# Most Admirable deed in the Silmarillion



## Maedhros (Apr 28, 2002)

What do you think is the most selfless and uninterested deed in the Silmarillion? 
To me it had to be Fingon rescue of Maedhros from Thangorodrim, after Fingolfin host had arrived in ME. He didn't gain anything himself from that deed, such as Luthien did when helping Beren get a silmaril, she loved Beren and being together was her reward. Fingon had no such reward, he did it because his act would pacify the 2 host of the Noldor.
Finrod Felagund aiding Beren was also a great deed, but he had an oath to follow, while Fingon didn't.


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## Turgon (Apr 28, 2002)

There are many admirable deeds in the Silmarillion... so it's quite hard to choose one... I'd probably agree with you on Fingon's rescue of Maedhros... but my own personal choice would be Hurin and Huor holding the Pass of Sirion after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad...


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## chrysophalax (Apr 28, 2002)

As you know, my opinion has been stated in another forum.......


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## Niniel (Apr 29, 2002)

I agree with Maedhros, though Beren and Luthien committed a very great deed as well, and Glorfindel too.


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## Mormegil (Apr 29, 2002)

Yeah, I go with Glorfindel. Singlehandedly taking on a Balrog, facing certain death, in order that Tuor, Idril, etc. can escape and bring hope to ME.


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## ¤-Elessar-¤ (Apr 29, 2002)

I'm going to go with Hurin, a great lord with a wife and a son, slaying the troll guard of Gothmog. And then going to Morgoth, and denying to his face the knowledge of the place of Gondolin, thus keeping the hope of Gondolin alive in the hearts of men and elves for at least a while longer.


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## Camille (Apr 29, 2002)

I think that Hurin and Huor holding the Pass of Sirion to let Turgon escape is the most admirable, Hour was killed and Hurin was take to torment but they sacrifice themselves in order to let one elven city survive.


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## Grond (Apr 29, 2002)

For those who have seen this post before, my sincere apologies... but I consider it my best post ever and like to bring it up from the depths of Angband every now and again. It perfectly illustrates which deed is to me the most admirable and it was performed by the most admirable Elf in the History of Middle-earth. (IMHO) And it is the perfect way for me to go over the top and post #2001. 

_Fingolfin was absolutely the most awesome elf/king/warrior/bad-*** that this hammer has ever seen. Riding up and pounding on the door of Angband itself, screaming for my boss to come out. Man, was Melkor scared that day. He realized that Fin had already come the whole way kickin' butt... no one could stop him. He was hiding under his throne, when he realized everyone was watching him. He pretended he was looking for a penny that he dropped and kind of said "Well, I guess I'll have to go deal with this little interuption." Let me tell you though, he was nearly wettin' his britches. 

Then my master crept up from his pit, where Fingolfin berated him with craven words. Fingolfin's hair billowed in the wind, his sword Ringil glittered as it was drawn, and his blue shield sparkled in the sun. My master struck at him, but he jumped aside... I gouged a huge pit in the earth. Again and again and again, I was wielded and smote into empty earth and each time Fingolfin countered my master's stroke with a wounding strike. Seven times did Melkor strike and miss and seven times Fingolfin countered with a strike that brought black blood from my master. 

At the last, Fingolfin tired and Melkor bore down upon him. My master trapped Fingolfin under his mighty foot and began to crush him. With his last dying strength, Fingolfin hewed at my master and smote him on the foot with Ringil. A gaping wound from which Melkor never recovered. He was wont to limp on that leg ever after. A daily reminder of the truest and greatest Elf lord of all ages of Middle Earth. 

At least that's how I see it... and I was there!_


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## Turgon (Apr 29, 2002)

That's cool Grond!!!
2001 - A Mace Oddity


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## Maedhros (Apr 29, 2002)

> It perfectly illustrates which deed is to me the most admirable and it was performed by the most admirable Elf in the History of Middle-earth.


Grond, this is not the most admirable deed because it comes from despair and not from care as the one of Fingon.


