How did he survive?

[Inderjit Sanghera]

Glancing through the ‘Grey Annals’ (HoME 11), I noticed that Maedhros’s capture and hanging by Morgoth lasted for two Valinorean years ( One Valinorean year equates to 9.58 Years of the sun, so two Valinorean years equate to just over 19 Years of the Sun, plus five more years of the sun until Fingon rescued him which altogether equates to about 24 years of the sun. Now I understand that the validity of some of the dates in the ‘Grey Annals’ are void, but even though, at one stage Maedhros was hanging off Thangordrim for 24 odd years! So, how on earth did he survive? I mean Elves like all other beings, have to eat, did Morgoth feed him? To me, this feat rivals eve Hurin’s 26 odd years of being held captive in Angband, as the physical; and emotional pain must have been unbearable.

[Eru]

as with Hurin, I don't think Morgoth would let Maedrhos die.he hung him there in Humiliation. Morgoth was certainly not going to let a son of his most hated enemy (at that time) get away from him in any form. he did not count on the Vala sending forth the Sun and Moon, hence the only reason Fingon was able to rescue him.

what i'm trying to say is that Morgoth would not let maedrhos die.

[Manwe Sulimo]

Cryogenics. An oft-forgotten sentence from The Silmarillion states And he was hung from the peak of Thangorodrim in a plastic pod

Of course, maybe Morgoth just really wanted to get the elves angry, and so left Maehdros out to dry, keeping him well fed. Or maybe a skill of Fëanor's line was the ability to not need nourishment. Lived on rain and the bounty of Eru? Or maybe Morgoth just enchanted him so that he didn't need to eat. We may never know....

[Cúdae]

First: Poor Maedhros.
Second: Morgoth probably would have him humiliated. Humiliation doesn't seem to be something that the Elves relished. Possibly Morgoth kept him alive as both physical and mental torture. The physical torture, of course, would be the obvious hanging from the cliff part. The mental torture, I would assume, would be inflicted by the fact that he was 1)hanging from a cliff, 2)humiliated, 3)without any outside contact, and 4)the belief that everyone who would care enough to rescue him either wouldn't dare the place or thought him quite dead.
I actually have no idea. I'm a little rusty on my knowledge of torture.

[Inderjit Sanghera]

It would've been better for Morgoth if he had killed Maedhros though, since his rescuing by Fingon led to the down griefs between the Feanorian Elves and the hosts of Fingolfin and Finrod.