Angband

2007-06-15T13:59:22Z

221.122.59.8:

{{Pronounce|Angband.mp3|Ardamir}}
'''Angband''' ('Iron Prison' or 'Hell of Iron'; [[ang]] = iron, [[band]] = prison, duress) was a mighty fortified citadel originally constructed by [[Melkor]] in the earliest days of the world as an outlying fortress to his northern stronghold of [[Utumno]]. [[Utumno]] was destroyed by the [[Valar]], and [[Melkor]] imprisoned in [[Valinor]] for three ages, but on his return to [[Middle-earth]], he took Angband as the seat of his power, and raised the towers of [[Thangorodrim]] above its gates.

Angband was beseiged by the [[Noldor]] during the early part of the [[First Age]], but the Siege of Angband was broken at the [[Dagor Bragollach]]. It was finally destroyed by the forces of the [[Valar]] at the end of the [[First Age]], in the [[War of Wrath]].

==Origins and History==
[[Melkor]] built Angband during the [[Years of the Trees]], originally as an outlying fortress and armoury to his great northern citadel at [[Utumno]]. It was commanded from its first construction by Sauron, the chief of [[Melkor]]'s servants. Angband was built near the northwestern shores of the [[Great Sea]] in the range of the [[Iron Mountains]], as a first defence against any attack on Melkor's realm from the Valar in Aman.
When the [[Valar]] captured [[Melkor]] and took him in chains back to [[Valinor]], Angband was largely destroyed and lay in ruins for many thousands of years, although beneath the ruins lay many hidden chambers in which some of Melkor's servants escaped the Valar's assault. Sauron was one of these, and the Balrogs lay hid with him in Angband's deepest vaults.

Angband re-entered history when [[Melkor]] escaped [[Valinor]] with the stolen [[Silmarils]]: he chose the ruined fortress as his new capital, and rebuilt the [[Hells of Iron]] as a base for the dark reign he intended for the lands of [[Middle-earth]].

Soon after the Return of the [[Noldor]] to [[Beleriand]], [[Morgoth]] took [[Maedhros]] [[Fëanor]]'s son by deceit and trickery, and hung him by the wrist from the towers of [[Thangorodrim]] above Angband. He was rescued by [[Fingon]] and [[Thorondor]], but lost his right hand.

The third of the great battles in the [[Wars of Beleriand]], the [[Dagor Aglareb]], had profound consequences for Angband. Until that time (about the year 75 of the [[First Age]]) [[Morgoth]] sent out hosts of [[Orcs]] in the hope of taking the [[Noldor]] by surprise. The [[Noldor]], though, chased these [[Orcs]] back to the very gates of Angband, and slew them to the last creature. From then until the [[Dagor Bragollach]] in I 455, a period of almost 400 years, Angband was surrounded by the [[Noldor]]; this is the time known as the Siege of Angband.

==Appearance and Construction==
Angband was primarily an underground fortress, at least after its initial destruction by the [[Valar]] in the [[Years of the Trees]]. Like its prototype, [[Utumno]], it had many hidden underground chambers and vaults far beneath the earth. Its main features above ground were the three peaks of the [[Thangorodrim]], mighty towers of ash and slag raised above Angband's gates.
The peaks of Thangorodrim were hollow, and from them channels and chimneys ran down to the deepest pits of Angband. So, [[Morgoth]] could produce poisonous clouds and vapours, as indeed he sent against the [[Noldor]] in [[Mithrim]] during the first days after their Return.

Ever the sheer cliffs rose beside, 
where birds of carrion sat and cried; 
and chasms black and smoking yawned, 
whence writhing serpent-shapes were spawned; 
until at last in that huge gloom. 
heavy as overhanging doom, 
that weighs on Thangorodrim’s foot 
like thunder at the mountain’s root, 
they came, as to a sombre court 
walled with great towers, fort on fort 
of cliffs embattled. to that last plain 
that opens, abysmal and inane, 
before the final topless

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Angband