He is one of the greatest and most faithful elves of all the first age.
His friendship with the men of Middle-earth would shape much of his life - and his doom.
Today, on Nerd of the Rings we cover the life of Finrod Felagund.
Finrod was born in the Year of the Trees 1300 to his father Finarfin and mother Earwen.
He is the eldest of four children, including his brothers Angrod and Aegnor, and sister
Galadriel - the youngest of the four.
He is born in the elven land of Eldamar in Aman.
This same year, his cousin Turgon is born, who Finrod would grow close with.
When his uncle Feanor leads the Noldor to rebel against the Valar and go into exile,
Finrod is among those who oppose him.
However, he goes with the Noldor in their exile anyway as he wishes to not only remain
with his friends, but he also refuses to leave his people to be ruled by Feanor.
This decision would come at a great personal cost to Finrod.
For Finrod loved the elf maiden Amarie - one of the Vanyar elves - who was not permitted
to follow the Noldor in their exile and instead stays in Valinor.
We know that Finrod and his people do not participate in the kinslaying.
They are travelling up the coast of Araman as Feanor’s followers are sailing away and
Mandos appears, pronouncing the Doom of the Noldor.
In response to this, Finrod’s father Finarfin, forsakes the entire endeavor and returns to
Valinor with many of their people.
However, Finrod, Angrod, Aegnor, and Galadriel - still unwilling to abandon their cousins
- would lead the rest of their people on the long and dangerous march from the lands of
Valinor across the Helcaraxe and into Middle-earth.
The entire larger group is led by Fingolfin - their uncle and the father of Turgon.
Among the possessions Finrod brings with him on this journey are a ring which he wears
and some treasures from Tirion.
Fingolfin leads the group to the very Gates of Angband, he pounds on the gates, but Morgoth
remains hidden inside his fortress.
Realizing they could not defeat the dark lord in this manner, they turn back and come to
the northern shores of Lake Mithrim.
At this time, the Noldor begin establishing their various realms throughout Beleriand.
Finrod travels to the island of Tol Sirion, where he constructs the tower of Minas Tirith.
One day, Finrod is travelling south along the river Sirion with Turgon.
As they camp near the banks of the river, Ulmo comes up the river and puts them in an enchanted sleep.
He tells each to prepare for a day of evil, when Morgoth would burst forth from Angband
and destroy the armies of the North.
He instructs them each to establish a retreat, where the elves may be safe from such an event.
Later, Finrod and Galadriel are guests in the realm of Doriath.
There, they are welcomed by King Thingol and Queen Melian.
'Then Finrod was filled with wonder at the strength and majesty of Menegroth, its treasuries
and armouries and its many-pillared halls of stone; and it came into his heart that
he would build wide halls behind ever-guarded gates in some deep and secret place beneath the hills...
Thingol tells Finrod of a deep gorge at the river Narog and of the caves under the High Faroth.
Finrod, remembering the words of Ulmo, travels to the Caverns of Narog and establishes the stronghold of Nargothrond in 52 FA.
With the help of the dwarves of the Blue Mountains, he builds deep halls and armouries.
In thanking them for their help, Finrod gifts the dwarves with many jewels which originated in Valinor.
The dwarves in turn gift him with the Nauglamir and a new title - “Felagund” meaning “Maker of Caves”.
With his new stronghold completed, Finrod leaves his nephew Orodreth in charge of Minas Tirith.
Meanwhile, Turgon, also heeding the words of Ulmo, would establish the hidden city of
Gondolin not far from Minas Tirith in 116.
Over the coming centuries, as Angband is still under siege by the Noldor, Finrod would journey
in the south of Beleriand.
He became friends with Cirdan, who at this time ruled over the realm of Falas.
Finrod, once again showing his great skill, builds the tower of Barad Nimras overlooking the sea.
After being in Beleriand for around 300 years, Finrod journeys east of Sirion.
He goes hunting with Feanor’s sons Maglor and Maedhros, but soon becomes weary of the
hunt and travels alone toward the Blue Mountains.
He comes to the lands of Thargelion, where he becomes the first of the Noldor to come across men.
These particular men are led by Beor - the namesake for the first of the three houses of the Edain.
He views the men from afar, and he comes to feel love for these strange beings of Middle-earth.
After the group falls asleep, Finrod walks into their encampment and picks up a harp
which Beor had laid aside.
He plays a beautiful music, the likes of which the men had never heard.
Initially believing they are in a dream, the men come to think that they have finally reached
the far West and that Finrod must be one of the Valar.
Finrod stays with the men for quite some time, learning their language and teaching them the Sindarin tongue.
When the green elves of Ossiriand fear the men would destroy their home, Finrod gets
permission from King Thingol and leads Beor and the men to the plains of Estolad, where they could settle.
Beor, however, does not wish to part from his friend, and in 311, chooses to accompany
Finrod back to the realm of Nargothrond, where he serves as his vassal until his death in 355 at the age of 93.
The elves are perplexed by the mortality of their human friend.
