Eärendil and the Great Eagles – The Skyborn Slayers of Ancalagon
Ancalagon‘s ancient foe was Eärendil the Mariner who dealt the fatal strike from the deck of his flying ship Vingilot, aided by Thorondor and the Great Eagles of Manwë who battled the legions of winged dragons for a day and night. Their victory brought an end to the towering terror of the greatest dragon to have ever been bred by the malice of Morgoth.
As a passionate gaming commentator and Tolkien buff, I love delving into the rich lore behind these genre-defining power players who shaped the fate of Middle-earth. So let‘s properly chronicle this clash for the ages through the lens of those winged wonders who won the field against their fiercest adversary.
Eärendil – The Sky Champion Chosen By the Valar
Eärendil‘s destiny was carved out in the First Age when he became a legendary mariner who charted a perilous course across the seas of the Bent World in search of passage to Valinor. Being born of both Elven and Human lineage as well as inheriting the resolve of both kindreds drove him on this pale errand when all hope was fading in Middle-earth.
He overcame great adversity on his journey but finally landed upon the Blessed Realm‘s shores. As the first mortal to arrive since the Downfall of Númenor long ago, Eärendil was granted audience with the Powers of Arda themselves: the Valar sitting in majesty upon their thrones.
Moved by Eärendil‘s pleas for salvation against Morgoth‘s spreading tyranny in Middle-earth, the holy guardians agreed to unleash their full might against the Black Foe of the World and his fire-breathing legions.
Returning to the war-torn lands aboard his ship Vingilot, now hallowed as the Evening Star above, Eärendil took to the skies as a beacon of hope. His vessel was graced with mystical force shields, empowering radiance, and other enchantments by the peerless craftsmen of Valinor. He also bore weapons forged with spells to smite evil by the high lore-masters among the Valar‘s ranks.
With the wind filling Vingilot’s gleaming sails, Eärendil took command of the Host of Valinor and stood poised to unleash a holy storm from the heavens upon his dread adversary, Ancalagon the Black.
Thorondor – The Eagle Lord Whose Wings Darkened the Skies
Morgoth would soon curse the name of one certain Child of Manwë high above: Thorondor, great Eagle of the windlord. No fell beast among all the reeking pits of Angband could match Thorondor for size or grandeur. When the ancient eagle took to wing, his vast shadow was said to eclipse the ground for furlongs.
Thorondor had long watched the plight of the Noldor against Morgoth’s forces throughout Beleriand during the years of starlit twilight. Many are the songs and tales praising Thorondor’s aerial deeds ridding the land of fell creatures, gathering news, or rescuing stranded survivors from vicious orcs.
The Noldor held Thorondor in such high esteem they would let their arrows fly harmlessly past rather than strike an errant Great Eagle. But no mercy awaited any servants of the Black Foe spotted by Thorondor’s piercing sight soaring through Manwë‘s realm between sky and earth on wretched wings. The Noldor would gladly aid Thorondor in purging the skies of these ghastly terrors.
When Eärendil returned from sacred Valinor as a shining flare in the gloom, Thorondor knew destiny had arrived on silver wings heralding the ruin of Thangorodrim and its vile inhabitants. Now the hour had come for the Great Eagles to wheel and dive in concert with Eärendil against the fiery spawn of Morgoth‘s darkest designs.
Ancalagon Unleashed – Greatest and Most Terrible of All Dragons
With the trumpets of the Host of Valinor resounding across Arda, Morgoth scraped the bottom of his armory and unleashed one final, devastating weapon: Ancalagon the Black. Swelling to a size unseen before or since, Ancalagon was the first winged fire-drake, bred to shatter armies and consumed mountains.
Tolkien‘s canon lacks precise detail regarding Ancalagon‘s physical stature. But given the destruction its crashing mass wreaked across Thangorodrim, its dimensions easily and vastly eclipsed those of any winged beast set loose in Middle-earth before or after, darkening the very firmament itself.
When Ancalagon spread its obsidian wings, their shadow swallowed the plains of Anfauglith behind the Ered Engrin. Infernal fires smoldered in its guts, awaiting spewing forth and igniting anything caught beneath that sulfurous torrent into ashes in seconds. Ancalagon‘s roars of bloodlust peeled across half the realm, with the mountains themselves seeming to quiver under the dragon‘s deafening challenge.
As the vanguard of winged fire-drakes rallied by vicious Glaurung Father of Dragons, Ancalagon set their aerial armada loose to swarm and incinerate the skies clear of resistance all the way to Valinor. At their fore, like some towering volcanic island ascending from a pit, flew Ancalagon the Black – deadliest and most terrible of their breed.
The Greatest Aerial Battle Over Middle-earth
Thus, as Eärendil rode out to war encased in Vingilot‘s radiance, he was met by the screaming shadow and firestorm unleashed by Ancalagon and its dragonflight. And what befell has shaken the Song of Arda ever since that day.
Thorondor bursts into battle-cry leading his phalanxes – great eagles of cunning intellect and giant size – against the walls of writhing wyrms. As the dragons close ranks, the eagle formation suddenly breaks into small squadrons, wheeling nimbly upon isolated targets to harass and misdirect their coordination.
Vingilot plunges into the chaos, the heavenly shields‘ aura flickering but still repelling the flames scouring its decks. Eärendil marshals his ranged lightning strikes against Ancalagon leading the dragons‘ charge. The bright bolts blast smoking holes across the coal-skinned dragon‘s frame and seem to stagger its flight for moments as shrieks of pain erupt from the fire-drake‘s throat.
But Ancalagon quickly recovers composure and makes straight for the lone ship daring to brave these skies. Thorondor and his Great Eagles swarm Ancalagon, savagely raking their steel talons down its back, aiming for any vulnerability as Vingilot veers clear of the collision path ahead.
As the battle rages for an entire day and night, the outcome hangs in the balance. The number of dragons still eclipse the Great Eagles, but the remaining wyrms have been battered while Thorondor‘s seasoned veterans press their counter-assault.
In the fading light, Eärendil seizes the moment for his final gambit as Ancalagon moves alone against Vingilot once more. This time as the black beast bears down on the ship shimmering through the dusk, Eärendil holds course. At what seems the last possible second, Vingilot suddenly pulls up, rocketing over the snarling Ancalagon directly above as it hurtles past underneath.
In that critical split-second, Eärendil drives his spear right between gaps in Ancalagon‘s iron-hard scales. The valiant ship then arcs high and away as the stricken Ancalagon writhes mid-flight from the mortal puncture through its raging heart. A death cry shakes the firmament as the once invincible dragon goes limp, tumbling from the clouds to carve a massive crater in Thangorodrim‘s peaks.
The Legacy of the Sky Warriors Who Felled The Black Calamity
Eärendil circled back taking in the sight of Thangorodrim‘s smoldering ruin and Thorondor‘s remaining forces routing the last of the dragons darkened the red skies. Before the sun rose again, the full might of the Host of Valinor would advance and break down the gates of Angband forever. But this victory belonged to the sky warriors and their courage facing the boiling darkness head-on against all odds.
In the Third Age and beyond, Eärendil sails the night eternally with the precious Silmaril bound upon his brow still glittering across the horizon. Thorondor and his kin also endured and remain an ever-watchful presence through the ages. And songs of their shining crusade versus Ancalagon‘s terror will ring in the halls of Valinor until Arda‘s ending days.
For what power, dark or light, could have stood before such resolve soaring on wings of purity and hope joined together? And though the Black Dragon‘s shadow may have stained the skies when unleashed, it was but a passing gloom soon banished before the coming dawn.
