Quenta 20 — Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
Chapter 20 of the Quenta Silmarillion
Summary
In the fifth year of the great alliance, Maedhros devised the Union of the Elves and Men to smite Morgoth at once, gathering the hosts of Fingon and Húrin and Huor in the west and his own strength in the east beneath the mountains. Turgon, against his own loosing of the hidden city, brought forth the hosts of Gondolin and struck a blow so great that even the servants of Angband wavered. But at the height of the battle the Easterlings of Ulfang turned traitor and fell upon their allies, and the hopes of the Union were undone in treachery and bitter slaughter. In the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Fingon fell beneath the circle of Balrogs with Gothmog, and Huor was slain, and the Orcs and wolves glutted themselves upon the field. Húrin, holding the rearguard, was at last taken alive and dragged in chains to Angband, there to be mocked and ensnared for many years. The orcs drove the survivors into the mountains, and the name of the battle passed into lament; the power of the Noldor was broken, and only the hidden glimmer of Gondolin still shone against the dark.