Maedhros was the eldest son of Fëanor, and after his father's death at the gates of Angband he became the leader of the house, bound with his six brothers by the Oath to recover the Silmarils.1
In the early years of the exile Morgoth lured Maedhros to a parley and took him prisoner. The Dark Lord hung him by his right hand from a precipice of Thangorodrim, and there he hung for years until Fingon, the son of Fingolfin, came up the mountain, helped by the eagle Thorondor. Maedhros begged Fingon to kill him, but Fingon could not break the chain and struck off the hand at the wrist, and Thorondor bore them both away. Maedhros recovered, and was afterwards a mighty warrior, though he had only his left hand.1
When the new reconciliation came, Maedhros gave up his claim to the high kingship in favour of Fingolfin. After the Siege of Angband was broken in the Battle of Sudden Flame, he made a great alliance of Elves and Men against Morgoth, the Union of Maedhros, which ended in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, in which the alliance was broken and Fingon was killed.1,2
At the end of the War of Wrath, when the Valar had recovered the Silmarils from Morgoth's crown, he and Maglor stole two of them from the camp of Eönwë, and the jewels burned their hands. Maedhros, unable to bear the pain, cast himself with his Silmaril into a fiery chasm in the earth.3
Sources
Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and Tolkien's late writings on the Elder Days, assembled by Christopher Tolkien from his father's papers.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 13, “Of the Return of the Noldor”
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 20, “Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad”
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 24, “Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath”