The Siege of Angband

The Siege of Angband was the long and patient effort of the Elves and their allies to hold Morgoth trapped in his hidden stronghold beneath the dark mountains of Thangorodrim, and it lasted for nearly four hundred years of the Sun, a span that feels more like an age of slow pressure than a single war; during this time the Noldor, the Sindar, and later the Edain kept watch over the northern wastes of Beleriand, not in constant open battle, but in an unending struggle of patrols, skirmishes, and guarded borders meant to keep the Dark Enemy from breaking forth in full strength once more, for they knew that as long as Angband stood, no peace was ever truly secure in Middle-earth.

This long siege shaped most of the history of the First Age recorded in The Silmarillion, because it created the setting in which both the greatest hopes and the deepest tragedies of Elves and Men unfolded, from the bright days when the Noldor raised new realms like Gondolin, Nargothrond, and Himring under the shadow of the North, to the dark hours when the fire and armies of Morgoth finally broke their chains and swept down across the lands; every great battle, every famous fall of a city, and many of the personal tales of heroism and doom all trace back to this decision of the Noldor to stand before Angband and try to contain the first Dark Lord at his very gates.

This article follows that long story from its beginnings to its bitter end, first looking at how the siege began after the early wars, then turning to the life of the besiegers in their fortresses and camps, and after that describing the great turning points such as Dagor Bragollach and the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and finally showing how the struggle against Angband continued in new forms until the War of Wrath, so that readers can see not only the great battles, but also the quiet endurance, the shifting alliances, and the lasting legacy of this greatest siege of the First Age.

The Siege of Angband grew out of earlier wars in which Morgoth was driven back to his northern fortress, for after the Noldor returned to Middle-earth and fought the battles known as Dagor-nuin-Giliath and the Dagor Aglareb, they pushed the armies of Angband northward, closed many of its outer doors, and forced Morgoth to stay behind his walls, and then the princes of the Noldor such as Fingolfin and Maedhros, with their Sindarin allies and later the Men of the Edain, made a long watch along the northern frontiers, determined that their great enemy should not again roam freely across Beleriand as he had in the days before their coming.

At first this siege did not mean a solid wall of warriors around Angband, as might be seen in a short battle in later ages, but rather a wide and stubborn policy of pressure, where strongholds and guard-posts were set upon hills and highlands such as Himring, Ered Wethrin, and the March of Maedhros, and from these bases riders, scouts, and small companies went out to spy, to raid, and to drive back any orc-bands that tried to pass, so that Morgoth felt himself watched and checked in many directions even though large parts of the far north remained empty wilderness and ice.

This idea of a loose but determined blockade matches Tolkien’s account of a long period of relative peace after the Dagor Aglareb, when the Noldor grew strong in the Siege of Angband and their realms blossomed, yet beneath that calm the threat never faded, because Morgoth was always testing the watch with smaller attacks, and all that time he was secretly gathering new powers and monsters until at last he struck back in the Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame, which shattered the siege in a moment and proved that the long quiet had been a preparation for a devastating storm.

Angband itself, as Tolkien describes it, was more than a common fortress, for it was a vast system of pits and halls of iron delved deep under the cold northern mountains, first raised in the ancient days when Morgoth built it as a prison and armory far from his main stronghold of Utumno, and later rebuilt as his chief seat after the Valar destroyed Utumno; within Angband there were subterranean chambers without count, dungeons where countless captives suffered, armouries where orcs and Balrogs gathered for war, and deep, hidden lairs where Morgoth kept terrible things such as Glaurung the Father of Dragons, and all these places were bound together into a dark kingdom below the earth that no enemy ever fully mapped or understood.

Above this underground realm rose Thangorodrim, the three mighty volcanic peaks that Tolkien describes as being reared by Morgoth himself over the gates of Angband, and they stood taller than any other mountains in Beleriand, always smoking, always black, and pouring out clouds and fumes that darkened the northern sky; from far away the Elves and Men could see these mountains as a sign of their enemy’s power, and the slag and ash from Morgoth’s forges helped to build these peaks higher, so that Thangorodrim became both a natural wall and a symbol of dread, marking the place where the darkness of the Elder Days was strongest.

Key features of Angband that Tolkien notes include its great Iron Gates, which opened onto a plain often filled with the mustering hosts of orcs and worst creatures, and the deep pits and shafts behind those gates that led down into the caverns of torment and industry, where Morgoth’s smiths and twisted Maiar crafted weapons and armor; from the mountain sides and the roots of Thangorodrim came vents and fissures that breathed smoke, steam, and sometimes flame, so that even in times of siege the forges never slept, and Morgoth could belch out rivers of fire and hosts of iron-clad warriors when he chose to break the bonds of the besiegers.

