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{{Dragon infobox
| image = Donato Giancola - War of Wrath - Ancalagon the Black.jpg
| caption="War of Wrath: Ancalagon the Black" by [[:Category:Images by Donato Giancola|Donato Giancola]]
| name=Ancalagon
| othernames=
| titles=The Black
| realm=
| affiliation=[[Morgoth]]
| hoard=
| birth=After {{FA|510}}
| birthlocation=[[Angband]]
| death=c. {{FA|587}}
| deathlocation=[[War of Wrath]]
| slayer=[[Eärendil]]
| type=[[Fire-drakes|Fire]]
| legs=Yes
| wings=Yes
| colour=Black
}}
'''Ancalagon the Black''' was the greatest of [[Morgoth]]'s [[Dragons]], and the mightiest winged [[Urulókë|fire-dragon]] that ever existed.

== History ==
During the [[War of Wrath]], the [[Valar]] waged their final war on [[Morgoth]]. Their victory was at hand, with most of the Dark Lord's [[Balrogs]] and other troops destroyed.<ref name="Voyage">{{S|24}}</ref> But in the year [[First Age 587|587]],<ref>{{WJ|Years}}, p. 346</ref> Morgoth unleashed the winged dragons, which he had been hiding in [[Angband]]. Ancalagon was among them, and their attack drove back the forces of the [[Host of the Valar]], as they came with thunderbolts and fire storms.<ref name="Voyage">{{S|24}}</ref>
[[File:Daniel Pilla - Ancalagon vs Earendil.jpg|thumb|left|"Ancalagon vs Earendil" by [[:Category:Images by Daniel Pilla|Daniel Pilla]]]]
{{blockquote|But [[Eärendil]] came, shining with white flame, and about [[Vingilot]] were gathered all the [[Great Eagles|great birds of heaven]] and [[Thorondor]] was their captain, and there was battle in the air all the day and through a dark night of doubt. Before the rising of the sun Eärendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of [[Thangorodrim]], and they were broken in his ruin.|''[[Quenta Silmarillion]]'', "[[Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath]]"}}

By the late [[Third Age]], [[Gandalf]] mentioned Ancalagon, noting that not even his fire could harm [[the One Ring]].<ref>{{FR|I2}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
{{Pronounce|Ancalagon.mp3|Ardamir}}
''Ancalagon'' is a [[Sindarin]] name. It is not properly glossed, but it contains ''[[anc]]'' ("jaws") + [[root]] ''[[LAK|alak-]]'' ("rushing").<ref>{{S|Appendix}}, entries ''[[alqua]]'', ''[[anc]]''</ref>

In the [[Noldorin]] phase of the [[Elvish]] language it is glossed as "Biting-storm", from ''[[anc]]'' ("jaw, row of teeth") + ''alagos'' ("storm of wind").<ref name="EtymAlag">{{LR|Etymologies}}, entries "Á[[LAK]]-", "[[ÁNAK]]-", "[[NAK]]-"</ref>

In [[Eriol]]'s [[Old English]] translations, Ancalagon is referred as ''Anddraca'' ("Enemy-dragon").<ref>{{SM|QA1}}, p. 209</ref>

== Other versions of the legendarium ==
The first apparition of Ancalagon in [[Tolkien]]'s [[legendarium]] was in the ''[[Quenta Noldorinwa]]'' (1930s), which gives a version even more summarized of the War of Wrath than what is given above, although the story does not differ from later versions.<ref>{{SM|Q18II}}, p. 160</ref> Tolkien never fully completed the ''Quenta Silmarillion'', so the information about Ancalagon was never developed, and although he revised the text of the War of Wrath, they were very brief expansions, made in the ''[[Quenta Silmarillion (Lost Road)|Quenta Silmarillion]]'' of [[1937]],<ref>{{LR|P2VI}}, The Conclusion of the ''Quenta Silmarillion'', §18, p. 329</ref> and in [[The Later Quenta Silmarillion|The Later ''Quenta Silmarillion'']] of [[1951]].<ref>{{WJ|Last}}, pp. 246-247</ref> This last version was the main text used by [[Christopher Tolkien]] for his edition of ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.<ref>[[Douglas Charles Kane]], ''[[Arda Reconstructed: The Creation of the Published Silmarillion]]'', 24. "Of the Voyage of Eärendil", p. 234</ref>

The only mention of Ancalagon in later texts is in a note about the language of the [[Haladin]], written in Tolkien's last years:
{{blockquote|The language of the Folk of Haleth was not used, for they had perished and would not rise again. Nor would their tongue be heard again, unless the prophecy of [[Andreth]] the [[Wise-woman]] should prove true, that [[Túrin]] in the [[Last Battle]] should return from the Dead, and before he left the [[Circles of the World]] for ever should challege the Great Dragon of Morgoth, Ancalagon the Black, and deal him the death-stroke.<ref name=Andreth>{{PM|Ros}}, pp. 374-375, note 17</ref>}} 

[[Christopher Tolkien]] explains that this prophecy is in line with the different versions of the [[Dagor Dagorath|End of the World]] prophecies, as his father always used the term "Last Battle" to the apocalyptic event. However, he also notes that in the specific essay from which this quote is excerpted, the term "Last Battle" is clearly used to describe the battle at the end of the Elder Days, despite that in all previous texts it was Eärendil who destroys Ancalagon in the [[War of Wrath]].<ref name=Andreth>{{PM|Ros}}, pp. 374-375, note 17</ref>

== Inspiration ==
Christopher explains that Túrin slaying Ancalagon in Andreth's prophecy resembles [[:Wikipedia:Sigurd|Sigurd]] killing [[:Wikipedia:Miðgarðsormr|Miðgarðsormr]] in the ''[[Völuspá]]'', especially in the retelling his father made in the ''[[New Lay of the Völsungs]]''.<ref>{{SG|CV}}, "Upphaf", pp.?</ref>

== In popular culture ==
Two animals are named after Ancalagon: ''Ancalagon'', a [[wikipedia:Cambrian|Cambrian]] [[wikipedia:Priapulida|priapulid]] by [[wikipedia:Simon Conway Morris|Simon Conway Morris]] in [[1977]], and ''Ankalagon'' by [[wikipedia:Leigh Van Valen|Leigh Van Valen]] in [[1980]], a [[wikipedia:Paleocene|Paleocene]] [[wikipedia:Mesonychid|mesonychid]] mammal.<ref>Chris Isaak, "[http://www.curioustaxonomy.net/etym/fiction.html Names from Fictional Characters]", ''[http://www.curioustaxonomy.net/index.html Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature]''</ref>

{{references}}
{{dragons}}
[[Category:Characters in The Silmarillion]]
[[Category:Dragons]]
[[Category:First Age characters]]
[[Category:Noldorin names]]
[[Category:Servants of Melkor]]
[[Category:Sindarin names]]
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[[fr:encyclo:personnages:animaux:dragons:ancalagon]]
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