The War of Wrath, or the Great Battle, is a key plot development in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, portraying the final war against Morgoth at the end of the First Age.
Elrond, at his Council, makes comparison to the Last Alliance of Elves and Men of the Second Age in The Lord of the Rings saying,
I remember well the splendour of their banners ... It recalled to me the glory of the Elder Days and the hosts of Beleriand, so many great princes and captains were assembled. And yet not so many, nor so fair, as when Thangorodrim was broken...
In the Tale of the Years it is called the Great Battle and the army, the Host of Valinor. The best known and most poetical account is in The Silmarillion, itself closely drawn from the earlier Quenta Silmarillion. The most detailed account of the course of the war is in The Later Annals of Beleriand. Other accounts and fragmentary details about the war are scattered, appearing in the earliest versions of the legendarium.
The experience of distance to the War of Wrath is greatest in Lord of the Rings, drawing nearer to it in The Silmarillion, closer still in the Annals and Quentas of the History of Middle-earth and closest, in aspects, in The Lost Tales.
Read more about War Of Wrath: The Silmarillion Account, The History of Middle-earth Accounts, Impact On Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words war of, war and/or wrath:
“To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be Unjust. The notions of Right and Wrong, Justice and Injustice have there no place. Where there is no common Power, there is no Law; where no Law, no Injustice. Force, and Fraud, are in war the two Cardinal virtues.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Armies, for the most part, are made up of men drawn from simple and peaceful lives. In time of war they suddenly find themselves living under conditions of violence, requiring new rules of conduct that are in direct contrast to the conditions they lived under as civilians. They learn to accept this to perform their duties as fighting men.”
—Gil Doud, U.S. screenwriter, and Jesse Hibbs. Walter Bedell Smith (Himself)
“See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul—half a drop! ah, my Christ!—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!—
Yet will I call on him!—O, spare me, Lucifer!—
Where is it now? ‘T is gone; and see where God
Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!—
Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)