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War of Wrath

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War of Wrath
Per Sjögren - War of Wrath.jpg
Conflict: War of Wrath
Date: c. F.A. 545 - 587
Place: Beleriand
Outcome: Decisive victory for the Host of the Valar, Drowning of Beleriand, Expulsion of Morgoth from Arda

Morgoth and his minions, including Balrogs, Orcs, and Dragons

The Host of the Valar, including the Vanyar and Eärendil



Hundreds of thousands


Virtually entire force

Unknown, but most likely severe.

The War of Wrath, or the Great Battle, was the final battle against Morgoth at the end of the First Age, and the greatest battle ever fought in all of Middle-earth.




500 years into the First Age, Morgoth had become mighty in Middle-earth, not least because of the strife among the Noldor. The mariner Eärendil, wearing the Silmaril on his brow, came to Valinor, the first with mortal blood to set foot there, and begged the Valar to help the enslaved Elves and Men of Middle-earth.

The Valar were moved by Eärendil plea, and along with the Vanyar and Noldor that were in Valinor, riding in the ships of the Falmari, came to Middle-earth in a mighty host. Still bitter about the First Kinslaying, the Teleri did not participate in the war. The Host marched across Beleriand, and met the forces of Morgoth in the plains of Anfauglith.

The Great Battle

The Valar and the Elves destroyed the Balrogs, all save a few who fled and hid themselves, and the armies of the Orcs perished like straw in a great fire. While the Three Houses of the Edain fought with the Valar, many other Men fought against them and perished. Facing defeat, Morgoth released his ultimate weapon, the winged Dragons, which had never been seen before, and drove the Valar back. The leader of these dragons was the powerful Ancalagon the Black.

Then Eärendil came with his sky-ship Vingilot, along with the Eagles, and they fought the dragons, in the end slaying Ancalagon, the mightiest of the dragon horde, who broke the towers of Thangorodrim in his fall.

Morgoth was captured hiding in the deepest dungeon of Angband and bound with his old chain Angainor; the two Silmarils still in his possession were taken by the Maia Eönwë and guarded (whence they were later stolen by Maedhros and Maglor). In the end the Valar thrust him "through the Door of Night, beyond the Walls of the World, into the Timeless Void", where he remains until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom. Only then shall he be utterly destroyed.

"The Doors of Night" by John Howe.


The wreckage of the war was immense; most of the land west of the Ered Luin, as well as a large part of the central part of the mountains, was laid waste and soon after sank beneath the waves. The two great Dwarf cities of Nogrod and Belegost were also ruined forcing their populaces to flee. Most of the Elves went to the West, while others went East. The Valar raised up the island of Númenor in the Western Sea as a new home for the Edain.


External link

Wars of Beleriand