal of Almalindë during the flight of the Noldor on the stolen ships.