Dagor Dagorath

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The Dagor Dagorath, Sindarin for 'Battle of Battles' or 'Final Battle', is an event described in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The published Silmarillion ends with the recounting of the voyage of Eärendil the Mariner, but this is due to an editorial decision by Christopher Tolkien. The Silmarillion as J. R. R. Tolkien originally wrote it ends with a prophecy by Mandos about the Dagor Dagorath, often referred to as "The End". The remaining clue to this prophecy is found at the end of Akallabêth, where Ar-Pharazôn and his mortal warriors who had set foot on Aman were buried by falling hills, imprisoned in the Caves of the Forgotten until the "Last Battle and Day of Doom". The account is clearly inspired by and bears many similarities to the Nordic legend of Ragnarøk.

According to the prophecy, included in The Shaping of Middle-earth and in The Lost Road in an almost identical version [1] Morgoth will discover how to break the Door of Night, and will destroy the Sun and the Moon. For the love of these, Eärendil will return from the sky and shall meet Tulkas, Eönwë with the old version of his name Fionwë, and Túrin Turambar on the plains of Valinor. All the Free Peoples of Middle-earth will participate in this final battle, Elves, Men and Dwarves alike.

There the forces of the Valar shall fight against Melkor, who will have resurrected many of his old followers, including Sauron. Tulkas will wrestle with him, but it will be by the hand of Túrin that finally death and destruction will be dealt to Melkor. Túrin will run his black sword Gurthang (Iron of Death) through Melkor's heart, thus avenging the Children of Húrin (Sindarin: Chîn Húrin) and all Men. Then the Pelóri Mountains will be levelled, the three Silmarils will be recovered from the Earth, sea, and sky, and Fëanor's spirit shall be released from the halls of Mandos to give them to Yavanna, who will break them and rekindle the light of the Two Trees. The battle will end and renew Arda's existence: all the Elves shall awake and the Powers will be young again. Also, according to Dwarven legends, they will help their maker Aulë recreate Arda in all its glory again.

Following this, there will be a Second Music of the Ainur. This song will sing into being a new world. Men will sing it with the Ainur. It is unknown what the fate of the old races, or of the old world, will be in the new one. Even the Ainur do not know anything of the second world or the Second Music. All the Ainur know is that the Second Music will be greater than the First Music.

Christopher Tolkien removed the prophecy from The Silmarillion based on a 1958 version of the Valaquenta wherein his father wrote that none of Mandos' dooms had declared whether the Marring of Arda would ever be repaired (Christopher Tolkien adopted this passage and used it to close the Quenta Silmarillion).

The published Silmarillion contradicts the Second Prophecy in places. Whereas the Second Prophecy explicitly states that the Elves and Valar shall be renewed after Dagor Dagorath and that the fate of Men is unknown, The Silmarillion states that Men will participate in singing the Second Music, and that it is the fate of the Elves that is unknown, and nothing is said of the fate of the Valar.

This fact occurred because the published Silmarillion utilizes later versions of the Quenta Silmarillion (included in Morgoth's Ring and The Peoples of Middle-earth, these later versions being more canonical than the text that appeared in The Shaping of Middle-earth and The Lost Road[2]).

Tolkien, in his later writings, seemed rather interested in discarding the prophecy of the Dagor Dagorath, but not the event itself. There are two references to it in the text of the essay about the Istari included by Christopher in Unfinished Tales.[3]

Explaining the insertion of the term in one poem included there Tolkien states that Manwë will "descend from Taniquetil" in order to confront Melkor, an event that is foreshadowed in the Myths transformed, one text published in Morgoth's Ring.

