Argon
Arakáno; the third son of Fingolfin; the first slain of the house
Name and Position
Argon — the third son of Fingolfin and Anairë, the youngest of that house (the first-born of the third — the brother of Fingon and Turgon). His father-name was Arakáno (“noble chief”); in the genealogies of the Quenta he is a shadow-name, and to the history he contributes a single, terrible moment.
The Death at Lammoth
At the terrible crossing of the Helcaraxë and the entry into Middle-earth — when the moon first rose and the Noldor came upon the northern shore — they were attacked in the dark (the orcs of Morgoth at the place called Lammoth). In the “first battle of the wars” — Argon, “had engaged… he fell at the head of a band, fighting” — the Quenta of the 1950s (printed in The Peoples of Middle-earth): — the eldest — he died in battle against the orcs at the first onset of the Noldor in Middle-earth, before any of the great wars were begun. His death is the first blood of his house in the dark.
Significance
Argon’s brief life and death are a tacit comment on the price of the Exile: even the unnamed son of the king pays the crossing’s first toll, and — Tolkien added him late (per The Peoples of Middle-earth) to give Fingolfin’s house a third son whose death foreshadows the greater deaths: the House of Fingolfin is thereby “the house of the three pierced” — the images of Fingon and Fingolfin are joined by Argon’s.