Ancalagon
the Black; the mightiest of the winged dragons
Name and Being
Ancalagon the Black is the mightiest of all the dragons: the greatest of the winged fire-drakes of Morgoth, “the leader of the dragons” (the Quenta: “the winged dragons… whose captain was Ancalagon the Black”), bred in the last desperate years of the age in Angband.
The Last War In the
War of Wrath, as Morgoth’s last defense, the winged dragons came out — and the sky was filled with their fire. Eärendil (in the Vingilot, with the Silmaril) and the Eagles of Manwë went against them; and in the supreme aerial battle **Ancalagon was slain by Eärendil — “he was cast down” — ** — the black body crashing upon the mountains — with Ancalagon’s fall the Enemy’s might in the air was broken, and the war’s end was made sure.
Significance
Ancalagon is the “last monster” — the greatest of the dragons, destroyed by the greatest of the Elf-sailors, in the sky-fight that ends the age’s battles; his death is the final proof that even Morgoth’s last and mightiest works could not stand against the light that Eärendil carried, and its physical consequence (the breaking of Thangorodrim) is the symbol of the Enemy’s realm’s collapse.