One thing that I think gets overlooked sometimes when we talk about the SoF during the time period in the text between the Nirnaeth and Sirion (especially when we talk about the Third Kinslaying) is the fact that they have also been displaced from their lands and homes ever since the Bragollach for some of them and definitely entirely so since Maedhros lost Himring to Morgoth's forces during the Nirnaeth. We have little to no indication in the text that they have any sort of home base/settlement/fortress/etc at this point in the story aside from a brief mention of Maedhros at Amon Ereb just post Nirn in the geography chapter. And I'm not sure if the text specified a fortress/building or if he was just in that general area. Point being that any time they are mentioned, the text describes them as "gathering from their wandering hunting paths" or something similar. It doesn't give me "we have a strong place that we are based out of to draw back to" vibes. I'm pretty sure they just spend like 60+ years just being nomadic post-nirn, pre-sirion. Honestly, I'm surprised they even had enough followers left to mount attacks at Doriath and Sirion at all.
It really just makes the Third Kinslaying sadder to me. It's two groups of people who have lost everything (from their perspectives) aside from the Silmaril and the hope it provides them and yeah one of them is the cause of that loss for the other but the desperation is so so clear in both of them. I'm just sad about it.










