[ Daily Tolkien ] The Captains Crazy of Middle-earth

Suite 101 ^ | July 28, 2000 | Michael Martinez

[JameRetief]

The Captains Crazy of Middle-earth

I caught part of a promo on the History Channel recently for a series called "Military Blunders". It sounded interesting but as much channel surfing as I do, I don't watch much television. Nonetheless, being a student of history, I'm familiar with many wartime blunders, such as when General Lee's battle plans ended up wrapped around a bundle of cigars that a Yankee soldier found. Or when General Gates took his Continental soldiers up against the British in an open battle and got his pants blown off by the world's best soldiers.

Well, if real history is filled with military blunders, what about Tolkien's pseudo-history? He seems to throw everything else into the pot. Blunders should occur on both sides, and we know when the bad guys get whooped because the Dunedain and the Elves make a big fuss over it all. But what about when the Elves and the Dunedain get whooped. Is it because they are overmatched or because someone made a BIG mistake?

The first serious setback for the Elves in their wars would be Feanor's ill-fated pursuit of Morgoth's army after the battle of the Noldorin camp in Mithrim, Dagor-nuin-Giliath. The Orcs outnumbered the Noldor and took them by surprise, yet the Elves reacted swiftly and drove the Orcs back, killing many of them. Any historian knows that once an army is set to route its fate is all but sealed. Soldiers who are fleeing the enemy aren't defending themselves from attack, and whole armies have been slaughtered once they were routed.

Noneheless, the army which attacked the Noldor was only one of several. Two other armies had attacked Beleriand, and these one was destroyed by the Sindar of Doriath and Ossiriand while the other had driven Cirdan back to his two cities, Brithombar and Eglarest. This second force abandoned the sieges and moved north to the Vale of Sirion. A considerable amount of time must have passed -- the equivalent of days, at least -- so one must assume that after their initial assault had failed the northern army had in fact retreated in some orderly fashion.

The fighting moved up into the mountains and the Noldor pursued the Orcs down into the plain of Ard-galen. The Orcs, however, were simply not up to Elf-slaughtering standards. They retreated and retreated. The southern army (two armies, actually) came up the river but Celegorm bushwhacked them, attacking their flank from the hills. An army on the march is not an easy thing to maneuver into battle. Caesar reports being attacked by Gauls while his army was on the march and he had a difficult time pulling his troops together. As soon as he took control over one part of the battle another part of his army threatened to collapse. Robert E. Lee ended up fighting a running battle while retreating from Maryland.

Dagor-nuin-Giliath lasted for ten days, according to The Silmarillion. Near the end of the battle Feanor pulled ahead of his main army. He was probably riding with a company of Elven cavalry, and when the Orcs noticed there was only a small Elvish force following them they turned around, reformed, and counter-attacked. No matter how good his warriors were, Feanor was hopelessly outnumbered, and he was mortally wounded after all his companions had fallen. Of course, Balrogs took part in the battle, and it may be that their presence was the deciding factor.

One wonders if Feanor would have had an opportunity to fall back and rejoin his main army. If he wasn't expecting a counter-attack, he may have been surrounded with no hope of cutting his way through the enemy lines. But he was arrogant, and "nothing did he know of Angband or the great strength of defence that Morgoth had so swiftly prepared; but even had he known it would not have deterred him, for he was fey, consumed by the flame of his own wrath."

Feanor may have been a great scholar and craftsman, but he was no general, and his tactics show that. In fact, his headlong charge into the enemy is slightly reminiscent of the youthful Alexander who was only barely restrained from making a similar suicidal charge into an enemy army by his generals. Alexander listened to reason and lived to ride again on other days.

But the Noldor were only just beginning to learn the ways of war. So Feanor's headlong pursuit may not count as a true military blunder. We can't say he should have known better. He had neither a professional army nor adequate intelligence about the enemy, let alone any training or experience in war. His only previous battle experience had been at Alqualonde, where he knew the enemy (the Teleri) and the terrain, and he had the advantage of numbers (the Noldor were the most numerous Elven-folk in Aman).