Many peoples took part in the siege, and first among them were the Noldor, the High Elves who had returned from Valinor and whose princes such as Fingolfin, Maedhros, Fingon, and others led the great realms of the north, but also the Sindar, the Grey-elves who already dwelt in Beleriand, joined in the struggle, especially those of Doriath under Thingol and later some who followed Círdan by the Sea, and in time the Edain, the noble Men who became friends and vassals of the Noldor, entered the wars, including the Houses of Bëor, Haleth, and Hador, so that the long watch around Angband was held not by a single folk but by a union of many with different tongues, customs, and memories.

These different Elven houses and human lords did not all gather in one camp but spread out along the northern marches in separate strongholds and guarded lands, each taking a share of the watch, so that Maedhros and his brothers held the East in the March of Maedhros and at Himring, Fingolfin and later Fingon guarded the north-west from Hithlum and the Ered Wethrin, the sons of Finarfin ruled in Dorthonion and Nargothrond, and the Edain settled in lands like Dor-lómin, Ladros, and Brethil, where they served as allies and frontier defenders, while further south Thingol of Doriath remained more hidden, though his power and that of Melian still influenced the wider war.

Over the long years of the siege, alliances did not stay fixed, because leaders fell in battle or through dark fate, and new lords rose to take their place, while Morgoth’s changing threats forced the Noldor to adjust their plans, yet the central purpose remained the same, to hold Angband in check and deny Morgoth open passage into the heart of Beleriand, even when quarrels such as those among the sons of Fëanor or between the Noldor and Thingol strained the unity of the Free Peoples.

Because of this, many famous names in The Silmarillion are connected to the pressure against Angband, including Fingolfin who once rode alone to challenge Morgoth at his very doors, Maedhros the red-haired prince who organized the March of Maedhros, Finrod Felagund whose wisdom led to strong alliances with Men, and Hador and his descendants who held the western passes, along with others like Angrod, Aegnor, and later characters such as Beren and Túrin, whose personal stories unfolded against the shadow of Angband and the never-ending war that it forced upon Middle-earth.

The struggle around Angband was guided by a number of key leaders, chiefly among the Noldorin princes who had the greatest power and knowledge of war, such as Fingolfin High King of the Noldor in Beleriand, Maedhros son of Fëanor who after his torment upon Thangorodrim became more cautious and far-sighted, Fingon the brave rescuer of Maedhros and later High King, and Finrod Felagund the wise lord of Nargothrond, and beside them stood leaders among Men, like Hador Lórindol and his house, and later Húrin and Huor and other captains of the Edain, who together sought not only to fight occasional battles, but to direct an ongoing strategy that could hold Morgoth back for generations.

To coordinate the siege, these leaders held councils and gatherings at certain times, where they debated how best to place their forces, which passes to guard with towers and forts, when to send out great raids into the north, and when to restrain their strength, and though Tolkien does not detail every meeting, he shows that such planning took place when he describes Maedhros gathering an alliance before the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or the princes of the Noldor agreeing earlier on the general pattern of the Siege of Angband after the Dagor Aglareb, for they understood that no single house could face Morgoth alone and that careful choice of watchposts and timing of attacks were vital to keep the Dark Lord uneasy and contained.

Over the centuries, however, the burden on these leaders grew heavier, because Morgoth’s creatures did not tire in the same way that Elves and Men did, and each loss of warriors was slow to replace, while new terrors such as Glaurung or the growing strength of wolves and other beasts began to shake old plans, and so the princes and chieftains had to face not only the grief of fallen kin and subjects, but also the fear that their long effort might fail, a fear that reached its cruel peak when their carefully laid alliance broke at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and the leaders who had long held the siege together were slain, captured, or scattered.

Daily life during the Siege of Angband, though less often told in detail than the great battles, can still be imagined from Tolkien’s hints, for there were always sentries on high ridges watching the north, scouts ranging the plains to follow orc-movements, and long supply lines carrying food, weapons, and messages through the cold lands of Ard-galen and beyond, where winters were harsh and summers short; Elven patrols and human riders would have spent weeks at a time outdoors in mail and cloaks, sleeping in small camps or under the open sky, always alert for sudden attacks, while behind the frontiers craftsmen, farmers, and miners in the safer lands kept the strongholds supplied so that the watch could continue unbroken year after year.

