Fingolfin’s Final Resting Place

[Fingon_Findekáno]

Okay, so I scoured through all 46 pages of the Silmarillion forum and found nothing that addressed this, so here now I feel I must ask my burning question(s):

Following Fingolfin’s death in his battle with Morgoth, why did Thorondor carry his body to Gondolin, rather than bring it back to Hithlum, where Fingon was? I know it would have been more protected in the cairn built for him by Turgon in the mountains of Tumladen, but what was the point? To spare Fingon from having to see the broken body of his father? To show Turgon what had happened, since he kept himself hidden away from the rest of the world?

And to that note, who was it that brought the grim news to Fingon, telling him his father had been slain and that he was now High King of the Noldor? It couldn’t have been one of Turgon’s messengers, could it? And if not, did Thorondor himself become the bearer of bad news to him?

Finally, a little side thought- Whatever happened to Fingolfin’s horse, Rochallor? Last I knew, Fingolfin rode him out to meet Morgoth, but it’s never mentioned if he returned without his rider, or if he was killed, or rescued.

If any of you have any ideas or knowledge in what’s written in the depths of Tolkien’s notes about this, I would appreciate your generosity in sharing it very much!

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

I...I didn't know that

 

[Elthir]

It is told (Quenta Silmarillion) that Thorondor brought tidings to both Gondolin and Hithlum.

It is also told (The Grey Annals) that Rochallor had stayed beside the king to the end, and escaping some wolves from Angband, ran to Hithlum "and broke his heart and died."

🐾

 

[Fingon_Findekáno]

Thank you, Elthir. I must have missed that line in the QS where it says Thorondor brought the news to both Hithlum and Gondolin, but I’m glad he was the one to do it, since he witnessed what happened. I still wonder why he took Fingolfin’s body to Gondolin, though. To imagine Fingon’s grief in watching his father ride off alone to challenge Morgoth, knowing he would probably die in the attempt, and then he eventually is told the grim news by Thorondor. He never sees his father again, and doesn’t even get to have a proper burial for him. All of Hithlum mourns for the death of their king once the word gets out. I would wonder if Thorondor told Fingon where he had taken Fingolfin’s body, but he probably didn’t, since Gondolin was hidden to all outsiders at the time.

I guess one good thing of Fingolfin being buried in Gondolin was that when Hithlum finally fell after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, his body/cairn wasn’t there to be ransacked and destroyed. I wonder if it survived the fall of Gondolin…

Poor Rochallor, to die of heartbreak after returning to Hithlum. I had seen a piece of art before, depicting Fingon mourning over the death of Rochallor, who laid there wounded, but I never knew if that was based on some detail written somewhere in Tolkien’s works. What a faithful horse, though, to remain beside his master until the end.

 

[Finrod_Felagund]

He was a good horse. But on Fingolfin's Cairn, I would think it got destroyed. Morgoth was likely very annoyed with him.

Turgon at Fingolfin’s Cairn

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