> . Then Fingolfin beheld (as it seemed to him) the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses; and filled with wrath and despair he mounted upon Rochallor his great horse and rode forth alone, and none might restrain him


In the case of Fingon:


> Then Fingon the valiant, son of Fingolfin, resolved to heal the feud that divided the Noldor, before their Enemy should be ready for war; for the earth trembled in the Northlands with the thunder of the forges of Morgoth underground. Long before, in the bliss of Valinor, before Melkor was unchained, or lies came between them, Fingon had been close in friendship with Maedhros; and though he knew not yet that Maedhros had not forgotten him at the burning of the ships, the thought of their ancient friendship stung his heart. Therefore he dared a deed which is Justly renowned among the feats of the princes of the Noldor: alone, and without the counsel of any, he set forth m search of Maedhros


Grond, i have seen this post of yours like 3 times. I have noticed you saying that Feanor going to ME was wrong because of his reasons of: revenge, wrath, etc.; yet when concerning Fingolfin his reason for going against Morgoth was because of wrath and despair. These are not the glorious reasons that should be behind this action.
I will chose Fingon actions because they had a nobler intention that those of his Father.


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## Aldanil (Apr 29, 2002)

Good one, Turgon!

Congratulations, Grond, on your posting up into the third thousand; most impressive!

As for the noblest and most admirable deed of Elf or Man, among so very many heroic possibilities, I would say Finrod Felagund's giving his life to save his friend Beren in the dungeons of Tol-in-Gaurhoth.


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## Mormegil (Apr 29, 2002)

Grond. I must disagree with you.

Fingolfin's actions were courageous, brave, and noble.
But admirable? I don't think so.

I for one do not admire Fingolfin's actions. He walked straight into the jaws of death, to acheive no gain. All his actions did was to deprive the Noldor of a great leader and courageous warrior, it would have been more admirable for Fingolfin to bide his time and solidify the Noldor before leading an attack on Morgoth.

Fingolfin cannot have hoped to destroy Morgoth 1 vs 1. He made a good go of it, but in the end, no Elf can take on a Valar expecting to win. Fingolfin was on a suicide mission, which IMO is not admirable.

Again I will say that I repect Fingolfin for his guts in taking on Morgoth, but I do not find his actions admirable.


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## Beleg Strongbow (Apr 30, 2002)

I was stunned by the admirable and selfless deeds of Finrod and Huan. He died for Beren just because he thought it was his destiny. He was great and without him there would be no beren and the silmaril rescue. I was actually a bit suprised that no one had mentioned this.


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## Maedhros (Apr 30, 2002)

> I was stunned by the admirable and selfless deeds of Finrod and Huan. He died for Beren just because he thought it was his destiny.


Well, Beleg, the deed of Finrod Felagund has been stated by me. The Huan deed was missed by everyone. Curious, i thought you were going to say that it was Beleg actions regarding his friend Turin that you think was the most selfless deed in the Sil.


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## Grond (Apr 30, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Mormegil _
> *Grond. I must disagree with you.
> 
> Fingolfin's actions were courageous, brave, and noble. But admirable? I don't think so.
> ...


Then where does this leave all of us in the great Feanor debate? Feanor is looked up to for daring to risk the wrath of the Valar and daring to pursue Melkor. Fingolfin's act was daring, brave, noble, crazy, foolhardy and idiotic, all at the same time. I also disagree with your statement that he couldn't have hoped to destroy Morgoth. I will ask you why you state this? Morgoth, in his physical form, had only a finite amount of energy to give. He had already used enormous amounts over the millenia in his attempts to remake Middle-earth in his image. Why would Fingolfin had thought that he would have no chance. For a fact, Fingolfin greviously wounded Morgoth and instilled a fear that Morgoth hadn't felt but a few times in his life. 

The act has many descriptions... I just believe that admirable is one of them.


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## Turgon (Apr 30, 2002)

I'm in total agreement with Grond here... Fingolfin's deed was surely admirable... Many heroic acts seem like sucide when viewed in the clear light of reason - that's what makes them heroic.


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## tasar (May 17, 2002)

I think that Luthien and Beren did a very admirable thing when they stole the Silmaril back from Morgoth. Because they didn't do it for the stone, but for their love. Many others were almost obsessed with the Silmarils but they didn't get them, because their hearts were not pure.


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## Tar-Palantir (May 18, 2002)

Boy, this is a tough one! I agree with most of the examples given above, and at first I was going to say Finrod's forfeiting his life for Beren. I love this episode and Finrod's my personal fave of all the Noldor. But, I could play Devil's advocate and say that if Sauron had killed Beren first, he would have killed Finrod anyway. So, Finrod had nothing to lose by trying to save Beren.

Grond, I can think of many words to describe Fingolfin's decision to fight Morgoth (valiant, foolish, etc..), but "selfless" ain't at the top of the list. His actions were born of despair and *not* because his trainer told him he had a good chance to knock out the champ. I'm not saying that he couldn't have beaten Morgoth, but in describing an act as selfless, I think "intent" plays a critical role.

