#and kicked sauron out of tol sirion

[shinraelectricpowercom]

So I was looking at a Tolkien Gateway timeline for the Dagor Bragollach (as you do) and there's an event listed from the Grey Annals in HoME 11, which is Celegorm and Curufin coming to Orodreth's rescue during the fall of Tol Sirion. And I was like "what", because that seems weirdly far north for them to be if they were trying to get to Nargothrond. But then I was like "what" because it's super weird for them to have been trying to get to Nargothrond at all, because it's halfway across Beleriand from where they started and hardly even a friendly city to them (Finrod not being among their avowed enemies but frankly seeming to incline closer to Thingol than the house of Feanor in his political leanings)

Anyways, so the Grey Annals entry (with names adjusted for pubSilm compatibility) is:

§153 [Sauron's] hosts broke through and besieged the fortress of [Finrod], Minas-tirith upon Tol Sirion ... and Orodreth the brother of [Finrod] who held it was driven out. There he would have been slain, but Celegorm and Curufin came up with their riders ... and stemmed the tide for a while; and thus Orodreth escaped and came to Nargothrond. Thither also at last before the might of Sauron fled Celegorm and Curufin ... and they were harboured in Nargothrond gratefully

So I propose: Celegorm and Curufin were trying to make it to Barad Eithel by way of the Pass of Sirion (a much nearer and more friendly location for them to seek shelter at; and, having representatives at the High King's fortress would also have been useful for consolidating power in the wake of the Dagor Bragollach, if they were so inclined). But Sauron's forces prevented them from making it past Tol Sirion and turned them to retreat, at which point they probably joined up with Orodreth's also-retreating forces for mutual protection, and since they had just saved Orodreth, he offered them refuge in Nargothrond as repayment for that rescue.

All of which makes their betrayal of Finrod & Orodreth later kicking them out that much messier.

[eilinelsghost]

I would *love* to hear all your petty bitch thoughts about Orodreth 😍

Ha! I wish I had good ones? I really am just the pettiest when it comes to Orodreth.

Mostly it boils down to: Finrod ran that place for like 400 years and things were FINE (always barring that whole Fen of Serech incident and the whole oath-that-might-have-gotten-everyone-killed fiasco). But then Orodreth got the reigns for less than thirty and he built a fucking bridge?! And just...trotted out to go see that dragon in the neighborhood? Buddy. Come on, now. You couldn't hold onto a well-fortified hidden kingdom for three decades? I get losing Tol Sirion when Sauron came knocking (dude is freaky) but Nargothrond?! In less than 30 years?! My dude.

But in honesty, most of my petty bitch-ness around him is more HC than canon. He has always showed up in my head as the most straight-laced of the group. I have absolutely no reason for or way to explain this, but he is the St. John Rivers of the Noldor in my head.

So anyway, HC Orodreth is constantly judgy of all his kin for the whole leaving Valinor thing (despite having also gone along with it if he wasn't born in Beleriand) and can get a bit preachy about it. Also he ends up being rather condescending re how much Finrod brings the Edain in on everything and thinks it would be better if they stayed more aloof. He has some feelings about habits and mannerisms Finrod picks up from his time hanging out with his new friends. (Uncle, this is distinctly undignified behavior.)

But then when a human shows up in Nargothrond on his own watch and is kicking enough orc ass that it makes Orodreth actually look like he's heading up some decent military accomplishments, he lets it go straight to his head and just shrugs at any good advice, including a direct voicemail from the literal Vala who told Finrod to build the damn place in the beginning.

So...yeah. Nothing really of depth, just extremely petty beef with ol' Orodreth in what is probably an entirely unfair way since most of that is just a ton of extra-canonical fluff that popped into my head for no reason while reading the Silm, but is now embedded beyond repair.

I'm so sorry you had to listen to that 😂