Turgon

Turgon was a Ñoldor Elf of Gondolin, second son of Fingolfin, brother of Fingon, Aredhel, Argon, and father of Idril. In Middle-earth, Turgon was the King of Gondolin and became the High King of the Ñoldor after the death of his older brother Fingon. For centuries of the late First Age, Turgon remained successfully hidden from Morgoth until a betrayal by Maeglin, one of his subjects, caused its downfall.

Biography

In Eldamar, Turgon was friendly with the sons of Finarfin and opposed Fëanor's plan to pursue Morgoth after the theft of the Silmarils, but eventually he chose to follow them to Middle-earth and became one of the exiles. His wife Elenwë was lost crossing the Helcaraxë, but Turgon and his daughter Idril came to Nevrast, where he built Vinyamar and gathered to him one-third of the Ñoldor of Fingolfin and a large number of Sindar.

In the year 50 of the First Age, Turgon was instructed by Ulmo to prepare a secret kingdom and was shown the hidden Vale of Tumladen in the Encircling Mountains. After 52 years of secret labor, Turgon led his people into Gondolin, where he ruled for over 500 years, largely ignoring the events of the Wars of Beleriand.

About two hundred years after Gondolin was wrought, Turgon's sister Aredhel journeyed to meet with the Sons of Fëanor. She was lost, however, and returned with her son Maeglin a few years later. After the deaths of both Eöl and Aredhel, Turgon took Maeglin under his wing and made him the Lord of the House of the Mole. Maeglin secretly loved Turgon's daughter Idril, who rejected his advances.

Aside from the misadventure of Eöl, the splendor of Turgon's reign in Gondolin was undisturbed until the Dagor Bragollach, when Turgon was brought his father's body by Thorondor. Two years later Thorondor brought him Húrin and Huor, whom he fostered for a year and then allowed to return to Dor-lómin. At this time, Turgon foresaw the doom of the Ñoldor, and he secretly sent mariners to try to obtain the mercy of the Valar. None of these missions was successful and only one of the mariners, Voronwë, survived the Shadowy Seas paving the way for Tuor's coming to Gondolin.

Turgon joined the Union of Maedhros with an army ten thousand strong and fought alongside his brother Fingon in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, but the sacrifice of Húrin, Huor, and the Third House of the Edain enabled him to retreat without revealing the location of Gondolin. When Tuor came to Gondolin in FA 496, Turgon welcomed him, but in his pride, he refused to follow the advice of Ulmo to flee to the Havens of Sirion. The full malice of Morgoth was now directed toward Turgon, the last of the House of Finwë to control a realm in Middle-earth. At last, aided by the treachery of Maeglin, Morgoth discovered the location of Gondolin, and Turgon was slain defending the city.

Etymology

The first element tur of the name Turgon is a Sindarin word for "power, mastery". His father-name was Turukáno, from túrë ("might, power") and káno ("commander").

Character

As King of Gondolin, Turgon was described to be robed "in white with a belt of gold, and a coronet of garnets was upon his head".

He was very much feared by Morgoth, and it is said in Valinor that Morgoth knew that from the House of Turgon would his ruin come. This holds true, as Turgon's grandson Eärendil was the one who indirectly caused his downfall, in the later War of Wrath.

Turgon was the city's only ruler, and as such the title, King of Gondolin, did not pass onto another and remained limited only to him, ending with his death in the Fall of Gondolin.

House of Fingolfin

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