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Oh wow! What a powerful account of what might've happened! I really enjoyed reading this, and it certainly brought the death toll of the Kinslayings into perspective.

Melkor's words at the end were truly menacing, for they are true and the fault lies with the Valar alone.

What a unique and chilling perspective. And you are right--the coming of the Noldor resulted in cataclysmic tragedy for the Exiled Noldor but in the end it was the salvation of Midde Earth abd those that dwelled there. For as you say Morgoth would have increased his power unhindered. He would never have suffered defeat. Never have sustained the injuries Fingolfin subjected him to, never known the fear of possible defeat. Everything they did chipped away at him until the War of Wrath finished him.

the defeat of Ulmo was devastating but exactly what would have happened--and the army of the dead--raised by a true Necromancer--would be the undoing of the West. 

Very well done! The Exiled Noldor ultimately save the world by leaving Valinor! 

Thank you so much for letting me know you enjoyed it! And yes, as you well observe: this short fic was all about thinking through the possibilities of things going differntly: in the worst possible way.

Futile as they may have seemed, each deed of the Noldor held back Morgoth by just that much: enough that there was something left to save.