Fingon

Lineage and youth

Fingon was the eldest child of Fingolfin and Anairë, and so the grandson of Finwë and Indis. His siblings were Turgon and Aredhel. In Tirion he was a close friend of his cousin Maedhros, the eldest son of Fëanor, before the feud of their fathers divided the houses. He was brave to the point of rashness and wore his dark hair braided with gold. When the Noldor left Aman he marched with his father's host, and at Alqualondë it was Fingon's company, arriving on the quays to find the Teleri and the Fëanorians fighting, that joined in without knowing the cause and so drew the house of Fingolfin into the Kinslaying.

The rescue of Maedhros

Fingon crossed the Helcaraxë with his father and came into Middle-earth burning against the house of Fëanor for the desertion at Losgar. But when he learned that Maedhros was hanging from a cliff of Thangorodrim, he resolved to end the feud. Alone and telling no one, he went into the mountains of Morgoth, and on the slopes of Thangorodrim he sang a song of Valinor in defiance of the Orcs; Maedhros answered from above. Fingon could not climb to him, and Maedhros begged to be shot; Fingon drew his bow and prayed to Manwë. Thorondor came down, bore Fingon to the cliff, and since the iron band could not be cut, Fingon severed Maedhros's hand at the wrist and the Eagle carried them both away. The deed won Fingon the name of the Valiant and reconciled the two hosts; Maedhros yielded the High Kingship to Fingolfin, and the friendship of the two cousins held for the rest of their lives.

Dor-lómin and the Siege

Fingon held Dor-lómin, the southern part of Hithlum, for his father through the long Siege of Angband. In F.A. 260 Glaurung, the first of the dragons, came out of Angband while still young and not yet full-grown, and the Elves fled before him; Fingon rode against him with mounted archers and drove him back to Angband with arrows, the first defeat of a dragon and a victory that Morgoth had not expected. In F.A. 455 the Dagor Bragollach broke the Siege, and Fingon's forces in Hithlum were assailed from the north; he held the land with the help of a fleet of ships from Círdan that came up the Firth of Drengist behind the enemy.

High King

When Fingolfin fell before the gates of Angband in F.A. 456, Fingon became High King of the Noldor. He sent his young son Gil-galad to the Havens for safety, according to the published Silmarillion, though other accounts make Gil-galad the son of Orodreth. He held Hithlum through the years of the Long Peace's ruin, and when Maedhros proposed a grand alliance against Morgoth, Fingon was its western commander, gathering the Noldor of Hithlum, the Men of Dor-lómin under Húrin and Huor, and the Falathrim of Círdan.

The Nirnaeth Arnoediad

On Midsummer's day of F.A. 472 Fingon's host stood on the western edge of Anfauglith waiting for Maedhros's signal, and was joined unlooked-for by Turgon's ten thousand out of Gondolin. Maedhros was delayed by the treachery of Ulfang, and Morgoth drew Fingon's army out onto the plain by killing a captive, Gwindor's brother, before their eyes. Gwindor charged, the whole host followed, and the western army broke against the gates of Angband and was hurled back. The eastern host came too late and was betrayed. Fingon was surrounded on the field by Balrogs; Gothmog their lord fought him alone while another wrapped him in a whip of fire, and Gothmog cleft his helm with a black axe. His banner was trampled into the mire. The Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, ended the power of the Noldor in the north, and the High Kingship passed to Turgon in hidden Gondolin.

Legacy

Fingon's rescue of Maedhros is the noblest single deed of the Noldor in exile and the moment at which their war became possible. His victory over Glaurung showed that dragons could be met; his death at the Nirnaeth showed what the Oath and treachery cost. Through Gil-galad, if the Silmarillion's account is followed, his line ended with the last High King before Barad-dûr.

Slain by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in F.A. 472.