War of Wrath
In the history of Arda, great battles have always had a pre-eminent place in serving as fuel for advancing the very course of existence.
As a combatant in World War I, Tolkien knew the horror of war and the paramount importance of its consequences over the years. That is why he had no qualms about making them an essential part of his writings.
The Silmarillion was no exception, quite the contrary: they are the chronicle of a constant conflict, that of Good against Evil, focused mainly on the struggle of the Free Peoples against Melkor.
After long and painful centuries-long events, there came a time when the lands of Beleriand (which had already witnessed numerous wars between Elves and Melkor’s hosts) were in a grave situation.
Before the war
The fallen Vala managed to break the siege the Noldor held them under, resulting in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad (Countless Tears), the worst defeat of Elves and Men.
Many great kings and heroes fell, along with their kingdoms. Only Gondolin, Doriath, and Nargothrond survived that defeat. However, the damage was already done. With unleashed power, Melkor destroyed the remaining elven kingdoms until only a few groups remained as refugees near Círdan, far south of Beleriand.
Melkor had taken complete control of the lands of Beleriand and was preparing to extend his dominions throughout Middle-earth further.
In those fateful moments, the figure of Eärendil, half-elf and with a lineage from all the families of Elves and Men, undertook the impossible mission to reach Valinor across the sea.
No one expected him to succeed since others had tried before and never heard from him again. However, the father of Elrond and Elros achieved the unimaginable: he arrived in the lands of the Valar and got them to listen to his pleas.
In a talk that would become the most important of all, Eärendil begged the forgiveness of the Valar for all the deeds of the Noldor while asking that those who lived in Valinor would not forget Middle-earth and fight against Morgoth, for sooner or later, his darkness would also come to those lands.
Those prayers were heard, for the Valar knew that if they did not try to stop Melkor, sooner or later, the war would come to Valinor.
Thus was formed the most splendid army that ever existed in the history of Arda. Magnificent troops formed by Maiar, Vanyar Elves, and the Noldor who stayed in Valinor (under the reign of Finarfin) embarked on countless ships and crossed the sea led by the most powerful of the Maiar: Eönwe, herald of the Vala and monarch of Valinor, Manwë.
What did the Teleri Elves, who dwelt in Aqualondë, do? They lent the ships to the Valar army, but they did not sail to Middle-earth because of the grudge they felt for the Noldor of Fëanor, who killed many Teleri in the past.
A devastating conflict
The troops of the Valar army arrived in Middle-earth, and like a gale, they reached Angband, the stronghold of Morgoth. Eärendil, who returned triumphant from his miraculous mission, took to the air in his ship Vingilot with more than 10,000 Giant Eagles.
The half-elf carried the Silmaril on his forehead, the same that Beren stole from Morgoth’s crown, a blow that shocked the enemy troops and inflamed the spirits of Elves and Men.
On the road to Angband, the most significant and bloodiest clashes occurred on the plains of Anfauglith. All the north of Beleriand became a scene of fire and blood. Finally, the attack of the Valar came, and the Dark Lord defended himself.
In that first confrontation, the hosts of orcs, men of the East, and all kinds of evil creatures succumbed to the splendorous and vigorous onslaught of the Valar troops. Surprised before a scenario that he could never foresee, Morgoth suffered much from that first onslaught. However, Melkor managed, in a last move, to push back his opponent.
The Dark Lord decided to go all out, and from his fortress emerged Balrogs, lycanthropes, and Ancalagon the Black, the greatest and most powerful dragons. His appearance in battle filled the sky with thunderstorms and fire in an aerial war between dragons and the eagles commanded by Eärendil that lasted a whole day and night.
Although Tolkien barely explains it in a page and a half, he writes that the War of Wrath lasted 42 years. That was so because Valinor’s troops fought tirelessly against Melkor’s hosts for decades before they could reach Angband.
They succeeded when Eärendil made the last of his great deeds: killing Ancalagon. The Dragon Lord fell dead from the sky, and his body destroyed the towers of Thangorodrim. These towers were above Angband and were part of its entrance. The dragon’s body destroyed the building and left the defense of Melkor’s fortress bare.
From that moment on, the army of the Dark Lord lost some of its courage. Few Dragons, Balrogs, and Orcs managed to survive as the Valar troops razed everything to the ground, erasing any trace of that nightmare.
After the storm
With his army destroyed, Melkor could do nothing to stop the Valar from entering Angband. He was bound with the Angainor chain, his feet cut off, and his crown made into a necklace. His two remaining Silmarils were taken from him. They made their way through its labyrinthine grottoes to the deepest dungeon, where the throne of the Dark Lord was located.
His head was sunk between his knees, so he was taken to the Gate of Night, where he was cast into the Timeless Void; there, he remains a prisoner until the end of the world while Eärendil watches over him aboard his ship Vingilot.
The rest of Melkor’s army fled or hid from the Valar. Such is the case of Sauron, the greatest of the Dark Lord’s lieutenants and a fallen Maia, who was asked to go to Valinor to be judged for his crimes.
However, Sauron preferred to hide and wait for the Valar army to leave Middle-earth to reclaim what he believed now belonged to him. But this is part of another story.
The ravages of the War of Wrath were so devastating that the geography of Middle-earth was changed entirely. So much fire and destruction caused Beleriand and the northern lands to be devastated. They suffered so much that they broke and were consumed by the waves.
Beleriand sank to the bottom of the sea.
Middle-earth changed, and from the land of prodigies, heroes, and feats that was Beleriand, only a part of Ossiriand (the east) remained, which was renamed Lindon and was home to the Noldor Elves who decided to stay there, even though the Valar allowed them to return to Valinor again.
The War of Wrath was the most significant conflict in Middle-earth’s history regarding time dimensions and the number of armies and creatures. It was by far the most destructive of wars, and there was never, before or since, an event of a grander scale involving every living creature in Arda.
At least until the coming of the Dagor Dagorath, the battle of the end of time.