The Complete Tolkien Companion (105 page)

War of the Great Jewels
– The longest and most terrible war ever fought in Middle-earth, which lasted for many centuries of the First Age and brought grief, terror and unparalleled destruction to mortal lands. The War of the Great Jewels was begun for unworthy motives, and those who commenced it were, in the end, utterly defeated, together with their blameless allies. Only by the intercession of the Valar, at the very end of the Age, was it finally brought to an end; yet its effects were far-reaching and lingered beyond the change of days.

The origins of the War of the Great Jewels lie far back in the Elder Days, with the cult of craftsmanship perpetrated in Eldamar by the Noldorin High-elves, of whom Fëanor was a chief and the greatest in arts and lore. Pride in craftsmanship led to pride for its own sake, and eventually to possessiveness. Fëanor created the Silmarils, the ‘Great Jewels' which were so marvellously beautiful that none could behold them without longing to possess them; and at last one of the great Valar, Morgoth, succumbed to this lure and stole the Jewels, which he carried back to Middle-earth.

The Noldor grew enraged at Morgoth's act, and resolved to follow him back to Middle-earth and wrest the Jewels from him by whatever means necessary. Against the expressed will of the Valar, they took ship and followed Morgoth; and almost immediately they were engaged in battle with his forces. Yet although this first clash resulted in victory for the Elves – and other victories were to follow, on an even greater scale – no real progress was ever made towards their ultimate objective: the recovery of the Silmarils. And in the end the tide of battle turned irretrievably against them. They were defeated, and their cause was ruined.

The War of the Great Jewels is sometimes also known as the War of Beleriand – of old the heartland of the power of the Elves in Middle-earth – and although the purpose of the Noldor was the recovery of the Jewels, this war aim rapidly became identified with the holding of Beleriand against Morgoth; indeed, this alone was as much as the hosts of the Noldor were ever able to achieve. But at the outset of the War the returning Noldor rapidly gained the initiative from the armies of Angband. An attack on their first encampment was swiftly rebuffed, and Beleriand, which at that time had been partially occupied by Orcs, was swiftly liberated. This initial series of successes was followed by the formulation of the governing strategy of the Noldor, in which the natural bastions of the north of Beleriand were occupied and fortified by the various Noldorin princes and their respective hosts, with the aim of erecting a permanent barrier against Angband, but with the ultimate intention of bringing Morgoth to battle on the open plains beyond: a battle which the Noldor, at this time, had no doubts whatever of winning. Then, and only then, did they envisage an advance upon Angband and a settling of accounts with Morgoth.

But this conservative strategy left the initiative entirely in the hands of the Enemy; and in the fullness of time he took advantage of it, to his profit (being aided in this ‘waiting game' by his knowledge of the precariousness of the alliance of peoples opposed to him, and of its inevitable – if prolonged – dissolution). So it came to pass. And although in the end the alliance lasted for more than four centuries, Morgoth's strategy was proved sound. The Noldor quarrelled amongst themselves, and the Sindar withdrew their aid; and even the arrival in Beleriand of a new and formidable people, the Atani (Men), did no more than postpone the evil day.

A study of the various battles fought during this long period reveals that in defence the Noldor and the Atani were at their most formidable. Indeed, the only battles they ever won were those in which they themselves had been attacked (even so they did not win all of these); and the greatest disaster of all came about as a result of a gigantic planned offensive against Morgoth. Yet the real military reason for their ultimate defeat lies in the fact that, in choosing to fight an attritive war (their only choice in view of the immense strength of Angband) they thus surrendered their best card – their matchless valour and superior weaponry – to the Enemy. For his armies, although less valorous and indeed clumsily led for the most part, were always far more numerous and indeed renewable; whereas from the day of their arrival at Losgar the Noldor began to decrease. And the longer the War lasted the more the balance began to favour the Enemy.

