#also screaming cuz it means he and maedhros parallel each other even more than i thought

[aracaranelentari]

Was Fingolfin's death a suicide?

This is one of those questions that I've pondered for years, and can have different answers depending on your own interpretations of the text. The Silmarillion never had me convinced that he intended to die, or that it was his main goal in challenging Morgoth. Honestly, I don't think he was thinking or intending anything at all - his final charge and fatal duel were acts of complete despair and madness, there was no goal.

HOWEVER. I was going through Shaping of Middle-Earth a little bit ago while looking for something unrelated and came across the version of Fingolfin's duel as written in the 1930s "Quenta" typescript. Please read this with me:

"Most grievous of the losses of that battle [Dagor Bragollach] was the death of Fingolfin mightiest of the Noldoli. But his own death he sought in rage and anguish seeing the defeat of his people." (SoME p.128)

He SOUGHT HIS OWN DEATH. He may not have directly killed himself, but in this early version of the story at least, the text implies that Fingolfin was absolutely riding to his death on purpose. He intended to die.

Of course this is an early version of the story, and since this wording is only ever found in this one typescript, it's possible Tolkien rethought Fingolfin's intent or didn't like the suicidal implications, so he purposely left it out of later versions. However, the whole passage was rewritten for later versions in ways that echoed the Lay of Leithian more than this version in the "Quenta", so it's also possible that Tolkien simply left it out because it didn't flow with the rest of the new paragraph, not because he went back on the idea of Fingolfin seeking his own death.

So, yeah. I just thought that was interesting. Was his death suicide? Still debatable I think, depending on how you define the word suicide. Did he want to die? Very VERY likely, yes.