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What is your headcanon regarding the War of Wrath? (reddthat.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The War of Wrath is a poorly-documented event in the Silmarillion with literally world-changing consequences. What do you imagine happened there?

For example, I consider some of the Valar indeed joined the Host of Valinor.

A conjecture on the matter: https://middle-earth.xenite.org/how-was-beleriand-destroyed-in-the-war-of-wrath/

Tulkas and Oromë could join the war as "combatants" and would be fine with the Maia Eönwë having overall command. After all, he's Manwë's representative and the Valar defer to Manwë.

If Occam's razor is applied, Ulmo would likely be involved, even if indirectly, in the reshaping of Beleriand as far as the sea is concerned.

The Ainu participants are there to take on the supernatural and Balrog-tier elements. The Vanyar and Noldor members of the Host are for fighting the other Children of Ilúvatar since the Ainur can't harm them directly.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

It's possible I'm misremembering, but didn't the valar indeed fight during the war of wrath? Or was it just the lesser ainur?

After some researching online, I am going to steal this from reddit:

From the Unfinished Tales:

To the overthrow of Morgoth he sent his herald Eönwë.

And a line that was changed by Christopher Tolkien in the Akallabêth, mentioned in The Peoples of Middle-earth:

In the Great Battle when at last Eönwë herald of Manwë overthrew Morgoth and Thangorodrim was broken, the Edain alone of the kindreds of Men fought for the Valar, whereas many others fought for Morgoth.

Christopher Tolkien then proceeds to explain this changed line from the Akallabêth:

In SA the reference to Eönwë was removed; and similarly later in the paragraph 'refusing alike the summons of [Fionwë >] Eönwë and of Morgoth' was changed to 'refusing alike the summons of the Valar and of Morgoth'. The reason for this lay in the treatment of the last chapter of the Quenta Silmarillion in the published work. The only narrative of the Great Battle at the end of the First Age (V.326 ff.) derived from the time when the Children of the Valar were an important conception, and Fionwë son of Manwë was the leader and commanding authority in the final war against Morgoth and his overthrow; but the abandonment of that conception, and the change in the 'status' of Fionwë/Eönwë to that of Manwë's herald led to doubt whether my father, had he ever returned to a real retelling of the story of the end of the Elder Days (see XI.245-7), would have retained Eönwë in so mighty and elemental a role. His part was in consequence somewhat diminished by omissions and ambiguous wording (as may be seen by comparing the text in Vol.V with that of the published Silmarillion; cf. also the editorial addition made to the Valaquenta, X.203). There is however no evidence for this supposition, and I now believe it to have been a mistaken treatment of the original text, and so also here in the Akallabêth.

As noted above, Christopher Tolkien notes that he made a mistake in removing the reference to Eönwë being the one to personally overthrow Morgoth in the published Silmarillion version of the Akallabêth (referred to as "SA" in the quote above).

Thus it can be safely concluded that Eönwë is the one who personally chained Morgoth at the end of the War of Wrath.

As for my own head cannon? That is difficult to say... I guess I never imagined too much extra here. I suppose some nonses, but I can't get out of my head is that earendil used the silmaril on his ship the blast Ancalagon with lasers...