My Reflection of Dagor Bragollach
I find myself reflecting on the choices I have made and the chains that still bind me—chains of both iron and oath. After my humiliation upon Thangorodrim, I thought that maybe my suffering had tempered me, but the truth is, the oath my brothers and I swore to reclaim the Silmarils drives me still, even when wisdom tells me that the path forward will bring nothing but destruction. The core moment that causes me to stir in the middle of the night is the Dagor Bragollach , the Battle of Sudden Flame. In an instant, the long Siege of Angband was crushed, and the hopes of the Noldor crumbled. The fire of Morgoth swept across Beleriand, and my people were forced to retreat, scattered and leaderless. I had thought it possible to contain our foes. For a time, perhaps we even did. Yet as the flames consumed our defenses, the bitter truth set in. We had only delayed the inevitable. Just the thought of that makes me want to retch. I fear above all the dishonor of abandoning our oath, for ...