Based on the many excellent arguments given here (and about 30 seconds of deep soul-searching), I'm gonna have to go with Fingon's rescue of Maedhros by a nose over Hurin's and Huor's stand at the Pass. And only because their actions could be described as a battle strategy that *someone* had to do to keep an army off of Turgon's butt. Fingon's deed was done in cold blood and alone with no guarantee that, even if he succeeded, there would be a healing of the rifts among the Noldor.


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## Ithrynluin (May 23, 2002)

I agree with Grond!
Maedhros, you say that Fingolfin did that out of despair, which is not the right reason in your opinion.
I think it is the right reason, as he foresaw that Melkor would never be defeated by any strength of the elves. So why not try a simple one-on-one? And it almost worked.


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## Elu Thingol (Jun 21, 2002)

I think Fingolfin achieved much



> Morgoth went ever halt of one foot after that day, and the pain of his wounds could not be healed.



Morgoth had to go without a foot forever


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## Gil-Galad (Jun 23, 2002)

I think Hurin and Huor holding the Pass of Sirion is most admirable deed too.They do that for elf,for Turgon and sucrifice theirselves.I think that if weren they,Gondolin would be destroyed earlier and all good creatures wouldn't wait till Valar coming and The War of Wrath.


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## Confusticated (Sep 18, 2002)

Alright I'm bringing this bad boy back up to the front...following the example of Analagon's Melkor thread and the rivival of the Greatest man thread. Lets get some more action in the Silmarillion section! Enough to make "Stuff and bother" and "The pracing pony" seem to lul...

Okay, I hadn't read the Silmarillion yet when this thread was active so here's my opnions.

The first to come to mind is Fingon



> _ Posted by Maedhros_
> *Grond, this is not the most admirable deed because it comes from despair and not from care as the one of Fingon.*



I agree with that about Fingolfin.

and also this...



> _ Posted by Camille_
> *I think that Hurin and Huor holding the Pass of Sirion to let Turgon escape is the most admirable, Hour was killed and Hurin was take to torment but they sacrifice themselves in order to let one elven city survive.*



What Glorfindel did was also great. I also think that what Finrod did was great but as someone pointed out he would have been next in line anyhow...So I will not say that it was the most admirable deed, but it is still up there. Him keeping his vow and going with Beren in the first place was admirable though.
The parts of Fingon and Finrod most effect me while reading the book, so I my judgement may be swayed by that. What Fingolfin did was a great part in the book, but I did not admire it.
Another admirable deed was Beleg's rescue of Turin.

What Glorfindel did wasn't among my favorite parts in the book, but with clear judgement I say it was pehaps more admirable than anything else named in this thread.

I'll add that this book is full of admirable deeds and I will be adding to this thread again.


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## Ithrynluin (Sep 18, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Confusticated _
> *Alright I'm bringing this bad boy back up to the front...following the example of Analagon's Melkor thread and the rivival of the Greatest man thread. Lets get some more action in the Silmarillion section! Enough to make "Stuff and bother" and "The pracing pony" seem to lul...
> *



I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that about the Sil section. Right on!


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## Confusticated (Sep 18, 2002)

I forgot to mention Ecthelion........Another poll in the HoME section reminded me of this. This was very admirable, it belongs up there with what Glorfindel did, and maybe even surpasses Glorfindel because of the injuries he had at the time, and the might of the balrog.


(I am merging the above with the below so as not to have a double post)



> _Originally posted by Turgon _
> *I'm in total agreement with Grond here... Fingolfin's deed was surely admirable... Many heroic acts seem like sucide when viewed in the clear light of reason - that's what makes them heroic. *



Let's take Ecthelion for an example. Well, some might say that his was an act of suicide since he didn't have much chance against Gothmog. I agree that he didn't have much chance against it. The difference here is that Ecthelion fought to save others..I beleive (this is more opinion and interpretation than fact though) that Fingolfin went up against Melkor out of despair (as has been mentioned by others) and that he did this because he was angry and wanted revenge. Fingolfin asked for a fight with the most powerful of all evil beings. This in my eyes could only be admirable if I beleived that he did this for the good of everyone or even a few. But I do not beleive that. I beleive he did it for revenge and out of despair. If this had been a planned attempt to rid the world of Melkor, why didnt he do his best to assemble an army to assualt Melkor? He was in despair and acted in haste.


