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Old 05-19-2009, 03:48 PM   #2
Findegil
King's Writer
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Part two of the text:
Quote:
The Death of Fingolfin
§144 It came to pass that news came to Hithlum that Dorthonion was lost and the sons of {Finrod}[Finarfin] overthrown, and that the sons of Fëanor were driven from their lands. RB-DF-01{Then Fingolfin saw that the ruin of the {Gnomes}[Noldor] was at hand, and he was filled with wrath and despair, and a madness came upon him. And he rode alone to the gates of Angband, and he sounded his horn and smote upon the brazen gates and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. }<GA Now Fingolfin, King of the Noldor, beheld (as him seemed) the utter ruin of his people, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses, and he was filled with wrath and despair. ... Thus he came alone to Angband's [brazen ]gate and smote upon it once again, and sounding a challenge upon his silver horn he called Morgoth himself to come forth to combat, crying: 'Come forth, thou coward king, to fight with thine own hand! Den-dweller, wielder of thralls, liar and lurker, foe of {Gods}[Valar] and Elves, come! For I would see thy craven face.'> And Morgoth came. That was the last time in these wars that he passed the doors of his stronghold, and it is said that he took not the challenge willingly; for though his might RB-DF-02 {is}<LQ1 was> greatest of all things in this world, alone of the Valar he RB-DF-03 {knows}<LQ1 knew> fear. ... But Fingolfin RB-DF-04 <GA withstood him> {gleamed}gleaming beneath it like a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, and it glittered like ice, cold and grey and deadly. ...
§147 Thus died Fingolfin, High-king of the {Gnomes}[Noldor], most proud and valiant of the Elven-kings of old. The Orcs make no boast of that duel at the gate; neither do the Elves sing of it, RB-DF-05 {for sorrow; but the tale of it is remembered, for Thorondor, king of eagles, brought the tidings to Gondolin, and to Hithlum. For Morgoth}<LQ1 for their sorrow is too deep. Yet the tale of it is remembered still, for Thorondor, king of eagles, brought the tidings to Gondolin, and to Hithlum afar off. Lo! Morgoth> took the body of the Elven-king and broke it, and would hew it asunder and cast it to his wolves; but Thorondor came hasting from his eyrie among the peaks of {Gochressiel}[Crissaegrim], and he stooped upon Morgoth, and smote his golden beak into his face. ... Morgoth RB-DF-06 {goes ever halt of one foot since that day, and the pain of his wounds cannot}<LQ2 went ever halt of one foot after that day, and the pain of his wounds could not> be healed; and in his face is the scar that Thorondor made.
§148 RB-DF-07 <GA Now Rochallor had stayed beside the king until the end, but the wolves of Angband assailed him, and he escaped from them because of his great swiftness, and ran at last to Hithlum, and broke his heart and died.> There was lamentation in Hithlum when the fall of Fingolfin became known; ... And the Orcs growing ever bolder wandered at will far and wide, coming down Sirion in the West and {Celon}[Limhir] in the East, and they encompassed Doriath; and they harried the lands, so that beast and bird fled before them, and silence and desolation spread steadily from the North. Great numbers of the {Gnomes}[Noldor], and of the Dark-elves, they took captive and led to Angband, and made thralls, forcing them to use their skill and knowledge in the service of Morgoth. ...
§149 Yet Morgoth sent also his spies and emissaries among the Dark-elves and the thrall-{Gnomes}[Noldor], ... and indeed as the times darkened they had a measure of truth, for the hearts and minds of the Elves of Beleriand became clouded with despair and fear. RB-DF-08 {And most the Gnomes feared}<LQ1 And ever the {Gnomes}[Noldor] feared most> the treachery of their own kin, who had been thralls in Angband; ...
RB-DF-09 <GA {but}But {[struck out: still]} Barahir would not retreat and defended still the remant of his land and folk in Dorthonion. But Morgoth hunted down all that there remained of Elves or Men, and he sent Sauron against them; and all the forest of the northward slopes of that land was turned into a region of dread and dark enchantment, so that it was after called Taur-nu-Fuin, the Forest under Nightshade.
