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- Thingol is smart enough not to ask for a Silmaril. Instead, he pulls something of a King Saul and tells Beren he wants him to kill a hundred orcs and bring back proof that he’s done so. He says this is to prove that Beren will be able to protect Luthien. Luthien’s pretty sure he’s really hoping that Beren won’t come back.
- Beren, whose sense of what’s reasonable has become somewhat skewed due to what his life has consisted of so far, is completely fine with this. His only real concern is the proof - he could cut off ears, he supposes, but then they’ll rot. Still. He’s good at killing orcs! He can do this!
- Except he’s in desperate need of supplies, having left Doriath with the bare minimum of what Thingol felt like he could in courtesy give him. He thinks he can make it to Nargothrond, though, and this is a reasonable thing to ask for as a favor, right?
- Finrod is happy to give him all the supplies he could need, but he sees that as hospitality, not repaying the debt. No, he’ll get some men and go with Beren. They might not be able to help him get the count he needs, but they can watch his back, and Finrod’s past ready to make a strike at the enemy again anyway.
- Curufin and Celegorm don’t really get involved. If Finrod wants to go chase some orcs for a few months, that’s his business. They don’t care. They do make a few snide remarks about the situation, but that doesn’t really surprise anyone, least of all anyone who’s related to them.
- Luthien is worried, but Beren has done this sort of thing before, and it’s not as if he’s going up against Morgoth himself. Even if she did go after him, she wouldn’t know where to start; out orc-hunting doesn’t exactly give her a direction to head in.
- So Luthien’s not happy but no one sees the slightest need to lock her up. She doesn’t leave Doriath. Celegorm and Curufin never see her.
- Beren racks up that kill count impressively fast. Finrod and the party of people he brought with him definitely see where all those stories came from, and the lands around Nargothrond are now a lot safer.
- Beren gets his last kill and prepares to head back to Doriath. He offers Finrod his ring back, but Finrod feels incredibly guilty about nearly all of Beren’s people getting wiped out, and he still feels the shadow of doom lurking. He tells Beren to keep it.
- Beren goes back to Thingol with both hands intact and overturns a backpack full of half rotted orc ears at his feet. He invites Thingol to count them.
- (He’s included about a dozen extras, just in case.)
- Thingol is reluctant, but a deal is a deal, and Melian seems to approve, and Luthien is finally smiling again …
- So Beren and Luthien get married.
- The Union of Maedhros takes longer to pull together without the hope the Silmaril represents. In the interim, Luthien and Beren have Dior, who grows faster than an elf would and is now in his adolescence.
- When it does form, Nargothrond is fully committed. Doriath is … less enthusiastic … but with his daughter, son-in-law, and his best warriors all arguing for participation, and with no recent offenses from the sons of Feanor, he gives in and leads his armies from Doriath. He insists on calling it the Union of Fingon, though.
- The Union is stronger than ever, but the question comes: Is it strong enough?
- There are infinite ways the battle could go, losses that could cause fractures in a thousand different ways, victories that could herald a hundred coming shadows, but all outcomes fall into three categories: they lose, they win, or they fight to a stalemate but get the Silmarils.
- Let’s say they win.
- Finrod keeps control of Gwindor, and the line doesn’t break early. Some of the Men are still treacherous, but with greater numbers they overcome this. Luthien faces Sauron on the field, and her song defeats him so thoroughly, he flees wounded. Morgoth is forced to come out himself. He faces the combined songs of Luthien, Daeron, and Maglor, and the swords of Fingon and Maedhros.
- They should not win. They cannot win.
- Then Maglor is wounded in the midst of signing a song of power, and his power, called higher through pain, calls to the piece of his father embedded in the silmarils. They blaze hotter, furious, and Morgoth falters.
- The others leap on the opening.
- And Morgoth … falls.
- It’s just his physical body, of course. They know he’ll form another eventually, but hopefully he’s wounded enough that it’ll take awhile.
- In the meantime, Maedhros grabs hold of that awful crown, and it’s over, it’s done, all around the battlefield his brothers can feel their oath being lifted.
- There’s a huge shockwave when Morgoth falls. A lot of his beasts turn in confusion, and their armies seize hold of the opportunity.
- The day is not without losses. Beren fights a Balrog, and while he is still an impressive warrior, he’s not as young as he used to be, and it’s a Balrog. When Finrod sees him fighting it, he knows Beren needs help, and he goes to fulfill his oath.
- The Balrog falls. Beren lives.
- Finrod doesn’t.
