Quenta 15 — Of the Noldor in Beleriand
Chapter 15 of the Quenta Silmarillion
Summary
With the leaguer of Angband drawn tight, the Noldor entered upon the years of the Long Peace, and the chapter follows the settling of their many realms about the north. Fingolfin was high king of the Noldor in Hithlum; his sons held the frontiers, and Finrod made friendship with the Dwarves and founded the hidden halls of Nargothrond. Turgon, being given a vision by Ulmo, sought the hidden vale and dale of Tumladen and raised there in secret the great city of Gondolin, “the hidden city”, built with the toil of his people and hidden from all eyes. The Mereth Aderthad, the Feast of Reuniting, gathered the Noldor, the Sindar, and the Green-elves at the Pools of Ivrin in bond of friendship, though Doriath held aloof under its king. The chapter recounts also the first stirrings of Men along the coasts and the watch kept by the princes, and ends with the strengthening of the union against the day when the shadow should awake.