§159 At last so desperate was the case of Barahir that Emeldir the Manhearted his wife ... And some were there received into Haleth's folk, and some passed on to {Dorlomin}[Dor-Lómin] and the people of {Galion}[Galdor] Hador's son. ... For these were slain one by one, or fled, until at last only Barahir and Beren his son, and Baragund and Belegund sons of Bregolas, were left, and with them {[eight >]} nine desperate men whose names were long remembered in song: Dagnir and Ragnor, Radhruin and Dairuin and Gildor, Urthel and Arthad and Hathaldir, and Gorlim Unhappy. ... No help came to them and they were hunted as wild beasts.>
Yet RB-DF-10 {Haleth and his men}<LQ2 the People of Haleth>{ remained still free; for they} had been at first untouched by the northern war, since they dwelt to the southward in the woods by Sirion... for after the taking of {Minnastirith}[Minas Tirith] the Orcs came through the western pass, and would maybe have ravaged even unto the mouths of Sirion; but RB-DF-11 {Haleth}[Halmir Lord of the Haladin] sent swift word to Thingol, being friendly with many of the Elves that guarded the borders of Doriath. And Thingol sent Beleg the bowman, chief of his march-wardens, to his aid with many archers RB-DF-12 <GA and great strength of the Eglath armed with axes>; and {Haleth}[Halmir] and Beleg took an Orc-legion at unawares in the forest, and destroyed it; and the advance of the power of Morgoth southward down the course of Sirion was stayed{.}, RB-DF-13 <GA and the Orcs did not dare to cross the {Taiglin}[Taeglin] for many years after.> Thus the folk of Haleth dwelt yet for many years in watchful peace in the forest of Brethil; and behind their guard the kingdom of Nargothrond had respite and mustered anew its strength.
RB-DF-14 §153 It is said that Húrin <GA and Huor> {son}sons of {Gumlin}[Galdor], son of Hador, of Hithlum {was}were with {Haleth}[Halmir] in that battle, and {he was}they were then seventeen[ and thirteen] years of age; and this {was his}were their first deed of arms, but not {his}their last. For {Húrin son}[the sons] of {Gumlin}[Galdor] {was}were fostered for a while in boyhood by {Haleth}[Halmir], according to the custom of Men and Elves in that time. And it is recorded that {in the autumn of the year of Sudden {Fire}[Flame] {Haleth}[Halmir] took Húrin, then newcome from his father's house, and they went hunting} <GA being with a company that was cut off from the rest, they were pursued to the ford of Brithiach; and there they would have been taken or slain, but for the power of Ulmo, which was still strong in Sirion. Therefore a mist arose from the river and hid them from their enemies, and they escaped into Dimbar, and wandered> northward up the vale of Sirion{; and by chance or the will of Ulmo they came upon the secret entrance to the hidden valley of Tumladin, where Gondolin was built}. But they were taken by the {guards}[guard of the eagles], and brought before Turgon; and they looked upon the forbidden city, whereof none of those outside yet knew aught, save Thorondor king of eagles. Turgon welcomed them; for messages and dreams had come to him up Sirion from the sea, from Ulmo, Lord of Waters, warning him of woe to come and foretelling that the aid of mortal men would be necessary, if he would save any of the {Gnomes}[Noldor] from their doom. But Turgon deemed that Gondolin was strong, and the time not ripe for its revealing; and he would not suffer the men to depart. It is said that he had great liking for the boy Húrin, and love was joined to policy; for he desired to keep Húrin at his side in Gondolin. But tidings came of the great battle, and the need of {Gnomes}[Elves] and Men; and {Haleth and }Húrin[ and Hour] besought Turgon for leave to go to the aid of their own folk. Turgon then granted their prayer, but they swore deep oaths to him, and never revealed his secret; and such of the counsels of Turgon as Húrin had learned he kept hidden in his heart. Turgon would not as yet suffer any of his own folk to issue forth to war, and {Haleth and }Húrin[ and Huor] departed from Gondolin alone[ by the way that had come]. But Turgon, rightly deeming that the breaking of the Siege of Angband was the beginning of the downfall of the Noldor, ...
§155 Rumour came to Morgoth of these things, ... Thus Beleriand in the South had a semblance of peace again for a few brief years; but the forges of Angband were full of labour.
TO be continued.
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