Thangorodrim
the Mountains of Oppression; the towers of smoke above Angband
Name and Position
Thangorodrim — “the Mountains of Oppression” — is the great group of volcanic peaks Melkor raised above the gates of Angband out of the ashes and slag of his forges: three mountains — the towers of smoke and fire, the Quenta: — they stand as the sign of the Enemy in the north, their vents and fires the seat of dragons (Glaurung crawled from them).
In the Tale
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The prison of Maedhros: On the east of Thangorodrim’s crags, Maedhros was hung in torment; Fingon’s rescue (with the eagle’s aid) is played out upon its face.
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The challenge: Fingolfin came riding to its gates to challenge and fight Morgoth — “the most valiant deed” in the shadow of those towers.
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The coming of the dragons and the war: the fires of Thangorodrim are the womb of the dragons’ first risings; the Bragollach — the “sudden flame” — burst from beneath it.
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The ruin: In the War of Wrath “Thangorodrim was broken” — the mountain-towers were “smitten” and cast down (the dragon Ancalagon falling upon them in the final fight), and the whole northern region sank, with Beleriand, beneath the Sea.
Significance
Thangorodrim is the visible horror of the Enemy’s rule — the broken, fire-blackened hills that overshadowed the north for an age, the antithesis of Taniquetil; its overthrow is the Second — is the physical event that marks the fall of Morgoth and the doom of the first age’s geography.