First Battle of Beleriand
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| First Battle of Beleriand | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||
| Combatants | |||||||
| Sindar and allies | Angband | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Elu Thingol, Círdan, Denethor† | Morgoth, Orc-captains[1] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 30,000-40,000 | 80,000-100,000[2] | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Heavy 10,000 | 35,000-45,000 | ||||||
| Wars of Beleriand |
|---|
| First Battle - Dagor-nuin-Giliath - Dagor Aglareb - Angband - Dagor Bragollach - Nirnaeth Arnoediad - War of Wrath |
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, the First Battle of Beleriand was the first battle of the Wars of Beleriand, fought by the Sindar Elves, led by Elu Thingol, King of Doriath and Lord of Beleriand, against the armies of Morgoth, the Great Enemy, the Dark Lord.
Morgoth, escaping Valinor, arrived in Middle-earth, and occupied his old fortress of Angband under the mountains of Thangorodrim while the Noldor pursuing him still toiled through Araman. His servants, Sauron and Gothmog had long been breeding Orcs as warriors for his armies.
Morgoth decided to move quickly to conquer Beleriand and he sent out his armies. Two Orc-hosts advanced south from Angband. One west through the vale of the river Sirion and the second east between the rivers Celon and Gelion. The Orcs made camps on the Estolad plain in the east and the Talath plain in the west and they harried the lands about. In this first battle, in this first war, that ever any Elves fought, the Sindar and their allies the Green Elves, the Falathrim and the Dwarves met the forces of the Dark Lord in the open field.
In East Beleriand, King Denethor of the Laiquendi, the Green-elves, fought the Orcs on Amon Ereb, an isolated hill south and east of Doriath. Lightly armed, they took heavy casualties. King Elu Thingol with the army of Doriath arrived to save the Laiquendi from annihilation but Denethor fell before Thingol could save him, but the Orcs were defeated. Those few survivors were slain by the Dwarves of Mount Dolmed.
In the west, the Elves of the Falas under their Lord Círdan, cut off from Thingol, met the western host, but they lost, and retreated to their walled havens of Eglarest and Brithombar. These cities were besieged, and Doriath was unable to gather a strong enough force to send aid. The sieges of the havens of Falas were only lifted when the Orcs withdrew to reinforce the assault by a third Orc-host on the the Noldor Elves under Fëanor new come and encamped in Mithrim.
After the First Battle Doriath was protected by the magical Girdle of Melian (Doriathrin: List Melian). Its mists and shadowy mazes hid entry to Doriath and Thingol took a defensive stance behind it.
The death of King Denethor in this battle led the Laiquendi to pledge to never again name a king or participate in the wars between the other Elves and Morgoth.
[edit] References
- ^ Silmarillion, p.116, "Morgoth perceived now that Orcs unaided were no match...". Orc-captains had led the armies of Angband until after the Third Battle, Dagor Aglareb, when more formidable creatures were given commands by Morgoth.
- ^ History of Middle-earth, Vol.XI. pp. 15-17; Silmarillion, p.96, 106-107. These passages describe a "great army" sent from Angband that divides into an "eastern host" and an "Orc-host in the West"; later the western host that marched north is described as: "...the armies...that had passed south...beleagured Círdan". The attack on Fëanor is described as "the host of Melkor, orcs and werewolves"; "the host of Morgoth". From this it's posible to discern that: a great army of Orcs is made up of hosts, that a host is made up of armies. Both Vol. XI, p.57 and Simarillion, p. 157, later described a lesser formation that attacks Brethil, an Orc-legion. It can be postulated from this and many other citations that a basic Orc military structure consists of: Orc-companies that make up an Orc-legion; Orc-legions that make up an Orc-army; Orc-armies that make up an Orc-host; Orc-hosts that make up a Great Army or a Great Host. If a Legion is estimated at 10,000: an Army is 20,000; a Host would be 40,000. Based on the few known numbers such as the 100,000 Orcs in Vol. V, p.137, these seem reasonable estimates.
