Maedhros

Lineage and youth

Maedhros was the eldest of the seven sons of Fëanor and Nerdanel, named Nelyafinwë by his father and Maitimo, the well-shaped, by his mother; his copper-red hair, inherited from Nerdanel's kin, earned him the nickname Russandol. He was the tallest of the sons of Finwë's line and the most like his mother in judgement. In Tirion he was a friend of his cousin Fingon, son of Fingolfin, a friendship that would outlast the feud of their fathers. He swore the Oath of Fëanor with his brothers in the darkness after the death of the Trees and shared in the Kinslaying at Alqualondë.

Losgar and Thangorodrim

When Fëanor resolved to burn the stolen ships at Losgar rather than send them back for Fingolfin, Maedhros alone stood apart and took no hand in it; he had expected to return for Fingon. After Fëanor's death in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath, Morgoth sent an offer of parley, and Maedhros, though he suspected treachery, went to meet the envoys with a force of his own. Morgoth's force was larger and included Balrogs; Maedhros's companions were slain and he was taken alive. Morgoth hung him by the right wrist from a cliff of Thangorodrim and offered to release him only if the Noldor departed Beleriand. His brothers, bound by the Oath and knowing the offer for a lie, refused.

Fingon, arriving with Fingolfin's host across the Ice, resolved to end the hatred between the two hosts of the Noldor. He went alone into the mountains of Morgoth, found Maedhros by singing a song of Valinor that Maedhros answered, and, unable to reach him, prayed to Manwë. Thorondor came, carried Fingon up to the cliff, and since the shackle could not be broken, Fingon cut off Maedhros's hand above the wrist and the Eagle bore them both away. Maedhros recovered in Mithrim, and learned to wield his sword with his left hand more deadly than before.

The kingship ceded

Maedhros's first act on his recovery was to beg Fingolfin's pardon for the desertion at Losgar and to renounce the kingship of the Noldor, which passed to Fingolfin as eldest surviving son of Finwë. Not all his brothers agreed, but Maedhros held them to it, and he took his house away from the Fingolfinians to the east of Beleriand, where their quarrelsome tempers would do the least harm. He fortified the hill of Himring, the Ever-cold, and the lands from there to the Gelion became the March of Maedhros, the eastern anchor of the Siege. His brothers held the lands south and east of him: Maglor in the gap that bore his name, Celegorm and Curufin in Himlad, Caranthir in Thargelion, Amrod and Amras in the south.

The Siege and the Bragollach

Maedhros fought in the Dagor Aglareb in F.A. 60 and held the March through the long Siege that followed. When the Dagor Bragollach broke the Siege in 455, Himring alone of the eastern fortresses stood: Maglor's Gap was overrun and Maglor fled to Himring, Celegorm and Curufin were driven west to Nargothrond, and Caranthir and the twins fell back south to Amon Ereb. Maedhros held the hill against everything Morgoth sent, and afterwards retook the Pass of Aglon. He was joined there by the Men of Bór, who remained faithful, and by those of Ulfang, who did not.

The Union of Maedhros

The deeds of Beren and Lúthien showed Maedhros that Morgoth was not invincible, and he set about building an alliance of all the enemies of Angband. The Union of Maedhros gathered the Noldor of Himring and Hithlum, the Edain of the three houses, the Dwarves of Belegost, the Easterlings, and a company from Nargothrond; but the deeds of Celegorm and Curufin kept Thingol and Orodreth from sending more than token forces. In F.A. 472 Maedhros's eastern host was to draw Morgoth's army onto the plain while Fingon's host struck from the west. The plan miscarried: Maedhros was delayed by the treachery of Ulfang, Fingon attacked too early, and when Maedhros at last came the Easterlings of Ulfang turned on him. The Nirnaeth Arnoediad ended in ruin. Maedhros and the surviving brothers were cut off and fled east with a remnant, and the Dwarves of Belegost covered the retreat. From then on the sons of Fëanor were a wandering people in the woods of Ossiriand and about Amon Ereb.

The Second and Third Kinslayings

When the Silmaril came to Dior in Doriath, the Oath woke in the brothers. Maedhros sent to demand the jewel; Dior did not answer; and in the depth of winter in F.A. 506 the sons of Fëanor attacked Menegroth. Dior and his wife Nimloth were slain, but so were Celegorm, Curufin and Caranthir, and the Silmaril escaped with Elwing. Maedhros grieved for Dior's small sons, abandoned in the forest by Celegorm's servants, and searched long for them in vain.

Years later, when the Silmaril was at the Mouths of Sirion, Maedhros held back for a long time, sickened by the Oath; but it would not let him rest. In 538 the surviving brothers fell on the Havens. Amrod and Amras were killed, Elwing cast herself into the Sea with the jewel, and Maedhros and Maglor took Elwing's young sons Elrond and Elros. Maglor fostered them, and Maedhros grew to love them too.

The end

After the War of Wrath, the two remaining Silmarils were held by Eönwë. Maedhros and Maglor sent to claim them; Eönwë refused, saying their right had been forfeited by their deeds, and bade them come to Valinor for judgement. Maglor wished to submit. Maedhros could not; the Oath bound him and he feared the Everlasting Dark more than the Valar. The two brothers crept into Eönwë's camp at night, killed the guards, and took a Silmaril each. Eönwë let them go. But the jewels burned their hands unbearably, and Maedhros understood at last that his right was gone and the Oath was void. In torment he cast himself with his Silmaril into a chasm of fire, and the jewel passed into the depths of the earth.

Legacy

Maedhros was the best of the sons of Fëanor and the most tragic: the peacemaker who yielded a crown, the captain who nearly won the war, and the kinslayer who could not stop. His friendship with Fingon healed the Noldor once; his Oath destroyed Doriath and the Havens. His fosterling Elrond carried the memory of him into the Third Age.

Cast himself with a Silmaril into a fiery chasm after the War of Wrath, unable to bear either the jewel's burning or the Oath.