Angband
Hell of Iron; the great fortress of Morgoth
Name and Position
Angband — “Hells of Iron” — is the vast underground fortress of Melkor in the far north of Beleriand, beneath the tower-peak of Thangorodrim, at the gates of the Ered Wethrin — the great dungeons and forges “beneath the earth”, from which the armies of the Enemy issued. It was built in the days before the Elves (as Melkor’s stronghold among the “northern wastes”), rebuilt and enlarged when Morgoth returned after the theft of the Silmarils, and remained the seat of his power till the end of the age.
The Sieges and the Wars
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The Long Siege — after the Noldor’s coming, Angband was besieged (the “Siege of Angband”, part of the Long Peace) while the Enemy lay quiet; only through the great gates (the “Gates of Angband”) the dread issued.
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The breaking: When the Siege was riven (the Dagor Bragollach), the hosts poured out; and through all the wars the fortress stood — its pits, its torture, its dragons’ breeding (Glaurung’s first rising), its orc-forges, its furnaces.
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The assails: Fingolfin’s challenge at its gates; the Fëanorians’ march; the final assault of the War of Wrath — when the host of the West at last broke in, “and the gates of Angband were thrown down” — and Morgoth was taken from his throne beneath the mountain; Angband was utterly ruined, its pits were broken, and the land was drowned.
The Meaning Angband is the anti-Valinor
— the sunless deep where the Dark Lord’s power works below the mountains’ shadow:, the prison of Húrin, the source of the “dragons and demons” of the age. Its collapse, with the ruin of Thangorodrim, is the physical symbol of the fall of Morgoth himself.