Ruin of Doriath

The forest kingdom of Doriath had been pre-eminent among the realms of Beleriand for thousands of years, since long before the Noldor returned to Middle-earth. Its King, Thingol, had visited Valinor in ages past, and had led his people on the Great Journey to dwell in the Blessed Realm. As he passed through Beleriand, however, he came upon the Maia Melian, and the two chose to rule over the great central woods of Beleriand through the millennia that followed.

After Morgoth's return to Middle-earth, Melian raised a fence of magical protection around the land, known as the Girdle of Melian. It was from this magical protection that Doriath took its name, the 'land of the fence', having formerly been known as Eglador. Protected from enemies by the power of the Maia, Doriath remained inviolate for centuries, and in all that time the Girdle was broken only once, by the Man Beren, whose fate was such that even the power of Melian could not prevent him from entering the land.

Lúthien was the daughter of Thingol and Melian, and with Beren she made a desperate and dangerous journey into the depths of Angband and to the Dark Throne of Morgoth. From Morgoth's Iron Crown they recovered a Silmaril, and it was through that fated Jewel that Doriath would reach its doom.

In his treasuries in Menegroth, Thingol now held both a Silmaril and the Nauglamír, the famed golden Necklace of the Dwarves. The King's thought was drawn to the Jewel, and he conceived of a great work, remaking the remarkable Necklace to hold the shining Jewel of Fëanor. To achieve this, he recruited master craftsmen of the Dwarves out of Nogrod, but, as it had with Thingol, the Silmaril also filled those smiths with a burning desire to possess the Jewel themselves. So, when their work was complete, they slew the ancient King and made off with the Nauglamír and the Silmaril that it now held.

The Silmaril and its Necklace were recovered by Beren, and preserved for a time in the Land of the Dead that Live. The Sons of Fëanor were driven by their Oath to recover the Silmaril, but could not do so while it was held in that blessed place. When Beren and Lúthien departed the world, however, it was returned to Doriath, and Fëanor's sons sent menacing demands for its return.

Now ruled by Thingol's grandson Dior, Doriath had lost the protection of Melian's Girdle when she departed after Thingol's death. In the year I 509, the Sons of Fëanor invaded the land, desperate to recover the Jewel of their father. The realm that had once been the greatest in all of Beleriand was ravaged and ruined, and King Dior was slain, as were many of his people. Nonetheless, the Silmaril eluded capture, and was carried away to the refuge at the Mouths of Sirion before the Sons of Fëanor could claim it.