Dagor Dagorath

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Dagor Dagorath
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The Last Battle, also known as the Second Prophecy of Mandos, but probably best
known as the Dagor Dagorath (Sindarin, "Battle of all Battles"), is an apocalyptic
event prophesied by Mandos. According to Christopher Tolkien, the Dagor Dagorath as
a Prophecy of Mandos was abandoned by Tolkien.[1]

Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Omission of the Second Prophecy
2 Other versions of the Legendarium
2.1 The Book of Lost Tales
2.2 The Earliest 'Silmarillion'
2.3 The Quenta Noldorinwa
2.4 The Later Quenta Silmarillion
2.5 Mannish legend
3 Etymology and names
4 Inspiration
5 See also
6 External links
7 References
[edit] History
In the published Silmarillion, the Dagor Dagorath is only mentioned as the Last
Battle on three occasions:

...and that he declared to their Fathers of old that Il�vatar will hallow them [the
Dwarves] and give them a place among the Children in the end. Then their part shall
be to serve Aul� and to aid him in the remaking of Arda after the Last Battle.
�Of Aul� and Yavanna
...Many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the
heavens of Arda: [...] and Menelmacar with his shining belt, that forebodes the
Last Battle that shall be at the end of days.
�Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor
But Ar-Pharaz�n the King and the mortal warriors that had set foot upon the land of
Aman were buried under falling hills: there it is said that they lie imprisoned in
the Caves of the Forgotten, until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom.
�Akallab�th
No other information about the End of the World is given in The Silmarillion except
the few mentions of the Second Music of the Ainur, which can be deduced as to be
sung after the Battle. The only mention of the Dagor Dagorath by name is given in a
note concerning the origin of Gandalf:

Manw� will not descend from the Mountain until the Dagor Dagorath, and the coming
of the End, when Melkor returns.
�Unfinished Tales, "The Istari"[2]
From all this information it can be deduced that Arda will come to an end with a
last battle against Morgoth. After the Battle, Arda will be rebuilt, the "lands
that lie under the wave will be lifed up again"[3] and a new world will begin with
the Song of Ainur and Men before Il�vatar.

The metaphysical implications of the remaking of the world after the Battle belong
to the discussion about Arda Healed.

[edit] Omission of the Second Prophecy

Many previous manuscripts of the Quenta Silmarillion close with Mandos describing
the Battle in a prophecy, which is called the Second Prophecy of Mandos (the first
being the Prophecy of the North), but Christopher deliberately omitted it for his
edition. This decision was due to a passage of The Later Quenta Silmarillion, which
states that

if any change shall come and the Marring [of Arda] be amended, Manw� and Varda may
know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.
�Morgoth's Ring, "The Valaquenta"[1]
Those words were taken literally by Christopher, deducing that Tolkien would remove
the Second Prophecy in the final version.[1] Instead, he used those words as the
own closing of his published Quenta.[4] This decision is questioned among the
fandom and the canonicity of the Second Prophecy is a popular debate. However, the
publications after the 1977 Silmarillion give a better understanding of Tolkien's
final vision and the necessity of an apocalyptic event is manifest, as Verlyn
Flieger states: �Tolkien wrote that the Legendarium ends with a vision of the end
of the world, its breaking and remaking, and the recovery of the Silmarilli and the
"light before the sun". [...] It would be strange if he had not envisioned such an
end, for the mythologies on which he draws most heavily, Judeo-Christian and Norse,
both included remaking and renewal in surprisingly similar terms.�[5] Here Flieger
is citing the Letter to Milton Waldman, where Tolkien himself summarized his
Mythology, including the vision of the Last Battle.[6] Ironically, Christopher
included this letter in the introduction to the 30th Anniversary edition of The
Silmarillion (2007),[7] having removed the refered text.

[edit] Other versions of the Legendarium

[edit] The Book of Lost Tales
Tolkien did not finish the Book of Lost Tales, so it is unknown if he would
conclude with a Prophecy of the End of the World, but there are many mentions of a
Great End. The earliest description of the event was written in an unclear date and
it is not mentioned as a prophecy:

For 'tis said that ere the Great End come Melko shall in some wise contrive a
quarrel between Moon and Sun, and Ilinsor shall seek to follow Urwendi through the
Gates, and when they are gone the Gates of both East and West will be destroyed,
and Urwendi and Ilinsor shall be lost. So shall it be that Fionw� �rion, son of
Manw�, of love for Urwendi shall in the end be Melko's bane, and shall destroy the
world to destroy his foe, and so shall all things the be rolled away
�"The Hiding of Valinor"[8]
This early idea soon included T�rin, who was an essential character in all later
versions. Concluding the Tale of Turambar, it is described how he and his sister
Nien�ri will be purified after death and will live in Valinor as Valar, but
"Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionw� in the Great Wrack, and Melko and his
drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil".[9] This is the only version that
mentions any of the Morgoth's creatures participating in the Battle.

However, the earliest mention of the battle hold as a Prophecy is in one note,
where is said:
If Men help them, the fairies (Elves) will take Men to Valinor, fight a great
battle with Melko in Erum�ni and open Valinor. Laurelin and Silpion will be
rekindled, and the mountain wall being destroyed then soft radiance will spread
over all the world, and the Sun and Moon will be recalled. If Men oppose them and
aid Melko, the Wrack of the Gods and the ending of the fairies will result, and
maybe the Great End.
�"The History of Eriol or �lfwine and the End of the Tales"[10]
Many other versions are given in this chapter that also concern the "Rekindling of
the Magic Sun" (an obscure matter about the recovery of the Light of Valinor) or
the vanishing of the Elves, so the prophecy here is associated with abandoned
conceptions and is not as related with the End of Arda.[11]

[edit] The Earliest 'Silmarillion'

"Two Trees of Valinor" by Roger Garland

The Earliest 'Silmarillion' (also known as the 'Sketch of the Mythology') concludes
with a description of the last battle and it includes many of the concepts that
later will be transformed, although there is still no mention of a Prophecy of
Mandos:

When the world is much older, and the Gods weary, Morgoth will come back through
the Door, and the last battle of all will be fought. Fionw� will fight Morgoth on
the plain of Valinor, and the spirit of T�rin shall be beside him; it shall be
T�rin who with his black sword will slay Morgoth, and thus the children of H�rin
shall be avenged. In those days the Silmarils shall be recovered from sea and earth
and air, and Maidros shall break them and Belaurin with their fire rekindle the Two
Trees, and the great light shall come forth again, and the Mountains of Valinor
shall be levelled so that it goes out over the world, and Gods and Elves and Men
shall grow young again, and all their dead awake.[12]
The participation of E�rendel is also included: explaining how he sails in the
heavens, watching upon Morgoth with his Silmaril upon his brow, "until he sees the
last battle gathering upon the plains of Valinor. Then he will descend."