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## gate7ole (Sep 18, 2002)

For a similar matter, I started a poll:
http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6314


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## Elenaelin (Sep 18, 2002)

I'd have to say it was Cuthalion, mainly because he stayed with Turin out of friendship, despite all of Turambar's less than wise choices in life, as well as the fact that Beleg's death was essentially fortold with the presentation of Eol's fell sword that slew so many of it's masters- he knows this weapon will be his death, but he still goes out of love of friendship with Turambar- that's saying a lot!


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## Muffinly (Sep 20, 2002)

I'm in support of Fingolfin as well.


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## Confusticated (Sep 21, 2002)

*Beleg and Fingon it's a tie.*

Alright I've gave more consideration to this question and while I think the actions of Finrod, Glorfindel, and Ectheion were great I will go with...Either Beleg or Fingon because they each went out of their way to save another. Glorfindel and Ecthelion did too in a way, but they had a Balrog placed right infront of them. It was Beleg and Fingon who went forward knowing that they were putting themselves in danger. Finrod did this as well when he set off with Beren, but killing the wolf (as has already been said) he would have been next to die anyhow..so he had nothing to lose.

Beleg and Fingon had the most to lose, and they each did this to save only a single person. Greatest deeds? No. But they are the most admirable. Next is Finrod (for leaving with Beren).

PS: Those they saved would have been first tortured before they died. Those saved by the others would probably have been kill right off.


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## Maedhros (Sep 21, 2002)

> Maedhros, you say that Fingolfin did that out of despair, which is not the right reason in your opinion.
> I think it is the right reason, as he foresaw that Melkor would never be defeated by any strength of the elves. So why not try a simple one-on-one? And it almost worked.


A deed that was born out of despair cannot be compared to one that was born out of love.
I can't believe I just said that.


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## Beleg (May 16, 2003)

A second revival, 

Although it might have been proved by now that technically Fingon's and Beleg's deeds can be accounted as the most admireble, yet i personally think that Hurin and Huor's work at the Last Stand in Nirneath is the most admirble. 
That deed was the High Point of the love and affinity between the Eldar and the Atani, a selfless show of love, affection; and by this dead I think Hurin was successful in preserving the honor of mankind in Arda.


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## Eriol (May 17, 2003)

I guess Finrod's sacrifice at Tol-in-Gaurhoth was also a nice show of affection between races... as well as Barahir's own deed when he saved Finrod... 

I can't think of a ranking. They are all great. (And by the way, Frodo is right there with them among the great deeds, in my view. I know that's not in the Sil, I just want to show that great deeds are... great deeds, and really incomparable.)


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## Lantarion (May 18, 2003)

I agree with Nóm that there are so many valiant deeds in the Silmarillion that they are very difficult to list from 'most admirable' to 'least admirable'. The valar did some pretty admirable stuff: the Two Trees, the Lamps, and the whole of Arda! But that's getting a bit techincal, and as we seem to be discussing the valiant deeds of the Children of Ilúvatar, let's just stay there. 

I agree that Beleg's utter loyalty was definately among the most admirable things. There is very little I could add to this. 
But for some reason I think that the more 'mythological' characters like Beren and Túrin did the most admirable things. Perhaps it's the way their deeds are depicted, but I think that single-handedly killing the most destructive and dangerous dragon in Arda, saving the whole of the people of Haleth, and fighting for decades against the servants of Melkor are the most admirable things that happen in the Silmarillion. Of course, the increidble happenings surrounding Beren and Lúthien are even more so; but I felt that Túrin was more of a 'common man' and a sort of dynamic rebel than Beren, and it is easier for me to relate to him. But Túrin was quite proud, not in the good sense, which brings his points down.. 

Hmm, I'd say either Beren or Túrin, not sure which yet.


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## Ithrynluin (May 18, 2003)

> I guess Finrod's sacrifice at Tol-in-Gaurhoth was also a nice show of affection between races...



Yes, I agree heartily. This would probably be my pick, though others are very admirable also: Beleg sacrificing his life for Turin's sake, Fingon rescuing Maedhros, Fingolfin's desperate attack on Morgoth, Húrin defying Morgoth...etc etc.


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## Inderjit S (May 18, 2003)

The Hadorian sacrifice for Turgon at Serech...amazing


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## Gil-Galad (May 24, 2003)

A long time passed,and I re-read The Sil several times.And I must my opninion has changed.Finrod's action seem to me greatest at the moment.He knew he was doing that not only for a man but also for the love of two young persons.


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