The besiegers did not depend only on roving companies, because they also built and strengthened watch-towers and fortified camps on natural heights, turning hills and mountain spurs into small fortresses, such as Himring which Maedhros held against many assaults, and the forts along the March of Maedhros, as well as guarded passes in the Ered Wethrin and elsewhere, and in these places there would have been walls, stockades, stores, stables, and halls where warriors gathered, repaired gear, trained, and took counsel, so that the “ring” around Angband was made up of many such points of strength linked by roads and paths and by the alert eyes of the Elves and Men who moved between them.

Life on this long frontier was filled with danger, since Morgoth’s orcs launched raids both large and small, wolves and other fell beasts roamed the waste, and even when no enemies were near, the slow grind of years could bring weariness to heart and body, especially for the mortal Men of the Edain whose lives were brief compared to their Elven lords; Tolkien shows something of this strain in the tales of Hador’s house and of those who dwelt in Dorthonion or Brethil, where constant alarm and the memory of lost kin weighed heavily, and where the hope that Angband might someday fall had to be renewed in each new generation that took up the guard.

Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame, was the great counter-stroke by Morgoth that at last smashed the Siege of Angband, for after centuries of seeming patience he released rivers of fire from beneath the slopes of Thangorodrim that poured across Ard-galen and turned its green plains into a burned waste called Anfauglith, and behind this wall of flame came hosts of orcs, Balrogs, and the dragon Glaurung in his full terrible might, so that the northern defenses of the Noldor, which had stood against lesser assaults, were in a short time broken and thrown into chaos.

Tolkien’s description in The Silmarillion of this moment is vivid, as he tells how “the fronts of the Siege of Angband were broken and the hosts of Morgoth burst forth,” with fire that swept like rivers down from the mountains, and the defenders were burned or driven from their positions before they could properly form lines, so that the long peace that many had almost begun to trust came to a violent end, and suddenly the siege that had felt so firm seemed thin and fragile against the might that Morgoth had hidden and nurtured in the depths of his fortress all those many years.

The immediate effects of the Bragollach were disastrous for the besiegers, because key strongholds such as the highlands of Dorthonion fell or became impossible to hold, Fingolfin’s realm in Hithlum was cut off and pressed hard, many of the Sons of Fëanor were scattered from their eastern marches, and the lands that had fed the armies were burned or overrun, leading to hunger and confusion, while countless warriors died and many others fled as refugees, so that the once ordered system of watch and defense collapsed in many places and the struggle against Angband changed from a confident containment into a desperate fight for survival.

Not many years after Dagor Bragollach came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, when Elves and Men and even some Dwarves gathered in a vast alliance under the leadership of Fingon and Maedhros to try to strike a decisive blow against Morgoth and restore some form of siege, yet through betrayal and the cunning plans of the Dark Lord this greatest effort ended in a crushing defeat, as Tolkien tells how the hosts of the West were surrounded, their plans undone, and their leaders slain or taken, so that the hopes that had risen after the first shock of the Bragollach were dashed more terribly than before.

This defeat allowed Morgoth to become the clear master of almost all of Beleriand, for with the fall of Fingon and many of the greatest lords, along with the ruin of the House of Hador and heavy losses among the Noldor, there was no longer any way to hold a steady, organized line before Angband, and instead the Free Peoples were broken into isolated groups and hidden kingdoms that could no longer think of surrounding their enemy, but only of surviving and striking where they could, while Morgoth felt so secure that he did not even bother to shut up all his foes, knowing they could not now unseat him by open war.

The cost in that battle, both human and Elven, was deep and lasting, for great strongholds such as the city of Barad Eithel and the western guard of Hithlum were lost, the House of Hador was enslaved or scattered, many princes of the Noldor were slain, and those who escaped, like Turgon of Gondolin and the survivors who fled to Nargothrond or into the wild woods, carried with them not only sorrow but the sense that their whole world had been broken, and their later deeds in hidden havens were shaped by the memory of those unnumbered tears shed upon the great battlefield north of the Ered Wethrin.

After the great defeats that shattered the formal siege, the war against Angband did not end, but changed into a struggle of scattered resistance, daring raids, and secret journeys, where individual courage could shine even brighter against the deepening dark, as when Barahir and his band fought a hopeless guerrilla war in the ruins of Dorthonion, or when the people of Brethil guarded their forest against orcs, or later when the warriors of Gondolin made sudden sallies against Morgoth’s forces, and each of these efforts, though too small to besiege Angband again, still hindered Morgoth’s plans and kept the flame of defiance alive.

