Arda Kompendium

Nirnaeth Arnoediad

the Battle of Unnumbered Tears; the ruin of the Union

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The Battle

Nirnaeth Arnoediad — “the Battle of Unnumbered Tears” (the Fifth Great Battle) — was the greatest and most fateful of the wars of Beleriand: the great The Union of Maedhros — the last grand alliance of the Elves (of all the northern houses, with the faithful Edain and even the Dwarves) — marched against Angband in the year 472, resolved to end Morgoth’s power by open war.

The Course and the Ruin

  • The two hosts: The Noldor of the western house under Fingon (High King) and the eastern host under Maedhros were to trap the Enemy between them; the onset was successful — the orc-hosts were driven and the Elves nearly reached the gates of Angband.
  • The betrayal: But the plan was betrayed — the oaths of the Easterlings of Ulfang, who were to hold the flank, were broken in the field; and Morgoth loosed his reserves — the balrogs, and the overwhelming numbers — and “the Union was broken”.
  • The rearguard and the fall: The east was shattered; the west (with Turgon’s Gondolindrim) held long, but Fingon fell — slain by the balrogs (Gothmog in the fullest account) — and the retreat became slaughter. Húrin and Huor, with the rearguard of the House of Hador, held the Fen of Serech until the last were taken; Huor slain, Húrin captive — the seed of the Curse that followed. The remnant (Gondolin’s folk) was saved through the gap Turgon made — at the price of revealing the hidden city.

Consequences

  • The end of the Long Defiance: After the Tears, the Noldor’s great leagues were no more; the lands fell, people were enslaved or fled; the hidden realms stood alone. Morgoth’s “ultimate victory” — the age settled into the long dusk before the War of Wrath.
  • The curse and the tales: The battle’s prisoners and dead (Húrin, Huor’s children) become the raw material of the Children of Húrin; and its memory — “the unnumbered tears” — is the greatest grief the Elves ever sang, “the last of the great battles” — its song is the cry of the North.

Significance

The Nirnaeth is the tragedy’s central battle — the supreme effort that loses everything through treasons and second counsels: the vanishing of the “last alliance” of the Elder Days, the fullest demonstration of the Doom, and the hinge on which the remainder of the age (the autumn of the Noldor) turns.

Verknüpfte Seiten

The Union of MaedhrosFingonHúrinHuorTurgonMaedhrosGothmogEasterlingsBeleriandConcordance — A to ZHaudh-en-NirnaethFen of SerechHithlumAmon ErebIvrinAnfauglithThe Pass of AglonHimringHaudh-en-NdenginGrey AnnalsQuenta 20 — Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth ArnoediadUldorBórUlfangCaranthirGelmirGwindor
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
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