Tol-in-Gaurhoth
the Isle of Werewolves; the tower of Sauron
Name and Position
Tol-in-Gaurhoth — “the Isle of Werewolves” — is the island-fortress in the upper reaches of the river Sirion (west of Doriath, at the head of the valley), seized and occupied by Sauron after its first Elvish lords were — the tower that stood upon it, “the Tower of the Werewolves”, became the dread of the ways: the place from which the Enemy’s wolves preyed, and the prison of the captives carried toward Angband.
In the
Tale of Beren and Lúthien
- The prison of Finrod: When Beren and Finrod (and their companions) were taken on the road, and Sauron (having mastered Finrod’s spell-singing in the great contest of songs) cast them into the dungeons of the isle, and “fed the werewolves of the tower on the Elves” — Finrod, in the dark, at last fought the great wolf barehanded and died there, slaying it — the king’s death.
- The rescue by song and hound: Lúthien, coming in the trail of her love, sang amid the valley such music of power that the tower’s walls “swayed” and the wolves were; Sauron himself, enraged, came forth — and Huan the hound, the master of wolves, fell upon him, and Sauron (forced to flee) took “the shape of a vampire” and escaped — the isle was delivered, and the prisoners freed.
The Fate
After those events the isle was emptied and its tower overthrown by Huan and the freed; its lordship passed away with the age (in the later confusion of the wars, the neighbours
— it is remembered chiefly as the place of Finrod’s grave-scene — the fallen prince was laid — “Finrod was buried on the isle” — per one tradition his corpse — the isle remained a cairn, a monument to the friend of Men).
Significance
Tol-in-Gaurhoth is the place where the age’s greatest quest met its darkest gate — the prison of the friend of Men, the death of Finrod, the victory of song and the hound over the greatest of Morgoth’s captains: the pivot on which the famous tale turns toward its doom and its victory.