Timeline Event
Noldor reach the Helcaraxë
Event Type: Cultural/Social
Age: Time of the Trees
Year: 1497
Description:
The Noldor reach the ice bridge between Aman and Middle-earth:
[After Finarfin turned back] the main host held on, and swiftly the evil that was foretold began its work.
The Noldor came at last far into the north of Arda; and they saw the first teeth of the ice that floated in the sea, and knew that they were drawing nigh to the Helcaraxë. For between the land of Aman that in the north curved eastward, and the east-shores of Endor (which is Middle-earth) that bore westward, there was a narrow strait, through which the chill waters of the Encircling Sea and the waves of Belegaer flowed together, and there were vast fogs and mists of deathly cold, and the sea-streams were filled with clashing hills of ice and the grinding of ice deep-sunken. Such was the Helcaraxë, and there none yet had dared to tread save the Valar only and Ungoliant.
Therefore Fëanor halted and the Noldor debated what course they should now take. But they began to suffer anguish from the cold, and the clinging mists through which no gleam of star could pierce; and many repented of the road and began to murmur, especially those that followed Fingolfin, cursing Fëanor, and naming him as the cause of all the woes of the Eldar.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 9, Of the Flight of the Noldor
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 15Nov09