Fingolfin proved to be a better general than his brother, and probably a great part of that leadership was due to the fact that he led his people across the Helcaraxe. Although the main body of the Noldor-in-Exile were not yet an army, either, they had to work together to survive, and moving a nation around the map is very much like moving an army. So Fingolfin reached Middle-earth with greater experience in leading and managing a large body of people. He had also had plenty of time (the equivalent of many years) to reflect on the disastrous battle at Alqualonde, and on his brother's wild quest for revenge, and so would have become more clear-headed about matters.

In fact, it was the equivalent of many years after Dagor-nuin-Giliath when Fingolfin's people arrived in Mithrim. By that time, Feanor was dead and his sons had also been defeated by Morgoth. After their father died Maedhros and his brothers agreed to meet with Morgoth's servants. But neither side was faithful in its agreement and both brought more warriors than agreed to. Once again, Morgoth had the greater force, and all of Maedhros' companions were killed. One can only imagine how many hundreds or thousands of Noldor had died in the battles at Alqualonde, Dagor-nuin-Giliath, and Maedhros' ill-fated meeting. The Feanorians were probably too weak to mount any offensive campaigns, and this would explain their prudence in withdrawing to Mithrim and building a fortified camp there.

While Maedhros was held prisoner by Morgoth the two groups of Noldorin exiles avoided each other, but they both seem to have made contact with the Sindar of Mithrim. It would have been through the Sindar that they heard of each other. Fingolfin marched on Angband but he went in full daylight and apparently warned of what he would find. It helped that Morgoth's forces (what was left of them) retreated to Angband with the rising of the sun.

Fingolfin returned to Mithrim, but he ignored the Feanorians and they ignored him, and both groups stayed in their fortified camps. The Noldor must have spent this time reassessing their situation, training themselves for war, and figuring out a long-term strategy. For Caranthir and his brothers there were few if any options. They simply had too few people to mount an offensive campaign. Fingolfin, on the other hand, still commanded many Elves.

In time the rift between the two groups was partially healed, and the Feanorians migrated to east Beleriand where they established the March of Maedhros, a large and powerful kingdom though its population would have consisted mostly of Sindar who accepted Maedhros as their lord. Fingolfin remained in Mithrim and he established the Kingdom of Hithlum. The long-term strategy that he probably devised was to surround Angband on three sides, and to this end the sons of Finarfin established themselves in the Vale of Sirion and the northern heights of Dorthonion.

The Siege of Angband thus established lasted for about 450 years. Finrod eventually extended his kingdom south to include much of west Beleriand, and his kingdom became the largest in all Beleriand. But the principal fighting was handled by Hithlum, whose cavalry became legendary. They established strong patrols over Ard-galen, the plain between Angband and Hithlum and Dorthonion.

Morgoth eventually broke the siege in the Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame. He sent rivers of fire out to engulf Ard-galen, and Hithlum's cavalry was caught by surprise. A great part of Hithlum's standing army seems to have perished in the initial onslaught. By this time, however, the Edain had entered Beleriand and many Marachians had settled in Hithlum. The Beorians had established themselves in Dorthonion, but they and the Noldor under Angrod and Aegnor were unable to withstand the assault from Angband.

Angrod and Aegnor both fell in battle, along with Bregolas the lord of the Beorians. Finrod rushed north to help but he arrived too late and was defeated in battle. Barahir brought the only help left, a part of the Beorian army, and extricated Finrod from the battle, but the Elven king forsook the north and fled back to Nargothrond. The Sindar in Dorthonion and the March of Maedhros either fled to Doriath or east over the Ered Luin to Eriador. Barahir had no one left but a remnant of his people. Most of the surviving Beorians fled west to Dor-lomin in Hithlum.

Why did Barahir stay in Dorthonion? His love of his homeland was great, but he ended up getting all his men slaughtered. However few were left to him, he still had a small army or large company, and he fought a slow retreating battle until things became so desperate that his wife Emeldir gathered up all the women and children and took them south over the Mountains of Horror. Emeldir was remembered proudly for that decision, but it is fair to ask if she didn't disapprove of Barahir's stubborness. What was the point of staying in Dorthonion? He had no hope of recovering what had been lost, and he didn't have the men he needed to mount any real campaign against Morgoth. Barahir's single-minded devotion to the homeland was thus nearly as suicidal as Feanor's pursuit of the Orcs into Ard-galen.

