Angband

Angband, "the Iron Prison" or "Hells of Iron", was the great northern fortress of Morgoth in the First Age, the seat of his power throughout the Wars of Beleriand. From its deep dungeons and over its towering gates came the hosts of Orcs, Balrogs, and dragons that warred against the Elves and the Edain.

Description

Angband lay in the far north of Beleriand, delved beneath the triple peaks of Thangorodrim, mountains of slag and ash heaped up by Morgoth above his stronghold. Its gates opened upon the plain, and behind them lay vast dungeons, armouries, and breeding-pits reaching far down into the earth. The fumes of Thangorodrim darkened the northern sky.

History

Angband was first built in the Elder Days as an outpost guarding the approaches to Morgoth's deeper fortress of Utumno, set in the keeping of Sauron, his chief lieutenant. When the Valar destroyed Utumno in the war for the sake of the newly awoken Elves, Angband endured, its lowest pits unsearched.

When Morgoth returned to Middle-earth after destroying the Two Trees and stealing the Silmarils, he rebuilt and enlarged Angband as his chief seat, raising Thangorodrim above it. There he set the Silmarils in his iron crown. From Angband he waged the long Wars of Beleriand against the Noldor and their allies, sending forth his armies in battle after battle.

Downfall

Angband stood until the end of the First Age, when the host of the Valar came out of the West in the War of Wrath. In that cataclysm Thangorodrim was thrown down and Angband was broken and unroofed, Morgoth dragged from its deepest pit and cast out of the world. The ruin of the fortress was so great that much of the surrounding land was shattered and drowned along with the rest of Beleriand.