- Beren decimates everything around them that tries to touch the fallen king.
- Azaghal still falls.
- Huan falls taking out the greatest of wolves.
- And there are others. So many others.
- But they’ve won.
- They care for their wounded. They do what they can for their dead. Then they go home triumphant and laugh at the Doom of the Noldor.
- Or. Well. Most of them do.
- “He’s going to come back,” Maedhros says flatly.
- “Of course he is,” Fingon agrees, “but you try telling them that. We’ll stay watchful. At least the Oath’s handled, though. That’s one worry gone.”
- Dior grows up and marries Nimloth. They have three beautiful children. Beren dies shortly after the last of his grandchildren are born. Luthien fades from grief and then talks Mandos into letting her share her husband’s fate.
- Hurin, naturally, wasn’t captured. He goes home to his wife. So does Huor. There are still remnants of Morgoth’s armies hanging around, so it’s not quite a peaceful life, but they’re making progress. Turin grows up protective of his little sister and good friends with his cousin. Both he and Tuor make a name for themselves protecting their lands.
- Tuor is captured by a band of Easterlings. Turin goes after him.
- Unfortunately, Turin is intercepted by a certain dragon.
- Glaurung has no particular idea who Turin is and no real desire to lay any sort of complicated trap. He just wants to eat him.
- Unfortunately for Glaurung, Turin’s as skilled as he would be in a certain other life, and he’s not cursed this go round. Turin wins.
- Unfortunately for Turin, he’s lost his cousin’s trail, and he has responsibilities he can’t abandon any longer. He’s forced to turn back, much against his will.
- Tuor’s a long way from home by the time some elves attack the Easterlings, and he has a chance to fight loose. He does. He has rather a stroke of luck actually - The Easterlings had been sheltering in these ruins and right when he needs a weapon, he sees some of old Elvish make just lying there.
- They defeat the Easterlings. When Voronwe sees just what weapon Tuor picked up, he looks grim and tells the confused Man that they have to go to Gondolin.
- Tuor’s not totally sold on this idea since he’s heard that those who go to Gondolin can never leave if they know the way there, but Voronwe assures him that those rules have been much relaxed since Morgoth’s defeat, and a dream from Ulmo seals the matter.
- They go to Gondolin as Ulmo prophesied with the warning that it will soon fall.
- But the question is - Why?
- Rewind to the last battle. Sauron flees, wounded.
- A few years later, Annatar appears, announcing that the Valar are very pleased by what the Noldor have accomplished and that he has been sent to reward them with great knowledge.
- Fingon is uncertain what to make of this. Maedhros is visiting him at the time, and he’s not uncertain at all. Feanor’s mistrust of the Valar has been passed down to his sons. Maedhros is not at all convinced that Mandos’s reaction to them at least delaying his Doom is pleased.
- Also, something about him feels familiar in a way that makes Maedhros uneasy.
- Annatar thinks about trying Maglor, but Maglor has combined his people with Maedhros’s, so that’s unlikely to work out well. The mostly nomadic Amrod and Amras have little to offer him. He could try Caranthir, but first he tries Nargothrond. The political situation is edgy, and that suits him very well. Orodreth is nominally in charge, but Curufin and Celegorm are far more influential than he is.
- Celegorm follows his brother’s lead. Curufin is not interested in learning from anyone who is not his father.
- Celebrimbor is a bit disappointed, and he’s a bit on edge by the whole situation in Nargothrond, but he still trusts his father. He says nothing.
- Annatar doesn’t even try to get past Melian’s girdle.
- Instead, he seeks out Gondolin.
- He finds it.
- Turgon’s not quite sure what to make of him, but it’s still fairly close to Morgoth’s defeat. He’s not yet as relaxed about Gondolin’s boundaries as he’ll become. He’s in no hurry to rush the Maia out.
- And besides, his nephew is so enjoying learning from him, and the fruits of their collaboration have been quite beneficial.
- Maeglin is just happy to have someone who understands, who doesn’t seem to judge Maeglin for his parentage, who teaches him things about smith work that even his father hadn’t known, who sees the way Maeglin is uncomfortable under the sun at noon and who quietly confesses that, while he’s sure it’s not quite the same, he often has a hard time adjusting to various stimulus when he’s incarnate himself.
- Annatar listens. He doesn’t judge Maeglin for sometimes still missing his father or sometimes feeling a reflexive wariness around his uncle. He doesn’t judge him when his looks linger on Idril too long. Maeglin feels comfortable around him in a way he never has with anyone else.
