F.A. 59-60
Angband besieged
Today’s events
F.A. 60
The Noldor win the Dagor Aglareb (S. ‘Glorious Battle’), the Third Battle of Beleriand. The Siege of Angband begins.
Now Morgoth, believing the report of his spies that the lords of the Noldor were wandering abroad with little thought of war, made trial of the strength and watchfulness of his enemies. Once more, with little warning, his might was stirred, and suddenly there were earthquakes in the north, and fire came from fissures in the earth, and the Iron Mountains vomited flame; and the Orcs poured forth across the plain of Ard-Galen. Thence they thrust down the Pass of Sirion in the west, and in the east they burst through the land of Maglor, in the gap between the hills of Maedhros and the outliers of the Blue Mountains. But Fingolfin and Maedhros were not sleeping, and while others sought out the scattered bands of Orcs that strayed in Beleriand and did great evil they came upon the main host from either side as it was assaulting Dorthonion; and the defeated the servants of Morgoth, and pursuing them across Ard-galen destroyed them utterly, to the least and last, within sight of Angband's gates. That was the third great battle of the Wars of Beleriand, and it was named Dagor Aglareb, the Glorious Battle.
A victory it was, and yet a warning; and the princes took heed of it, and thereafter drew closer their leaguer, and strengthened and ordered their watch, setting the Siege of Angband, which lasted wellnigh four hundred years of the Sun. For a long time after Dagor Aglareb no servant of Morgoth would venture from his gates, for they feared the lords of the Noldor. (The Silmarillion, Chapter 13, “Of the Return of the Noldor”)
Maps
Art by maitarussa @tumblr
This week’s readings
Chapter 13: Of the Return of the Noldor: Paragraphs 30-31
“Now Morgoth, believing the report of his spies…”
“A victory it was, and yet a warning…”
Chapter 14: Of Beleriand and its Realms Paragraph 9
“But the realm of Nargothrond…”
Chapter 15: Of the Noldor in Beleriand:
Paragraph 1
“It has been told how…”
Paragraphs 6-24
“Now while the city of Gondolin…”
“Then the sons of Finarfin departed…”