And looking out from the slopes of Ered Wethrin with his last sight he beheld far off the peaks of Thangorodrim, mightiest of the towers of Middle-earth, and knew with the foreknowledge of death that no power of the Noldor would ever overthrow them

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He rode northward again with all speed to the Pass of Sirion, and coming to the skirts of Taur-nu-Fuin he looked out across the waste of Anfauglith and saw afar the peaks of Thangorodrim.

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The destruction of Thangorodrim isn't that spectacular in the Silmarillion

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Btw Tolkien uses almost the same wording when Galdalf struck the Balrog down from Durin's tower: ``and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side``

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SPACE_LEMON said:

According to TolkienGateway the Towers of Thangorodrim were the "highest peaks in Middle-earth". Gonna look for an original source on that. In my personal opinion, the descriptions of Thangorodrim sound very volcanic.

Edit:

- Of the Return of the Noldor, The Silmarillion​

Now of course "towers" can mean literal towers, but Tolkien's descriptive style makes use of metaphors like this all the time so my bet is he means mountain peaks.

- Of Beren and Lúthien, The Silmarillion​

To be seen from that distance the Towers must have been exceedingly massive. Plus, the mere fact that they are used as the landmark of Angband and that whole region implies hugeness.


You've got to remember that The War of Wrath (as with the whole ending stage of the Quenta) was left as practically just an outline. Nothing in the War of Wrath is described in detail and the whole section is overall underwhelming for events so world-wrenching and spectacular.

True, but in the case of Thangorodrim it seems clear to me that Tolkien meant the Towers were literally broken, as in many places in The Silmarillion there are references to the "breaking" of Thangorodrim and Thangorodrim being "broken". In fact the Towers are described as "broken" shortly after Ancalagon is slain.



As for whether Eärendil could've slain a mountain-sized dragon, it's important to keep in mind that Tolkien's original conception of his mythology was particularly mythological, in that certain details are fantastical to the point of defying logic, as is the case in much of real-world mythology. Doing the impossible is typical for figures of legend.

This is not the only instance where interpreting the text literally in terms of a "real" world seems impossible. For instance, the slaves and captives of Angband are only freed after Angband and the Iron Mountains are destroyed (the mountains are "unroofed"), which of course makes absolutely no sense as they would've all been crushed.

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Eriol_Eandur said:

This picture is brought up again and again:

Spoiler: comparison of dragons

In my opinion that picture is pure fan fiction without any reliable sources.
I discussed this topic several times before. But as discord "forgets" so quickly I'll summarize my thoughts here again:

• People overestimate the size and solidity of Thangorodrim. They were not really mountains like Erebor but ``were made of the ash and slag of his subterranean furnaces`` Thangorodrim were more like enormous chimneys/towers: ``and smoke issued from their tops``. Also there were many doors and tunnels in them and spaces to hold a huge host: ``By many secret doors in Thangorodrim Morgoth had let issue forth his main host``
• I really can't imagine how Earendil, a half-elf should slew that mountain size Ancalagon in the picture.
• Also from what pit of Angband that monster should come from: ``and out of the pits of Angband there issued the winged dragons``
• The destruction of Thangorodrim isn't that spectacular in the Silmarillion: ``and he fell upon the towers of Thangorodrim, and they were broken in his ruin`` It doesn't need a mountain size moster to break a tower, even if it's a huge tower. (Btw Tolkien uses almost the same wording when Galdalf struck the Balrog down from Durin's tower: ``and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side``)
• Glaurung also is way to large in that picture. He fits in the halls of Nargothrond like Smaug fits in the halls of Erebor. Also elves on horses and dwarves with axes fought against Glaurung in the Battles of Beleriand with quite some success.

As far as I know there is no direct quote about the size of dragons by Tolkien. But all his drawnings and more detailed descriptions (e.g. Orthanc and Minas Tirith) clearly show that he wasn't a fan of ridiculously huge stuff. From the points above my guess is that Glaurung and Smaug are about the same size. Smaug is obviouslawinged dragon first seen in the War of Wrath. If he was present there and fled or if he's a descendant of dragons who fled from the War of Wrath is unclear. So Smaug and Ancalagon were of the same kind. Ancalagon was the ``mightiest of the dragon-host`` at the War of Wrath. But that doesn't implies that he was 10 times larger than the other Dragons of the War of Wrath as suggested in the image. The largest entity of a kind is usually 10-20% larger than the average. For dragons it might be 100% larger, who knows. But more seems weird to me and there isn't any hint in that direction. So I guess Ancalagon was no more than twice the size of Smaug. I'd be ok with 5 times but definitely not the scale shown in the image.
(All quotes are from The Silmarillion)

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Eriol_Eandur said:

Could you explain the difference between a drake and a dragon? I can't find a clear definition.

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Eriol_Eandur said:

Do you have a source for Smaug being a miniature dragon compared to the dragons of the First Age?

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