War of Wrath

2007-12-10T13:09:02Z

87.4.135.27:

{{battle
| name=War of Wrath
| image=[[Image:Ted Nasmith - Eärendil and the Battle of Eagles and Dragons.jpg|300px]]
| conflict=[[War of Wrath]]
| date=c. [[First Age 545|F.A. 545]] - [[First Age 587|587]]
| place=[[Beleriand]]
| result=Drowning of [[Beleriand]], chaining of [[Morgoth]]
| side1=[[Morgoth]] and his minions, including [[balrogs]], [[orcs]], and [[dragons]]
| side2=The [[Host of the Valar]], including the [[Vanyar]] and [[Eärendil the Mariner|Eärendil]]
| commanders1=[[Morgoth]], [[Ancalagon]]
| commanders2=[[Eönwë]], [[Thorondor]], [[Eärendil the Mariner|Eärendil]]
| forces1=Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions
| forces2=Hundreds of thousands
| casual1=Almost the Whole Army
| casual2=Unknown; perhaps heavy
|}}
The '''War of Wrath''', or the '''Great Battle''' was the final war against [[Morgoth]] at the end of the [[First Age]], and one of the greatest battles 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 [[Silmarils|Silmaril]] on his brow, came to [[Valinor]], the first with mortal blood to set foot there, begging the [[Valar]] to help the enslaved [[Elves]] and [[Men]] of Middle-earth.

The Valar were moved by Eärendil's plea, and along with the [[Vanyar]] and Noldor that were in Valinor, riding in the ships of the [[Teleri]], came to Middle-earth in a mighty host. They marched across [[Beleriand]], and met the forces of Morgoth in the plains of [[Anfauglith]].

The Valar and the Elves destroyed the [[Balrogs]], all save a few who fled and hid themselves, and the armies of [[Orcs]] likewise. While the [[Three Houses of the Edain]] fought with the Valar, many other Men fought against them and died. 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 [[Ancalagon|Ancalagon the Black]].

Then [[Eärendil the Mariner|Eärendil]] came with his sky-ship [[Vingilótë|Vingilot]], along with the [[Eagles]], and they fought the dragons, in the end slaying Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of dragons, 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 wreckage of the war was immense; most of the land west of the [[Ered Luin]] was laid waste and soon after sank beneath the waves. 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]].

{{warsofbeleriand}}

[[Category:Conflicts of the First Age]]

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War of Wrath