Who was "Gandalf?" It is said that in later days (when again a shadow of evil arose in the Kingdom) it was believed by many of the "Faithful" of that time that "Gandalf" was the last appearance of Manwë himself, before his final withdrawal to the watchtower of Taniquetil. (That Gandalf said that his name "in the West" had been Olórin was, according to this belief, the adoption of an incognito, a mere by-name.) I do not (of course) know the truth of the matter, and if I did it would be a mistake to be more explicit than Gandalf was. But I think it was not so. Manwë will not descend from the Mountain until Dagor Dagorath, and the coming of the End, when Melkor returns.

Unfinished Tales, Essay about the Istari

It must be mentioned here that "Dagor Dagorath", the name properly said, was not used by Tolkien in The Lost Road or in The Shaping of Middle-earth. All the occurrences of the term in these books were in the editorial notes of his son. The canonical mentions of the name are only in Unfinished Tales. Christopher Tolkien included the name in The Shaping of Middle-earth because the first mention of the Second Prophecy of Mandos was placed there but Tolkien didn't mention the existence of a Prophecy in the text published in Unfinished Tales. The manner with which the name appears in Unfinished Tales suggests that there are some kind of "foretelling" of The End but doesn't state that it comes from a Mandos's prophecy.

We need not suppose that Manwë was deluded into supposing that this had been a war to end war even to end Melkor. (...)

The dark spirit of Melkor's 'remainder' might be expected, therefore, eventually and after long ages to increase again, even (as some held) to draw back into itself some of its formerly dissipated power. It would do this (even if Sauron could not) because of its relative greatness. It did not repent, or turn finally away from its obsession, but retained still relics of wisdom, so that it could still seek its object indirectly, and not merely blindly. It would rest, seek to heal itself, distract itself by other thoughts and desires and devices - but all simply to recover enough strength to return to the attack on the Valar, and to its old obsession. As it grew again it would become, as it were, a dark shadow, brooding on the confines of Arda, and yearning towards it.

Nonetheless the breaking of Thangorodrim and the extrusion of Melkor was the end of 'Morgoth' as such, and for that age (and many ages after). It was thus, also, in a sense the end of Manwë's prime function and task as Elder King, until the End.

He had been the Adversary of the Enemy.

Morgoth's Ring, Myths Transformed

In his last writings about Middle-earth he substituted the Prophecy of the Last Battle (Dagor Dagorath) by another prophecy made by Andreth about another "Last Battle", the War of Wrath (the end of the Elder Days). In this prophecy Túrin was the destroyer of Ancalagon instead of Eärendil.

This is the definitive reference to the prophecy of the Last Battle included in the posthumously published writings of Tolkien. The next paragraph quoted Tolkien's words in Problem of Ros, the others are the comments of Christopher Tolkien.

The language of the Folk of Haleth was not used, for they had perished and would not rise again. Nor would their tongue be heard again, unless the prophecy of Andreth the Wise-woman should prove true, that Túrin in the Last Battle should return from the Dead, and before he left the Circles of the World for ever should challenge the Great Dragon of Morgoth, Ancalagon the Black, and deal him the death-stroke.

This remarkable saying has long roots, extending back to the prophecy at the end of the old Tale of Turambar (II.115-16),(...)

Another reference is found in the Annals of Aman (X.71, 76), where it is said of the constellation Menelmakar (Orion) that it 'was a sign of Túrin Turambar, who should come into the world, and a foreshowing of the Last Battle that shall be at the end of Days.

In this last reappearance of the mysterious and fluctuating idea the prophecy is put into the mouth of Andreth, the Wise-woman of the House of Bëor: Túrin will 'return from the Dead' before his final departure, and his last deed within the Circles of the World will be the slaying of the Great Dragon, Ancalagon the Black. Andreth prophesies of the Last Battle at the end of the Elder Days (the sense in which the term 'Last Battle' is used shortly afterwards in this text, p. 371); but in all the early texts (the Quenta, IV.160; the Annals of Beleriand, IV.309, V.144; the Quenta Silmarillion, V.329) it was Eärendil who destroyed Ancalagon.

"Late Writings", The Problem of Ros, The Peoples of Middle-earth

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