Such was the pattern of events. Initial victories of the Eldar were followed by a defensive strategy; and this, successful at first, was followed by the four-hundred-year Siege of Angband, the last two centuries of which are known as the Long Peace. But for reasons explained above, the Siege was at last overthrown by a sudden attack from Angband; and although for another decade or so the Noldor rallied valiantly, and indeed recaptured some of the territory lost during that battle, the tide had turned against them for ever. The Battle of Sudden Flame was followed by the Nirnaeth Arnoe-diad, in which a supposedly co-ordinated offensive went disastrously wrong – due to treachery – and brought about the all but total destruction of the last armies of the Eldar and the Edain. The northern front was overthrown and Beleriand was at last laid bare to Morgoth.

Yet the War of the Great Jewels was not yet over; for there were still isolated communities of Elves and Men who fought on – no longer in hope of overthrowing Morgoth, but because it was all that was left to them to do. But with frightening rapidity these islands were sundered one from the other; and the long-held (and immensely powerful) refuges of the Noldor, chiefly the cities of Nargothrond and Gondolin in Beleriand, were successively assailed and captured. For although they had been built by far-sighted Elven-princes in anticipation of just such a day, when the time came their powers of endurance were compromised by other forces now at work in Middle-earth: treachery not the least. Even the ancient coastal havens of the Grey-elves were sacked and destroyed; and now, in all Beleriand, there was only one Eldarin realm still standing: the Kingdom of Doriath, defended by the Girdle of Melian. Yet this, too, fell, though not to Morgoth; and now all was over. Only in secret lairs at the Mouths of Sirion, and on the Isle of Balar, did Elves and Men survive. But there was no longer any thought (except in the minds of the Sons of Fëanor) of regaining the Silmarils or of defeating Morgoth. Indeed, it seemed only a matter of time before their Enemy discovered these last refuges and assailed them also, so making an end of the Eldar and the Edain.

But now the time had at last come for the Valar themselves to intervene. As long as the Noldor alone had been suffering destruction, they had held aloof; but now other peoples, guiltless of the crimes of Fëanor and his followers, had also been imperilled and had already endured great loss of life. The original reasons for non-intervention therefore no longer obtained – and the Valar, when informed of the change of situation, decided to take a part in the War. The host they sent from the West utterly obliterated Morgoth's land of Angband; and the Silmarils were at last regained: but not by the Noldor.

The very last act of the long tragedy was the stealing of the two remaining Silmarils, recovered from Morgoth, by the two surviving Sons of Fëanor. But this in turn led directly to the destruction (or at least final loss) of the Great Jewels; and with the removal of the Silmarils from the reach of all who desired to possess them the War came to an end; and with it the First Age of the World. Morgoth was cast into the void and the Exiles (with a few notable exceptions) were permitted to return to the Far West. The Edain – who had not brought the War about, but had bravely fought against Evil with great loss of life – were richly rewarded. But nothing could resurrect the dead, or restore the lost lands of Beleriand, or remove the stain of guilt from the sorrowful High-elves, whose rashness and pride had led to the War in the first place.

Many indeed of the Noldor voluntarily continued their exile in mortal lands, for it seemed to them then that by labouring and healing they might in time come to atone for the great distress they had brought about. The product of this policy was the creation of the Rings of Power; and the result of that was the War of the Ring, two full Ages after the end of the War of the Great Jewels.

War of the Powers
–
See
BATTLE OF THE POWERS
.

War of the Ring
– The name given in Gondor and the Shire to the great conflict which took place at the end of the Third Age between Sauron the Great, Lord of the Rings, and the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, acting in league. The object of the War was the possession of the Ruling Ring made by Sauron in the Second Age. The Dark Lord wished to regain it, and his foes to destroy it; in the end the Free Peoples prevailed and Sauron was himself engulfed in the wave of destruction which followed the melting of the Ring in the Cracks of Doom.

The War of the Ring is, of course, the very subject on which both Bilbo and Frodo have written so eloquently (and at such length) in the Red Book of Westmarch. That renowned volume indeed tells the story of the War from the point of view of the Hobbits, who had much to do with its successful conclusion, and there can be few who will expect to find it retold in these pages. By unprecedented heroism and great good fortune (as it is called) the Ring was carried to the Fire despite all Sauron's increasingly frantic efforts to recover it – and simultaneously his armed might was checked on the very point of victory by excellent strategy and impeccable timing.

Defeated on the field of battle, Sauron was defeated in spirit and outguessed by his foes at every single turn; and although much damage was done and many lives were lost before all was over, in the end both Sauron and the Ring were removed from the world and an age-old peril was extinguished for ever.

