Fingolfin knew he didn't stand a chance but yet made sure to die like a total badass and humiliate Morgoth in front of his own men. What a legend.

This is the most epic scene in all of Tolkiens legendarium

All hail Fingfolfin, mightiest of the elven warriors!

Here in China we name Xi Jinping craven, and lord of slaves. (He too is afraid to leave Zhongnanhai-his Angband.)

There is good reason that this is a favored segment and you give your own fantastic delivery. I know you wish you didn't have to spend so much time with post work, but you really are possibly one of the absolute best of those doing their own work. Your sense of mood and emotion is fantastic. I really love how you put this all in context, the difference between the figures of power, their approach, and the progression of their weaknesses and tactics. It's also a great draw of the not so direct influence that Nordic cultures had on the work. I also really like this as it provides a real layered take on various types of courage shown in different eras/by different peoples. Thanks for yet another amazing entry!

In the great words of Blind Guardian: PRAISE OUR KING!

Fingolfin knew he was eventually going to die in Middle Earth. He simply chose the way he was going to die.

Time Stands Still at the Iron Hill is a great song about this battle.

This series deserves so many more views.:)

Listening to this chapter while cleaning the bathroom is paradoxical but sure provides some needed elbow grease for those pesky places on the toilet. Imagining myself as Finfolfin as I scrub away… Epic

I read Lord of the Rings after I'd already read The Silmarillion, and it wasn't until Eowyn faced The Witch King that I felt the same rush of emotion I felt while reading this. Such amazing prose. Great job, as ever, Dan.

Thank you again for continuing this series ~ I'm really enjoying a lot & learning so much from your videos. Keep up the great work.

This fight is pretty much something out of a souls game, and an epic fight I ever read

You probably won’t see this but thankyou for this series, it gives me a safe escape. Very entertaining

TL;DR - In terms of motive - from what I understand in reading - Feanor basically said "I'm literally cursed by the god of fate to die no better death over this bullshit anyway, and everyone I love is dying, so... screw it." - - - - - - One super-important thing I didn't hear you touch base on in terms of Fingolfin's motive for going absolutely buck-wild on Morgoth himself-personally was the Curse of Mandos. For context, back in the beginning when the Noldor first migrated to Middle-Earth from Aman in pursuit of Morgoth, Feanor didn't want to hike his people across the Helcaraxe (a dangerous arctic landbridge between two continents) so he went to the Teleri (sea elves) to borrow their boats. They said no, he said "lol ok," and started the first instance of elves killing elves in all of existence. Fingolfin's group came up later, saw the conflict and in the confusion, figured Feanor was the one under attack by the Teleri so they joined in. Then Feanor took the ships and burned them when he got to Middle-Earth, ditching Fingolfin and anyone else that was getting cold feet. Fingolfin said "fine, f**k you then" and hiked his people across the ice like a beast. The Valar were extremely upset by this, especially Mandos, who for all intents and purposes is the god of Destiny, Justice and Death. He basically all-chatted the world and let the Noldor know under no uncertain terms that they will never even come close to accomplishing their quest, and they're all gonna stay crying & die trying to kill what is essentially, literally, the god of Evil. Needless to say, Mandos' word is law. So after losing loved one after loved one in the endless pursuit of vengeance against Morgoth, when Fingolfin saw the story playing out wholly and truly as it was foretold in the Doom of Mandos, he hit a point where he was like "screw this. we're all literally cursed to die by Morgoth's hand in pursuit of the oath we swore to take back the silmarils anyways." Definitely let his anger get the better of him, probably not the best call - but imho, probably the only one out of all of the Noldor who actually left a literal dent in Melkor / Morgoth at all in all of history. So you could say he's the only one that got the most mileage out of what little he could, being a Noldor cursed by the Doom of Mandos.

Cheers dan . All hail fingolfin high king of the noldor

Oh man, this is also my favorite part of Silmarillion and wider Tolkien works. I always start to hyperventilate when I try to visualize the passages in my mind. I really like how the duel is analogue to the wider wars of the jewels. The noldor’s and Fingolfin’s desperate and grief filled actions are born our of the evil deeds of Morgoth. Ultimately they stand no chance against the Dark Lord but still perform feats of legend before being ultimately defeated. All the while the Silmarillions hang tauntingly from Morgoth’s crown (quite literally when Fingolfin faces him). And after the noldor have been crushed by Morgoth the Valar (being manifested by the eagles after the duel) show pity on them. Also in my headcanon Ringil was forged by/for Fingolfin as a reminder of the sacrifices and loss of the noldor when crossing the Helcaraxë, hence the name. This would make it very fitting that on his last breath Fingolfin gives Morgoth a taste of the icy pain, him being ultimately responsible for all those that perished during the march.

My guy! Thanks for the video! I absolutely love this series. Keep up the good work!

What would have happened if he ended up killing Morgoth, I wonder

Excellent job!

Great artwork!!!

Please add all of these to your playlist tab in order. It's a struggle to watch in order from the videos tab

Fingolfin: "1v1 me bro!"

One also sees a hint of the Roman devotio in this

I'm gonna get hate for this lol. As cool and thrilling as this one-on-one battle reads in the book, it always struck me as impossible and even silly. I'm supposed to buy that the mightiest of the Ainur, he who had defied the combined might of the Valar for ages, who had driven them into seclusion in Aman, who is even here described as possessing might that "was greatest of things in this world," I'm supposed to believe that this godlike being was nearly defeated by a single elf? I don't care WHO that elf was. I don't even care if much or most of Morgoth's power had already diffused into Arda, leaving Melkor diminished. What Tolkien presents is still a laughably improbable outcome. This scene is perhaps the best representation of the often frustrating contradictions in Tolkien's secondary world. If Morgoth had lost so much of his innate power in the Marring of Arda, why would anyone still follow him? If a single elf could nearly defeat him, why would not Sauron or one of his other powerful underlings simply overthrow him? Hell, one of Melkor's dragons could defeat a single elf, surely such a creature could defeat a withered and degenerated Melkor. It makes no sense internally to the Legendarium and it's never sat well with me.

Greta great video