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Writer's picturemikeofthepalace

Silmarillion Readalong - of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath

Summary


Eärendil was now lord of the survivors of Doriath and Gondolin at the Havens of Sirion. He and Elwing got married, and she gave birth to Elrond and Elros. But Eärendil wasn’t at the Havens often - he continually voyaged on the ocean in his ship Vingilot, seeking Tuor and Idril, or to find a way to Valinor. But he never found his parents, and the enchantments the Valar had placed in the oceans around Valinor always thwarted him.


Maedhros inevitably heard of Elwing’s survival and possession of the Silmaril, but he repented for the destruction of Doriath and held back. Eventually, though, the Oath drove him to act, and (after their demands for the Silmaril were once again refused) the surviving Sons of Fëanor attacked the Havens in the Third Kinslaying. Many of their own people refused to fight, or even switched sides and fought to defend Elwing, so troubled were they by all the evils done to serve the Oath. But the Sons of Fëanor ultimately won, though two more died in the battle leaving only Maedhros and Maglor. Many were killed, Elrond and Elros were taken prisoner by Maglor, and Elwing cast herself into the Sea with the Silmaril, so Maedhros and Maglor were denied that even. But Ulmo rescued her - he lifted her out of the water, gave her the form of a swan, and guided her to Eärendil’s ship where she transformed back into her usual form.


Eärendil and Elwing were very afraid for Elrond and Elros - baselessly, as it turned out, for Maglor cherished them, and they came to love him in return. But nevertheless, seeing little good they could do back in Middle-earth, they turned West to try to reach Valinor. The light of the Silmaril burned away the enchantments, and Vingilot was able to reach Valinor. Eärendil wanted Elwing to remain onboard the ship, so only he would bear any wrath of the Valar, but Elwing refused that and joined him ashore. Eärendil went to Tirion, and found it deserted - he’d arrived at a time of festival, and everyone was on Taniquetil. He had about given up on finding anyone, assuming something had befallen Valinor, when Eönwë appeared and summoned Eärendil to appear before the Valar.


Eärendil, speaking on behalf of two kindreds, asked for pardon for the Noldor, and pity and mercy for Elves and Men. The Valar heard his plea, and decided to help at last. But the matter of Eärendil and Elwing’s fate was in doubt. Manwë judged that they could choose which kindred they joined - Elves or Men. Elwing chose the Elves, and Eärendil did as well for her sake, though his heart was with Men.

The Valar took Vingilot and hallowed it, and Eärendil bound the Silmaril on his brow and set to sailing the heavens, while Elwing dwelt in a tower on the shore and learned to converse with and transform into a bird. Whenever Eärendil would return from the skies, she would fly up to meet him.


When the people of Middle-earth first saw this new bright star appear in the sky, they took it as a sign of hope. Morgoth saw it as well, and was worried by it. Maedhros and Maglor recognized it as the Silmaril Elwing had, but were glad - all could now share in it, and it was safe from evil (and from them - Maedhros and Maglor had always been the most reluctant to hold to the Oath).


Despite the new star, Morgoth was surprised by the assault of the Valar when they landed on Middle-earth with the Vanyar and the remnant of the Noldor (the Teleri took no part beyond carrying their kin across the Sea). The survivors of the Edain fought for the Valar, but more Men fought on the side of Morgoth, and the Elves do not forget either fact.


The Valar were winning decisively - the Balrogs were destroyed save a few who fled and hid, and the Orcs were shattered. Then Morgoth unleashed the winged dragons, which he’d bred and secret and never before revealed, and the Valar were driven back briefly. Then Eärendil (with help from the Eagles) slew the greatest of them, Ancalagon the Black, who fell upon Thangorodrim and broke the peaks, and the Valar regained the initiative. Angband was opened, and Morgoth fled to the deepest pits before he was cornered and brought forth in chains. His realm was broken, his slaves were freed, and the other two Silmarils given into the keeping of Eönwë.


Beleriand was largely destroyed in the tumult of the War of Wrath, and the Valar summoned the surviving Elves of Beleriand to depart Middle-earth. But Maedhros and Maglor, with utmost loathing for the Oath that still drove them, went to Eönwë and demanded he give them the Silmarils. Eönwë refused, and said only the Valar (whom were named witnesses of the Oath in the first place) could judge the matter. Maglor wanted to go to Valinor and accept judgement, but Maedhros said to him that only Ilúvatar (who they also named in witness), and not the Valar, could judge the Oath. If they let the Silmarils go to Valinor (and beyond their reach forever) they would be damned to everlasting darkness. Maglor thought they were damned regardless, and might as well take the option that caused the least evil to others, but eventually Maedhros talked him into stealing the Silmarils. Each took one for his own, but the hallowed gems rejected them and burned them. Maedhros, clutching his gem to himself, hurled himself into a fiery chasm. Maglor cast his into the sea and wandered the shores, singing songs of sorrow. So the Silmarils passed out of reach of all, one to the airs, one to the deeps of the earth, and one to the depths of the Sea.


