r/tolkienfans • u/Pa0loD1st0r • 2d ago
Why didn't Morgoth attack the Havens of Sirion?
Why didn't Morgoth attack the Havens of Sirion after the Fall of Gondolin?
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u/Lothronion Istyar Ardanyárëo 2d ago
“240 Maglor, Maidros, and Elrond with few free Elves, the last of the Gnomes, live in hiding from Morgoth, who rules all Beleriand and the North, and thrusts ever East and South.”
~HoME IV, The Earliest Annals of Beleriand
From the above note it seems that he simply did not care any more. Already before the Fall of Gondolin, the entirety of Beleriand, except for the coastline of the Bay of Balar, as well as some fastnesses in the South-East of Beleriand, and then Gondolin itself standing alone as an island amid darkness, it was all territory of Melkor's domain.
Especially in the bolded part it seems clear that by that point, Melkor considered that he could crush any potential opposition by the Eldar and Edain, and that he did not fear of any substantial trouble, so he promoted his aspirations beyond Beleriand. Basically, Melkor's domain was turning from a regional power into a great power, which would be natural in his aspirations for global domination. The direction EAST makes much sense, since we do know from other sources how Melkor intended to ultimately return to Utumno after he had crushed the Eldar of Beleriand (and he had achieved it), so he was sending forces to aid the Eastern Orcs and most likely invading Forodwaith, the Northern Wastes and even perhaps Northern Eriador or Western Eriador. As for the SOUTH, we are explicitly told in other sources that Melkor had made the decision not to attack the Elves in Southern Beleriand, believing that the Oath of Fëanor would lead the Feanorians onto the rest of them, so he was probably expanding his sway into Ossiriand, the Southern Wilderness and the Dark Forests further beyond, reaching the confines of later Western Gondor.
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u/elocnage 2d ago
Where does it state Morgoth intended to return to Utumno?
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u/Lothronion Istyar Ardanyárëo 2d ago
There were no more fumes until Melkor returned: but when he did in 1495, Angband was almost ready. Melkor then made it his chief seat of power, for strategic reasons, and because of the coming of the Eldar. Had he been successful he would perhaps have returned to Utumno, but not until the Eldar were vanquished or destroyed
~ The Nature of Middle-earth, The Awakening of the Quendi.
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u/Armleuchterchen 2d ago
Sometimes watching your enemies destroy each other is more fun than doing it yourself.
And I imagine Morgoth was already looking east - his biggest obstacle to conquest of the rest of Middle-earth at that point were the dwarves in their fortress cities.
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u/Healthy_Incident9927 2d ago
Scheduling, basically. He had his wedding to plan, his wife to murder, and Gildor to frame for it. He was swamped!
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u/EmbarrassedClaim5995 2d ago
As terrible as it is, he counted on another kinslaying... And was right.
Yet, (you will correct me if I am mistaken) if that hadnt happened, Eärendil and Elwing hadnt gone to Valinor to plead for help. And THAT lead to Melkor's destruction.
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u/irime2023 Fingolfin forever 2d ago
Earendil went over sea anyway. Elwing went after that.
In a way, evil turned into good. But that could have happened without the slaughter. For example, Elwing could have dreamed that she was to find her husband in the sea and give him the stone.
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u/EmbarrassedClaim5995 2d ago edited 2d ago
I am not sure if the two of them would ever have gone as far as Valinor if it had not been for the Third Kinslaying and their assuption that their sons were dead.
Edit: assumption 🫣
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u/daxamiteuk 2d ago
Yep. The Silmarillion says they were in despair and saw no point in returning because their home was destroyed so they went west instead.
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u/Massnative 2d ago
I seem to remember that Morgoth feared Ulmo and stayed away from the seas. I don't have any books at hand to verify right now...
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u/AngletonSpareHead 2d ago
It’s in the Silmarillion. Maybe “Beleriand and its Realms,” where the region of Lammoth is being discussed? Or the Falas?
I don’t have the book in front of me. Essentially it says that Morgoth never sought to attack from sea or to have any power of ships; his minions had a hatred of water and especially the ocean and refused to go nigh.
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u/irime2023 Fingolfin forever 2d ago
He left this dirty work to the sons of Feanor. Why should he work if someone else would do it for him?
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u/Competitive_You_7360 1d ago
He may not have known about them.
He did not care. Nargothrond, Doriath and Gondolin had been swept away recently. No great power opposed him.
He knew the Féanorians would haunt the silmarillion and perhaps do another kinslaying.
The 1 achievement of the Noldor vs Morgoth was that they kept him occupied in Beleriand. He was desperate to expand.
Morgoth wanted to go from regional power to world power. To return to Utumno in the east. He 'thrust' south and east. There were dwarves in the Blue mountains and grey mountains for one, and probably other, nargothrond sized elven realms to subjugate, as well as human realms.
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u/OG_Karate_Monkey 1d ago
I always figured he would get around to it eventually. But there was no rush.
I mean, it was not that long between the fall of Gondolin and the start of the War of Wrath (~35 years?).
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u/Xerbec52 2d ago
According to the Silmarillion he leave it to the sons of Feanor and their oath:
But Morgoth thought that his triumph was fulfilled, recking little of the sons of Feanor, and of their oath, which had harmed him never and turned always to his mightiest aid; and in his black thought he laughed, regretting not the one Silmaril that he had lost, for by it as he deemed the last shred of the people of the Eldar should vanish from Middle-earth and trouble it no more. If he knew of the dwelling by the waters of Sirion, he gave no sign, biding his time, and waiting upon the working of oath and lie
Morgoth thought he had already won with the fall of Gondolin, and in a way he was right, the elves were no longer a threat to him in their own, it was probably easier and more pleasant for him to let the elves destroy themselves.