Westward in Hithlum the war hadn't gone so badly. Hithlum no longer had the cavalry it needed to drive Morgoth's armies back, but the fortresses in the mountains withstood all assaults, and doubtless the influx of Beorians helped keep the battlements manned, even if most of their warriors were either dead or staying with Barahir. And the Marachians, led by Hador, were both numerous and indomitable in battle.

So, when the main thrust of the battle had died down, and it was clear that Dorthonion had been lost and the March of Maedhros at least partially overrun, Hithlum must have looked like a lonely island in a stormy sea of foes. And unlike when the Noldor first arrived in Middle-earth, the enemy forces were wary and well aware of whom they faced. Looking out upon the charred plain of Ard-galen (now called Anfauglith), Fingolfin must have felt a deeper despair than anything he could have experienced in Aman when he realized Feanor had left him to face whatever doom the Valar had in mind for the Noldor.

Part of Fingolfin's problem may have been the fact that nothing had been heard of from Turgon for centuries. When Dorthonion was falling Turgon had not arrived with help. So Fingolfin didn't know where his younger son was, or even if Turgon was still alive. The Elves of Nevrast had simply vanished 350 years before, and even Finrod, Turgon's closest friend, knew nothing about the hidden city of Gondolin.

So Fingolfin's decision to rush out to Angband and challenge Morgoth to single combat doesn't necessarily qualify as a blunder. He was desperate, perhaps, but I think he was also moved by the very real fear that his people were threatened with extinction. A large part of Finrod's realm had been lost, and with it many Men and Elves. Nargothrond might still exist, but its northern marches were now home to enemy armies. It was only a matter of time before those armies began the crushing march toward Finrod. And once Finrod was gone, Hithlum would be cut off from all but the Falas. If the Falas went, Hithlum would be surrounded by enemies on three sides with the sea at its back.

Yet the charge across Anfauglith is portrayed as anything but a coldly calculated risk. Fingolfin was in a rage so great he seemed to reveal the power of a Vala. People thought he looked like Orome galloping toward Angband. The action was therefore neither born of desperation nor a cunning gambit. Fingolfin simply lost it, like Feanor before him. He challenged Morgoth to single combat and induced him by slurs and insults to come forth, but once Morgoth showed up -- a giant clad in black armor -- Fingolfin must have realized he was in for it. What was the point, except to get an early trip back to Aman?

Fingon proved to be less of a leader than his father. He tried to move the Noldor and Sindar to some action against Angband but no one other than Cirdan listened to him. Nonetheless, after Beren and Luthien retrieved a Silmaril from Angband, Maedhros realized that Morgoth could possibly still be beaten (in terms that he, an Elf, understood -- in fact, Morgoth could never have been defeated by the Elves, because he would only just raise new forces to replace those he lost).

When Maedhros formed his Union Fingon joined gladly for friendship's sake and because he, too, believed Angband could be defeated once and for all (or at least that the Siege could be restored). Although Tolkien says that Maehdros struck too soon, taking back lands which had been lost, and thus alerting Morgoth to the impending counter-assault, it seems that the Elves' strategy was in fact to draw Morgoth out into the open again. Not Morgoth personally, but the main part of his armies.

When the Elves fought the Orcs and other evil creatures on open ground, the Elves tended to win. And now Maedhros was counting on the support of the Dwarves as well as the Edain, and he had recruited yet more tribes of Men from the east. Despite the major defeats and losses nearly 20 years before, Maedhros probably had more soldiers in his Union than had fought in the Dagor Bragollach. The allies had time to call up forces, stockpile resources, and build up their armies. So even Nargothrond's refusal to aid in the war (because of the ill will between Orodreth, Finrod's successor, and the Feanorians) had little effect on the full course of Maedhros' plan. He really had the troops he needed to achieve his goal: the destruction of Morgoth's power to make war.

The day of judgement finally came, and Fingon assembled his armies on the eastern slopes of the Ered Wethrin, the mountains between Hithlum and Anfauglith. There stood the flower of Noldorin soldiery, and beside them were the Edain -- even the Men of Brethil had sent as large a force as they could muster to the battle. And Cirdan had come north with his mariners, and the Sindar of Hithlum marched with Fingon's people. The hills must have been overflowing with Fingon's troops.

