Middle-Earth Tours

The Prequels Tour

The Elves' Battles with Morgoth
The Nolder who returned to Beleriand fought numerous battles against Morgoth and his armies of orcs, balrogs, and dragons. They won great victories, but they also suffered terrible losses, as illustrated by the scenes below. Final princely tally: Fëanor killed by Gothmog, the Lord of the Balrogs; Fingolfin killed by Morgoth in single combat; Fingon killed by Gothmog; Finrod slain in Sauron's dungeons; Turgon killed in the Fall of Gondolin; and Fëanor's sons slain mostly by other Elves (except for Maedhros, who cast himself into an abyss, and Maglor, who survived...more or less). As for Morgoth, it took Eärendil and the Valar's intervention to finally defeat him.

Maedhros' Rescue from Thangorodrim, by Ted Nasmith		 But Fingon climbed to the foot of the precipice where his kinsman hung, and then could go no further; and he wept when he saw the cruel device of Morgoth. Maedhros, therfore, being in anguish without hope, begged Fingon to shoot him with his bow, and Fingon strung an arrow, and bent his bow. And seeing no better hope he cried to Manwë, saying, 'O King to whom all birds are dear, speed now this feathered shaft, and recall some pity for the Noldor in their need!'
    His prayer was answered swiftly....Now even as Fingon bent his bow, there flew down from the high airs Thorondor, King of Eagles, mightiest of all birds that have ever been, whose outstretched wings spanned thirty fathoms; and staying Fingon's hand he took him up, and bore him to the face of the rock where Maedhros hung. But Fingon could not release the hell-wrought bond upon the wrist, nor sever it, nor draw it from the stone. Again therefore in his pain Maedhros begged that he would slay him; but Fingon cut off his hand above the wrist, and Thorondor bore them back to Mithrim. --The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor"
But Fingolfin and Maedhros...defeated the servants of Morgoth, and pursuing them across Ard-Galen destroyed them utterly, to the least and last, within sight of Angband's gates. That was the third great battle of the Wars of Beleriand, and it was named Dagor Aglareb, the Glorious Battle.
    A victory it was, and yet a warning; and the princes took heed of it, and thereafter drew closer their leaguer, and strenghtened and ordered their watch, setting the Siege of Angband, which lasted wellnigh four hundred years of the Sun. --The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor"
The Siege of Angband, by John Howe

Fingolfin's Challenge to Morgoth,
by John Howe		 Thus [Fingolfin] came alone to Angband's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat....Therefore Morgoth came, climbing slowly from his subterranean throne, and the rumour of his feet was like thunder underground. And he issued forth clad in black armour; and he stood before the King like a tower, iron-crowned, and his vast shield, sable unblazoned, cast a shadow over him like a stormcloud. But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, that glittered like ice. --The Silmarillion, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand"
Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs, high-captain of Angband, was come; and he drove a dark wedge between the Elvenhosts, surrounding King Fingon, and thrusting Turgon and Húrin aside towards the Fen of Serech. Then he turned upon Fingon. That was a grim meeting. At last Fingon stood alone with his guard dead about him; and he fought alone with Gothmog, until another Balrog came behind and cast a thong of fire about him. Then Gothmog hewed him with his black axe, and a white flame sprang up from the helm of Fingon as it was cloven. Thus fell the High King of the Noldor; and they beat him into the dust with their maces, and his banner, blue and silver, they trod in the mire of his blood. --The Silmarillion, "Of the Fifth Battle"

Gothmog was a very busy balrog. Not only was he responsible for Fingon's death, but also Fëanor's. It was Echthelion who killed him at last, during the sack of Gondolin.


Fingon and Gothmog,
by Ted Nasmith
Full-size versions of these pictures are on display at Rolozo Tolkien.