Quenta 24 — Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath
Chapter 24 of the Quenta Silmarillion
Summary
At the Havens of Sirion, Elwing kept the Silmaril while her husband Eärendil grew restless with longing for the far shore, and when the sons of Fëanor came down at last in the Third Kinslaying she cast herself into the sea, and Ulmo transformed her into a white bird that flew to Eärendil with the jewel upon her breast. Eärendil, bearing the Silmaril and the plea of the two kindreds, came in the ship Vingilot to the shores of Valinor as the first of mortals to set foot in the Blessed Realm. The Valar, moved by his prayer and by the light of the holy jewel, sent forth the great host that fought the War of Wrath, the last and greatest battle of the age, with Eärendil slaying Ancalagon in the air above the wings of the dragons. Thangorodrim was broken and the towers of the north fell, and Melkor, Morgoth, was cast through the Door of Night into the Void beyond the walls of the world. In the breaking of the land Beleriand was rent and drowned beneath the waves, and the Silmarils were scattered to the air, the earth, and the sea. The Edain whose houses had fought were given the isle of the West, and Elrond and Elros, the sons of Eärendil, chose between the kindreds and the mortal life; and so the Quenta Silmarillion ends with the ending of the First Age.