Seeing that the Noldor had little thought of war, and that their princes and peoples wandered freely about the lands, Morgoth's wrath was stirred and he prepared another stroke. And in the sixtieth year since the first rising of the Sun, Morgoth caused great earthquakes in the north, and fire issued from many fissures in the earth, and smokes and flame came down the Mountains of Iron, and the Orcs came forth from Angband down the plains of Ard-galen. Thence they passed into the Pass of Sirion and wrought there great evil, and in the east they broke upon Maglor's people. But Fingolfin and Maedhros were not as idle as the reckoning of Morgoth made them, and they hunted the Orcs into the highlands of Dorthonion and slew them, and they pursued the remnant far into the plains of Ard-galen and slew them to the last and least. This was accounted the Third Battle in the Wars of Beleriand, and it was named Dagor Aglareb, the Glorious Battle, for the victory of the Hosts of the Elves was great - great, and yet a warning. Henceforth, the Noldor tightened their leaguer about Angband and redoubled their vigilance.
Thus was set the Siege of Angband, and after the Dagor Aglareb the Orcs would not dare pass beyond the doors of Angband, for they were in terror of the Noldor and of the Sun, and Fingolfin boasted that save by treason among themselves, Morgoth could never again venture forth from his dungeons.
But Morgoth was mightier than them all, and though he was locked away in the Hells of Iron in the North, he still devised new evils and rested not from labour. Spies he would oft send by secret and devious ways into Beleriand, with the command to capture any that wandered alone or but few together, and these they would take by grievous paths into Hell, and there they were tormented. Thus would Morgoth sow dissension and fear among his foes, for the captured would be returned to their kin, where they made craven counsels and in terror of the Dark Lord, haunted by the memory of the horror of his countenance, would do his bidding, even far-sundered from him. And in this way also, Morgoth learned much of the hidden counsels of the lords of the Noldor, and he was well-pleased.
After another hundred years, Morgoth once again made trial of the vigilance of Fingolfin, and he sent an army into the snowy regions north of Angband, and coming down along the coasts of Drengist, they entered Hithlum from the west. But Fingon, son of Fingolfin, swiftly destroyed the host, and drove the survivors into the Sea. This was not counted among the Great Battles because the armies were not great. Morgoth now perceived, though, that the Orcs unaided were no match for the Elves, and he took counsel with this dark thegns.
After another century, Morgoth sent forth Glaurung, Father of Dragons, the first of the fire-drakes to cause ruin in Beleriand, and he came forth from Angband by night. The Elves fled before him into the Mountains of Shadow, and he defiled the fields of Ard-galen. But coming upon him with a host of archers on horseback, Fingon, Prince of Hithlum, drove him shrieking back into Hell, for he was as yet not full-grown and he could not in his youth withstand the arrows of the Noldor. Fingon won great praise for his victory over the Dragon, but few could tell the full significance of this new evil.
And so Morgoth was left well-nigh impotent, and the Long Peace followed of well-nigh two hundred years. He was ill-pleased that Glaurung was driven back, but he could do little now but watch and labour in secret. Behind the long Siege of Angband, the Eldar wandered the lands in peace and in many places the Noldor and Sindar were welded into one people, and some still sang as they went, thinking little of war...
The above image is a sketch by Ted Nasmith, and shows the defeat of the Dragon Glaurung.
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