Gwindor

Nargothrond and the Nirnaeth

Gwindor was a son of Guilin, a lord of the Noldor of Nargothrond, and a warrior of renown while Finrod still ruled there. His elder brother Gelmir was taken alive in the Dagor Bragollach in F.A. 455 and never came back. When Maedhros gathered the Union in F.A. 472, Gwindor led a small company north against the policy of his king; Finduilas, daughter of Orodreth, was betrothed to him when he rode.

Morgoth's captains knew that patience was Fingon's whole advantage, and they broke it deliberately: they brought Gelmir out before the drawn-up host, blinded, and hacked him apart in full view of the western wing. Gwindor went mad with grief and charged, and the vanguard of Nargothrond went with him, and then much of Fingon's army, before the signal and before Turgon's host had come. They drove the Orcs to the doors of Angband and killed the guards on the threshold; then Morgoth loosed his true strength, the charge was cut off and destroyed, and Gwindor alone was taken alive. From that hour the plan of the Union was finished.

Thraldom, and the death of Beleg

Gwindor spent fourteen years in the mines of Angband. Being a prince he was not killed, but he was used up: he escaped bent, grey-faced and worn small, his strength gone and much of his confidence with it. Coming south through Taur-nu-Fuin in Dorthonion he was found half dead by Beleg of Doriath, and the two of them tracked the Orc-band that was carrying Túrin north. Gwindor's lamp gave the only light while Beleg cut the captive's bonds with the black sword Anglachel; the blade pricked Túrin's foot, and Túrin, waking in the dark and thinking an Orc had him, snatched it up and killed his friend. Gwindor showed him Beleg's face by the lamplight and then led him away out of his wits, and at Ivrin Túrin came to himself and wept at last. Gwindor kept Beleg's sword and afterwards gave it to him; reforged, it became Gurthang.

Nargothrond again

He brought Túrin home to Nargothrond, where he himself had been counted dead, and vouched for him while Túrin hid his lineage under the name Agarwaen. But Finduilas could not love the ruin that had come back from Angband, and turned to Túrin instead. Gwindor told her the truth: that this was the son of Húrin, that Morgoth's curse lay on all that house, and that whoever loved him would be broken with him. He fought Túrin's counsel in the king's hall too, arguing that Nargothrond's strength was secrecy, that the great bridge over the Narog would be the door of its own ruin, and that open war would only draw Morgoth's eye. He was right on every point, and no one listened, because he was diminished and Túrin was splendid.

Tumhalad

In F.A. 495 Glaurung came down with a host and the army of Nargothrond was broken on the field of Tumhalad. Orodreth was killed and Gwindor mortally hurt. Túrin carried him out of the rout to a wood beyond the field, and there Gwindor asked to be left and spent his last words on a warning: run for the city and save Finduilas, for her life alone stood between Túrin and his doom, and if he failed her the doom would find him. Túrin went to the Doors of Felagund, met the eyes of the dragon there, and did not save her.

Mortally wounded at the battle of Tumhalad in F.A. 495; died in a wood beyond the field after charging Túrin to save Finduilas.