Arda Kompendium

Utumno

the first fortress of Melkor; the deeps of the North

placefortressutumnomelkorunderground

Name and Place

Utumno (in Sindarin Udûn) — “the deeps” — is the first great fortress of Melkor, delved in the far north of Middle-earth in the elder years, “before the coming of the Elves” — with its tunnels, pits and forges,; its shadow (in the Quenta: “the shadows of Utumno”) fell early on the land.

The First Stronghold of the Enemy

  • Against the Valar and the Lamps: From Utumno Melkor warred on the Valar’s first works — the corrupting and the breaking of the The Two Lamps — and from its deeps the first Orcs were bred — the corruption of captured Elves
  • The War for the Sake of the Elves: When the Elves woke at Cuiviénen and Oromë’s report drew the Valar’s wrath, the Valar came against Utumno in the great war; the fortress was taken and its deeps broken, and Melkor himself was seized, bound, and dragged captive to Valinor with Angainor.
  • The legacy: The deep vaults, though overthrown, were not wholly undone; in the later return of Melkor (after his parole), he built Angband — and in the tale, Angband, not Utumno, is the lasting lair. (Udûn later names the valley beneath the Dark Lord’s dominions in the tales of Mordor — beyond scope.)

Significance

Utumno is the “pre-Angband” — the first hardening of the Enemy’s empire, whose breaking was the first great victory (and whose incomplete ruin permitted the return); it anchors the myth of Melkor’s cavernous mutilation of Arda at the world’s very beginning.

Verknüpfte Seiten

MelkorThe Two LampsAngainorAngbandThe War for the Sake of the ElvesElvesOromëConcordance — A to ZArdaEred Engrin
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
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