- And the magic rings they create are fascinating.
- Maybe. Maybe if he makes one incredible enough, Idril will accept it?
- Idril does not accept it. Idril is disgusted by him.
- Annatar finds him and tells him it doesn’t have to be this way. Annatar says he can help him achieve all that he desires. Annatar says -
- Annatar says a bit too much, reveals a bit too much, and Annatar, Maeglin realizes, is Sauron.
- Here’s the thing: Tuor’s not here yet, making Maeglin jealous. Earendil’s not born yet, taking Maeglin’s place in the succession. Maeglin hasn’t been dragged along by orcs for weeks and taken to the embodiment of evil power and been forced to stare into its eyes at the heart of its power.
- Maeglin is afraid, but even in a world where he betrays Gondolin, not even the bitterest of survivors is able to claim he was a coward. Maeglin is hurt and rejected, but he is not yet bitter, and he still wants Idril’s love, not a twisted mockery of it.
- Maeglin will not join Sauron.
- But Maeglin is also clever, and the twisting ways of his father’s forest were the paths he grew up on. He does not tell Annatar what he has realized. He pretends to be comforted, and then he gets to work.
- He forges more rings.
- And he sets them into the hilts of swords.
- Idril grows unsettled. She builds her escape route.
- When he has his weapons and feels he has a prayer of forcing Sauron out of the city, Maeglin tells Turgon all.
- Sauron, betrayed, is forced out.
- He makes the One Ring. He intends to use it to build his strength, take over Gondolin, take the other rings, and use all their strength together to resurrect his master.
- Turgon thinks Maeglin’s rings will be able to defend the city indefinitely. Idril is less sure. Maeglin keeps grimly making more weapons, pouring more and more of himself into them.
- Tuor shows up. His warning is … not ignored, but they don’t leave either. He joins the attempts to prepare the city. He marries Idril. She gets pregnant with Earendil.
- Turgon sends a messenger to High King Fingon.
- Maeglin makes one last ring and puts it on. He sees, then, what Sauron has done.
- And he knows his won’t stand against it.
- He gives all of his work that he can to Idril and warns her. When Sauron’s army comes, she flees with her husband, her son, all the civilians who will follow her, and ten ring forged swords. One for her, one for the High King, one for Doriath, and one for each of the sons of Feanor.
- Turgon and Maeglin still hold one each.
- It’s not enough. The city falls.
- Sauron tries to take Maeglin alive, but Maeglin is fighting on the walls. On a very particular part of the walls that he chose carefully.
- A Maia’s will against an elf’s will prevail nearly every time. But a Maia’s will against a dying curse, a Doom if you will …
- A dragon’s tail flings him off the walls.
- He falls.
- Falls to the rocks below where his father long ago had been felled.
- Glorfindel howls and attacks the dragon.
- The city falls. The survivors flee to Doriath. Thingol is not entirely pleased, but he lets them in and is very pleased to accept the offered sword.
- Little Earendil grows up alongside Elwing. Someday, Idril thinks, they would make a good match.
- Messengers send the swords out to those they should go to. Most of them make it. Some of them don’t.
- Of the twelve swords Maeglin made, Sauron has five.
- Curufin hears the news of who Annatar was and feels vindicated. Celebrimbor hears the news and is horrified. He had been increasingly uncomfortable with Curufin’s growing power in Nargothrond, but clearly, he can’t trust his own judgement. His father is far more likely to know what he’s doing.
- Fingon listens to both of the messengers he receives, and he tries not to show how hard his brother’s death hits him. He accepts his sword dubiously. He looks down at the ring set into the hilt.
- Maedhros, once again visiting his cousin, looks down at his own. He does not look impressed.
- “So what I’m hearing is,” Fingon says to the messenger, “we are once again going to war over jewelry. Magical, powerful jewelry, but jewelry nonetheless.”
- “ … Yes, your majesty?”
- Fingon waits until the messenger is dismissed before he buries his head in his hands. “I hate everything.”
- “Cheer up,” Maedhros says. If Fingon won’t be optimistic, he’ll have to be the cheerful one for once. “At least no one’s sworn any oaths this time.”
- “That we know of. Yet. Maybe this is the real Doom of Mandos. We’ll defeat Morgoth and get our treasure back, we make more treasure, he rises to steal it, and it’ll continue in an endless cycle until we’re all dead.”
- “Fingon.”
- “Oh, alright.” He sighs. “Morgoth hasn’t been resurrected yet. It’s just Sauron this time. How hard could it be?”