In the distant east Maedhros' battle plan went awry from the start. The sons of Ulfang were secretly in league with Morgoth, and they delayed Maedhros' arrival. This delay gave Morgoth's captain time to draw Fingon out of the hills, and he did so by cruelly torturing and murdering a captured Elven lord, Gelmor. Gelmir's brother Gwindor, the only lord from Nargothrond who had joined Fingon's army, saw his brother's death, and he charged out to exact revenge.

The rest of Maedhros' battle plan therefore fell apart, and as Fingon saw the small company of Nargothrondic Elves move out to engage the enemy he knew he would either have to join them or watch them get slaughtered. It would be unimaginable for him to abandon an ally, and so he led his army out. The only good news of the day had been the arrival, before the onset of battle, of Turgon with an army of Elven warriors from the south. But there was no time for a reunion of brothers. Gwindor's frenzied flight prevented their meeting.

Turgon's army held back when Fingon's army attacked, and the Elves moved forward and crushed the first of Morgoth's armies. But Gwindor rode all the way to Angband, and forgetting the order of battle and Maedhros' grand design Fingon followed after him in a desperate hope, perhaps, of rescuing or at least reinforcing the Nargothrondians. Gwindor's company entered Angband and they were all lost. But then Morgoth's main army marched out to battle, and Fingon's troops were driven back. This was on the fourth day of battle, and by now Fingon and Turgon's forces were scattered across the landscape. There was no order of battle, no coordination, and no sign of Maedhros.

But when Fingon had also lost nearly all the Men of Brethil, and his army was surrounded by Morgoth's forces, Turgon moved north. On the fifth day Turgon broke the Orcish battle line from the south and he was reunited with Fingon. Maedhros' army now appeared in the east, and Morgoth had been waiting for his arrival. The last of Angband's forces issued out, and these included the Balrogs and Glaurung leading the dragons beside many lesser creatures. The new attack drove the Elven forces apart, and Maedhros though aided by Men and Dwarves could not approach Fingon's army.

Ulfang, leader of the faithless Easterlings, had dropped behind Maedhros' army, and now he attacked the rear. The Noldor were taken completely by surprise and Ulfang almost reached Maedhros himself. Some of the Easterlings remained faithful, but these Men, the Folk of Bor, were either too few or not warlike enough to overcome Ulfang's men, who were reinforced by yet more Easterlings who came up. Ulfang and his brothers perished, but their treachery achieved Morgoth's goal. They prevented Maedhros from mounting a counter-attack against Glaurung and the dragons.

Glaurung was in fact wounded in the battle, and he withdrew. He attacked the Dwarves of Belegost and slew their king, Azaghal, who in turn wounded the dragon seriously. When they saw Glaurung withdraw, the other dragons withdrew as well, and the Dwarves alone achieved any significant gain in the battle. They at least prevented the dragons from destroying the last remnants of Elves and Men. But by this time they were alone on the field. Maedhros' and his supporters had been driven away, and most of Maedhros' soldiers lay dead or dying on the field. So the Dwarves picked up the body of Azaghal and marched away, and Morgoth's soldiers left them alone.

With Maedhros' army destroyed, all Morgoth's troops now concentrated on Fingon and Turgon's armies. Hurin and the Edain were pushed south with Turgon's army, and Fingon was left alone. If Cirdan himself fought in the battle he, too, must have been driven back -- or had been left to command the rearguard. For he survived the day and withdrew to the Falas. Turgon, too, withdrew, protected by Hurin's Men, who seeing no hope of returning to Hithlum held out in the Fen of Serech for as long as possible, until they were all slain and Hurin himself taken prisoner.

Fingon's army withered away about him, and he was chased down by Gothmog and the Balrogs, who slew the Elvenking after his personal guard had all fallen. The greater part of the Noldorin soldiers died on that day. A few escaped the slaughter to wander lost and alone through Beleriand, forsaken and homeless.

If Fingon had held back, and sacrificed Gwindor's company, he might have been tainted by a great shame, but he would also have stood a better chance of winning the battle. Maedhros would still have been late, and perhaps would have been caught alone in the open desert and destroyed. But Maedhros' army was destroyed anyway, and if Fingon would have held back he would have kept Hithlum free for at least a while longer, and the Edain would not have been slaughtered needlessly alongside the Elves of Hithlum.