Many of the Elves departed Middle-earth, but many remained as well: Galadriel (the only one of the leaders of the rebellion to have survived), and Celeborn, and Círdan, and Gil-galad the High-King, and Elrond who chose to join the Elves (Elros chose Men).


Morgoth was exiled from Arda, out to the darkness beyond the Doors of Night. But the evil and lies and mistrust he spread remained in the world. It can never be wholly rooted out while the world lasts, and will always bear fresh fruit.


Commentary


I find the War of Wrath to be deeply unsatisfying. It has always seemed like the Valar could have stepped in and sorted things out any time. It got messy, sure, and there was a lot of collateral destruction, but it’s not like everything was sunshine and bunnies while they were off twiddling their thumbs in Paradise. This does relate to the old philosophical quandary of the Problem of Evil - how can there be evil in the world if God is good? I don’t expect Tolkien to be able to provide a satisfactory answer to a question that people have been arguing over for literally thousands of years, but even so, it doesn’t sit well with me. If it was just the Noldor exiles, I could see that then. They made their choice, and would need to live with the consequences. But Men? The Sindar? That bothers me. If you’re going to go the non-interference route, that’s fine, and indeed it’s a policy the Valar eventually adopt. But choosing not to act is itself a choice, and when one of their brethren is running around causing all sorts of problems, by deciding to sit on their hands the Valar are almost giving Morgoth tacit approval to do his thing. Ulmo understood that, but no one else seemed to.


I’ll concede the Valar had a point with the whole “reluctant to fight Morgoth because of all the damage it could cause” thing from way back. Beleriand is gone. But if that level of destruction was going to happen anyway, and it sure seems like there wasn’t really a way around it, there was no need to let all those people suffer at Morgoth’s hands.


Backing up a bit. The Sons of Fëanor again with the Kinslaying. By this point they’re attacking refugees huddled by the shore, and even their own people are turning against them and taking the side of the Doriath and Gondolin refugees. Maedhros and Maglor may have done it “with loathing,” but they still did it.


I’ve always wanted to know more about the relationship between Maglor and Elrond & Elros. The relationship that grew between them seems, as Tolkien describes it, to be genuinely loving and affectionate. I know that Maglor was the gentlest of Fëanor’s brood, and the one most like their mother, but he still kidnapped them and (as far as they knew) were responsible for Elwing’s death.


Not much to say about Eärendil’s voyaging. The Silmaril burning its way through the enchantments the Valar had strung about Aman is thematically appropriate, but (much like the War of Wrath) feels a little bit easy.


I want to talk a bit about Ancalagon the Black. He gets named dropped by Gandalf in chapter 2 of The Fellowship of the Ring, when he tells Frodo that:

It has been said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough; nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, for that was made by Sauron himself.

And in the Sil we get this:

He loosed upon his foes the last desperate assault that he had prepared, and out of the pits of Angband there issued the winged dragons, that had not before been seen; and so sudden and ruinous was the onset of that dreadful fleet that the host of the Valar was driven back, for the coming of the dragons was with great thunder, and lightning, and a tempest of fire. But Eärendil came, shining with white flame, and about Vingilot were gathered all the 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.

So that’s what we’ve got, and it’s spawned one of the bigger cases of Boba Fett Syndrome I can think of. There’s no doubt that Ancalagon was a very big dragon, and no doubt (given Smaug and Glaurang as more thoroughly examined reference-points) he was capable of a fuck-ton of destruction. But that doesn’t justify nonsense like this. There’s an oft-quoted line about Ancalgon being so vast as to blot out the sun even from afar, but that’s nothing Tolkien wrote - it traces back to someone with a creative streak editing the lotr wiki.


Last point I want to touch on is Maedhros and Maglor and the last two Silmarils. By this point they thoroughly hated the Oath, and didn’t want to fulfill it. Eönwë gave them an out, even - let the Valar judge their actions, since they were named as witnesses anyway. Maglor had the guts to face this, reasoning since they’re doomed to everlasting darkness no matter what, might as well cause the least collateral damage along the way. But Maedhros, once again, isn’t quite the guy we have always wanted him to be. He doesn’t even have the excuse of Caranthir and Cururin and the rest pushing him towards violence here - Maglor’s trying to talk him out of it. I pretty much feel that casting himself into a fiery chasm while clutching the Precious Silmaril is an appropriate ending.


So that’s the end of Morgoth, more or less. The Valar have finally kicked him out of Arda, though the evil he left behind can never be fully eradicated. With that, we’re done with what The Silmarillion has to say about the First Age.


But wait, what about Sauron? What happened to him, find out next time when we move on to the Second Age and read the Akallabêth and learn all about the Downfall of Númenor.


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