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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]

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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] 3 points 3 weeks ago

My understanding has always been that none of the Valar took part in the War of Wrath.

When the Valar challenged Melkor directly in the Battle of the Powers, Middle-earth suffered massive collateral damage. And at that time there was only a small population ol Elves at the remote Cuiviénen, guarded by detachment of Maiar.

During the War of Wrath most parts of Middle-earth were already populated by the Children of Ilúvatar, so the Valar had to limit their attack force to "just" Maiar and the Eldar of Aman.

Morgoth's personal power had diminished when he slowly shared parts of his might with his "creations", like the dragons. The Valar had to be aware of this; Thorondor was able to maim Morgoth's face while retrieving Fingolfin's body and would have relayed the news of this and the duel to Manwë.

So it's pretty safe to say that the Valar considered their army to be more than adequate to overthrow Morgoth: Maiar to take on the Balrogs and other fallen Maiar, elite Elves for the orc hordes and other "normal level" enemies.

But I also think that an important component is also that the Children of Ilúvatar had to "save themselves" from evil, the Maiar were sent just to level the stakes and capture Morgoth at.the end. The Eldar of Aman needed to be a part of this effort, not just as elite reinforcements but to show unity with their Middle-earth brethren and other Children of Ilúvatar. They all had to renounce Morgoth's evil and rally together to finally prevail after immeasurable suffering.

If the "gods" themselves had just showed up and taken care of the baddies, there would have been none of this hard earned absolution. Which also fits pretty nicely with Tolkien's Catholic worldview.

As how Beleriand was destroyed and "fell beneath the wawes", it could be argued that the Maiar were allowed to use their full power while facing the fallen Maiar, resulting in the utter ruin of the lands. And if the ruined Beleriand was considered to be tainted by Morgoth's lingering evil, sinking the entire region to the sea would be a logical thing for the Valar to do.