A little more than 20 years later Hurin's son Turin found himself in Nargothrond, and there he was welcomed in part because he had arrived with Gwindor, who alone had survived the assault on Angband, and had finally escaped thralldom. Gwindor's folly continued to mount, however. He introduced Turin to Orodreth and Turin subsequently rose high in the king's favor, eventually gaining enough respect and prestige among the Elves that Gwindor's admonitions against going to open battle against Morgoth were overruled.

Nargothrond took the field, and its army must have seemed very powerful. But they had no allies. Cirdan's people had fallen or fled south to the Isle of Balar, and though Turin had been fostered by king Thingol of Doriath the Sindar did not march to war with Orodreth. And the Men of Brethil were too few to send any forces out again. So in time Glaurung came south and he helped destroy Nargothrond. Gwindor and Orodreth both died, and Turin was caught in the dragon's spell.

Turin was a great warrior but never a great captain. With Beleg Cuthalion he had led a small band of outlaws in the lands between Doriath and Nargothrond, but in time the outlaws were betrayed and destroyed. And Turin's arrogance in taking the open field brought ruin to Nargothrond. He ended up in Brethil and by now had learned his lesson, but too late to benefit from it. The Men of Brethil accepted Turin but pressured him to help them fight the Orcs, and when he revealed himself Glaurung came looking for him. And Turin slew the dragon, only to learn at the end the awful truth of the spell Glaurung had laid upon him and his sister.

In all the great disasters the leaders of the Elves and Men follow the path of rage and vengeance, and time and again they pay a high toll in suffering and sacrifice, and bit-by-bit the Noldor and Edain are worn down and all but destroyed. There is a primitive elegance in the modes of warfare exhibited by the ancient Noldor. They don't invest in complex battlefield tactics, and their strategies if long-term are simple. They do not weigh the advantages and disadvantages of potential actions.

But part of the reason for the simplistic warfare of the Elves must be the brutally straight-forward tactics employed by Morgoth. His strategies were sophisticated -- more sophisticated than those of the Noldor. He practiced a patient game of divide-and-conquer, first testing the Elves' defenses and refining his tools, then driving a wedge between the three most powerful kingdoms. And finally laying a massive trap which ensnared the two largest Elven armies in the field, destroying them both along with their Mannish allies.

The March of Maedhros was a feudal kingdom. It was able to recover quickly from setbacks because the Feanorians could withdraw from one part of their realm into another or take refuge elsewhere, thus maintaining the core of their forces. But Hithlum was a powerful and centrally governed nation, united in leadership and purpose. Fingon's leadership on the field was unquestionably good, as he had long been his father's greatest captain. But his strategic leadership was weak and ineffectual, and he allowed himself to be drawn straight into the jaws of Morgoth's schemes.

When Hithlum was destroyed all of West Beleriand lay open to Morgoth. Nargothrond withdrew its forces from the open field, and when it did risk a standard battle it found it could not withstand the overwhelming force Morgoth had left to him.

There remained Turgon, who did not succumb to rage but who nonetheless settled upon folly. Warned by Ulmo well in advance that Gondolin's time had come to an end, he chose to ignore the hint and stayed in his hidden city. Turgon could have restored the hopes of the Noldor by taking his people south beyond the reach of Morgoth's army. But then, that would only have prolonged the inevitable. The true hope of the Noldor lay in Aman, not in their tactics and strategies. Even if they could have matched the sophistication of Morgoth's strategies, they still lacked the sheer numbers and power they would have required to actually defeat Morgoth himself.

Author: Michael Martinez
Published on: July 28, 2000
Michael Martinez is the author of Visualizing Middle-earth

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The Daily Tolkien articles by various authors	The Tolkien Virgin articles by Mark-Edmond
ARTICLES 01-10	ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 11-20	ARTICLES 11-20
ARTICLES 21-30	21) Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
ARTICLES 31-40	22) Of Turin Turambar
ARTICLES 41-50	23) Of the Ruin of Doriath
51) And Now for the Other Love Story
52) Kryptic Tales of Middle-earth
53) The People of Eriador in the later Third Age
54) The Wild, Wild, Wood-elf West
55) The Middle-earth Mysteries
56) Relations Between the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor
57) Resurrecting Dale, City of A Thousand Untold Stories
58) The Historic Baranduin
59) Kingship in the Westlands of Middle-Earth
60) The Captains Crazy of Middle-earth

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