War of Wrath
– The Name given by the Eldar to the final – and exceedingly brief – stage of the
WAR OF THE GREAT JEWELS
, in which the Valar, learning at last of the triumph of Morgoth and of the afflictions of Middle-earth, returned to mortal lands with a great host and, in a series of swift battles, achieved what the combined might of Elves and Men had been unable to accomplish in five centuries of bitter warfare. Angband was destroyed and Morgoth was taken captive; and the remaining Silmarils were, for a while, recovered.

Wars of Beleriand
– The
WAR OF THE GREAT JEWELS
.

Watch
– The
SHIRRIFFS
.

Watcher in the Water
– A hideous monster, a kind of demonic cephalopod, which, during the latter part of the Third Age, dwelt in a sinister lake at the West-door of Moria. The lake was itself created by the damming of the river Sirannon, and in this way the western entrance to the Dwarf-realm was sealed. For this reason it was afterwards guessed that the Watcher itself had been initially responsible for the damming of the river.

Watchful Peace
– The name given by the Wise to the period between 2063–2460 Third Age, when Dol Guldur was temporarily abandoned by Sauron (because of a desire to preserve his true identity from an increasingly inquisitive White Council).

The Water
– The chief river of the Shire (apart from the Baranduin). It rose in the north-west and flowed through Hobbiton, Bywater and Bridgefields to join the Baranduin (Brandywine) north of the Bridge of Stonebows. During this journey it formed two lakes or tarns: the Bywater Pool and a larger expanse (itself called, rather confusingly, ‘The Water') north of Frogmorton.

Waybread
– A translation of the Sindarin words
len-bas
or
lembas.

Waymeet
– A village in the Westfarthing of the Shire. It grew up around an ancient crossroads, where the road from Little Delving to Sarn Ford crossed the Great East Road. Also called Waymoot.

Weather Hills
–
See
following entry.

Weathertop
– An approximate translation of the Sindarin name
Amon Sûl
(literally ‘Hill of Winds'). It was the tallest and most southerly of the Weather Hills range in central Eriador.

Wedmath
– The eighth month of the Shire Reckoning, equivalent to
Urimë
in the Númenorean calendar (Kings' Reckoning).

Wellinghall
– A translation of the (unknown) ‘short name' for an Ent-house used by Treebeard. It was on the south-eastern slopes of Methedras, not far from the source of the Entwash river.

Wells of Varda
– The great cisterns in Valinor wherein the Queen of the Valar, Varda (Elbereth), is said to have gathered and stored the luminescent dew from the Two Trees. They were emptied by Ungo-liant after the poisoning of the Trees, and never again refilled.

West-elves
– The Eldar.

Westemnet
– The name given by the Rohirrim to that region of their land which lay to the west of the river Entwash.

Westernesse
– An archaic translation of the Quenya word
Númenórë
(literally, ‘People-of-the-West').

Western Sea
– Belegaer.

Westfarthing
– One of the four quarters or ‘farthings' of the Shire. It was bounded by the Tower Hills in the west, by the villages of Needlehole and Nobottle in the north, by the villages of Hobbiton and Bywater – and the Three-farthing Stone – in the east, and by the township of Michel Delving in the south. Until the Fourth Age, it was the least inhabited portion of the Shire.

Westfold
– The name given in Rohan to the region between the river Isen and the northernmost White Mountains. Its chief stronghold was Helm's Deep.

Westfold Vale
– The low-lying central area of the Westfold, watered by the Deeping Stream.

West-gate (of Moria)
– The Doors of Durin. Early in the Second Age, during the years of Moria's greatest wealth and glory, many High-elves removed to the lands between the Swanfleet (Glanduin) and the Loudwater (Bruinen), to trade with the Dwarves. For their part, the Moria-dwellers extended their realm westward to enable this commerce to flourish. Where the Misty Mountains ended in a great vertical cliff the Dwarves constructed a door of marvellous workmanship, utterly impenetrable to those who did not know its secret. In return, the High-elves embellished the Doors of Durin with designs and writings in
ithildin,
a metal made from mithril which reflected only light of moon and stars.