“And when he lay dead, of no wound or grief, but stricken by age, the Eldar saw for the
first time the swift waning of the life of Men, and the death of weariness which they
knew not in themselves; and they grieved greatly for the loss of their friends.
But Bëor at the last had relinquished his life willingly and passed in peace; and the
Eldar wondered much at the strange fate of Men, for in all their lore there was no account
of it, and its end was hidden from them.”
The descendents of Beor would eventually migrate to the northern realms of Middle-earth, learning
from and serving with the great lords of the Noldor.
Finrod would develop a friendship with a woman of the House of Beor named Andreth.
In the History of Middle-earth volume 10, Morgoth’s Ring - we find an lengthy and
deep conversation between the two regarding the mortality of men and how elves are bound to the world.
This conversation, which takes place around 409 FA, is a great summary of not only the
nature of the elves lives, but also how men view and feel about death.
It’s a great read and I highly recommend it.
You can see a lot of Andreth’s fears regarding death taken to their extreme later in the
Second Age with the corruption of the Numenoreans.
At the end of their conversation, we discover part of Andreth’s motivation behind feeling
this way about death and the separation of elves and men.
She and Finrod’s brother Aegnor are in love, but as the elves did not marry during times
of war, it was not a consideration for them.
Even then, Andreth’s hair was beginning to gray, and she longed for them to be together.
Finrod would leave Andreth with the parting words regarding her mortality, and alluding
to the Second Music, when the world would be remade and elves and men would be whole once more.
Years later, in 455, Morgoth would launch the Dagor Bragollach, during which both Aegnor
and Angrod are killed and Finrod fights in the Fen of Serech.
During this devastating defeat, Finrod is surrounded by orcs.
As things look bleak for the King of Nargothrond, a group of Men led by Barahir - a descendant
of Beor - come to his aid, saving his life.
In thanks for this great deed, Finrod gifts Barahir with his ring and swears an oath of
friendship to aid in every need of Barahir and his people.
This ring would come to be known as The Ring of Barahir, and would pass through his line
all the way down to Aragorn ages later.
In the aftermath of the Bragollach, Sauron captures Minas Tirith, driving out Orodreth
and renaming it Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
Ten years after the Bragollach, Barahir’s son Beren comes to Nargothrond, seeking the help of the King.
Having been tasked with obtaining a silmaril to win Luthien’s hand, Beren is determined to accomplish the deed.
He reveals the ring to Finrod, reminding the king of his oath to his father.
Finrod agrees to go with Beren in fulfilment of his debt.
However, two of the sons of Feanor - Celegorm and Curufin - persuade the majority of the
elves of Nargothrond to stay behind.
Finrod has just ten warriors who are faithful enough to go with him.
He leaves Orodreth in charge of Nargothrond as his heir and makes his way north with Beren
and the company of elves.
As they come to the Ered Wethrin (Mountains of Shadow) - they come upon a company of orcs
and promptly slay them.
Taking their weapons and gear, Finrod uses his magic to change their physical appearances
to look like orcs themselves.
Sadly, they are caught by Sauron when they attempt to pass the tower without checking in.
They are brought before Sauron and elven King fights the future dark lord with songs of power.
He chanted a song of wizardry, Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying. Then sudden Felagund there swaying Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power, Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape; Of changing and of shifting shape,
Of snares eluded, broken traps, The prison opening, the chain that snaps.
Backwards and forwards swayed their song. Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought, And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words. Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond, The sighing of the sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand, On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
Then the gloom gathered; darkness growing In Valinor, the red blood flowing
Beside the Sea, where the Noldor slew The Foamriders, and stealing drew
Their white ships with their white sails From lamplit havens. The wind wails,
The wolf howls. The ravens flee. The ice mutters in the mouths of the Sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn. Thunder rumbles, the fires burn – And Finrod fell before the throne.
In the end, Sauron’s power is too great.
He strips them of their disguises, but cannot determine their names or their reason for
travelling in the realm.
They all refuse to tell Sauron anything, and one by one, the elves are killed by werewolves
in the dungeons of Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
Finally, when only Finrod and Beren remain, a werewolf lunges at Beren, but in that moment
Finrod uses all his power to break his bonds.
He wrestles with the werewolf of Sauron and kills it with his bare hands.
Finrod having saved Beren from the werewolf, fulfills his oath to the line of Barahir.
Mortally wounded from the fight, he dies in the tower he had built 400 years earlier.
Luthien and Huan would come to Beren’s rescue - driving Sauron away and laying waste to
the walls of Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
As with all elves, his spirit in death travels to the Halls of Mandos, but in The Silmarillion
we are told what happens to his body...
They buried the body of Felagund upon the hill-top of his own isle, and it was clean
again; and the green grave of Finrod Finarfin's son, fairest of all the princes of the Elves,
remained inviolate, until the land was changed and broken, and foundered under destroying seas.
...But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.
Due to Finrod’s noble actions during his life in Beleriand - and his reluctance to
join the exile of the Noldor - he is reincarnated by the Valar after a short time in the Halls of Mandos.
We are told that Finrod now dwells with Amarie in the land of Valinor.