In Tolkien’s tales there are key episodes that renewed hope or shifted the balance for a time, such as the great deed of Beren and Lúthien who, with the aid of Huan and others, penetrated to Angband itself and took a Silmaril from Morgoth’s iron crown, an act that wounded his pride and shook his false sense of perfect safety, or the later feats of Túrin Turambar who slew Glaurung and thus removed one of Morgoth’s mightiest servants, and these individual adventures, though they did not restore the old siege, still showed that Morgoth could be hurt and even robbed within his own stronghold by those who dared all.

Because of such stories, the Siege of Angband can be seen not only as the early centuries of formal blockade, but as the whole long theme of resisting Morgoth’s northern fortress throughout the First Age, a theme that continued until the Valar finally answered the pleas of Eärendil and brought the Host of the West to Middle-earth in the War of Wrath, when Angband was at last besieged in full might and thrown down forever, so that from the first guards on Ard-galen to the last assault by the powers of Aman, the war around Angband remained the central thread of conflict in the Elder Days.

The human and Elven cost of the long war around Angband was terrible, for many great houses fell or were greatly diminished, such as the royal line of Fingolfin which lost its kings in lonely duels and on bloody fields, the House of Hador which was enslaved and broken after the Nirnaeth, and the Houses of Bëor and Haleth which suffered losses in Dorthonion and elsewhere, while cities and strongholds like Minas Tirith on Tol Sirion, Nargothrond, and finally Gondolin were betrayed or overwhelmed, and the number of unnamed lives taken in skirmishes, raids, and famines caused by war was beyond counting.

Tolkien does not only list these disasters, he also shows the grief and endurance of those who survived, such as Morwen and Rían waiting in sorrow, or the proud survivors of Doriath wandering homeless after its fall, or the remnant of Gondolin led by Tuor and Idril making their perilous escape, and in each of these stories there is both deep sadness and a firm will to go on, for even when their homes and kindred were lost, many of the Free Peoples refused to submit to Morgoth fully, choosing hardship in exile over comfort under his shadow, and this stubborn hope gives the tales of the First Age much of their emotional power.

These wounds left by the struggle with Angband did not fade when the fortress was finally destroyed, because the memory of fallen realms and ruined houses shaped the later histories of Elves and Men, so that Númenórean kings looked back to the heroism and suffering of their Edain ancestors, while the remaining Elves of Middle-earth carried with them the stories of Gondolin, Nargothrond, and Doriath into the Second and Third Ages, and even in The Lord of the Rings, the echoes of that older war can be felt in the songs and laments of characters who remember that the fight against Sauron was not the first long war that their peoples had endured.

In the long view of Tolkien’s legendarium, the Siege of Angband is of great importance because it fixed Morgoth as the central enemy of the First Age and forced Elves and Men to shape their societies and choices around the need to resist him, leading the Noldor to build strong northern realms instead of seeking peaceful lives further south, and drawing the Edain into an alliance that cost them dearly but also prepared them to become the fathers of the Númenóreans, while the Sindar and other folk had to decide whether to remain hidden or to join openly in the wars, decisions that would shape their fates for ages to come.

The breaking and reforming of the siege also led directly to later key events, because the fall of the northern guard opened the way for Morgoth’s forces to attack and eventually destroy the hidden kingdoms of Nargothrond and Gondolin, while the scattering of survivors set characters like Tuor, Idril, Beren, Lúthien, and later Eärendil on paths that would lead to the raising of new leaders and the final appeal to the Valar, which brought the War of Wrath and the end of Angband, yet also the drowning of much of Beleriand, so that the whole shape of Middle-earth in later ages was changed by the decision to stand and siege Morgoth in the far North.

On a moral and literary level, Tolkien uses the Siege of Angband and its long failure to illustrate themes of endurance in the face of almost hopeless odds, the danger of pride and rash oaths like those of Fëanor’s sons, and the high cost that must often be paid when free peoples choose to resist a dark power instead of submitting, for the Elves and Men of the First Age hold their ground for centuries and achieve many worthy deeds, yet in the end most of their visible works are destroyed, and only through sacrifice and suffering do they open the way for later hope, a pattern that echoes in smaller form in the later wars against Sauron and gives depth and sadness to the beauty of Middle-earth.