Austallang, are you talking about the
wars of
Beleriand, the wars of the
First Age between the
Elves and
Morgoth? (
Return of the King, “Appendix A”, beginning of “
Númenor”)
Fëanor was the greatest of the Eldar in arts and lore, but also the proudest and most selfwilled. He wrought
the Three Jewels, the Silmarilli, and filled them with the radiance of the Two
Trees, Telperion and Laurelin, that gave light to the land of the
Valar. The Jewels were coveted by Morgoth the Enemy, who stole them and, after destroying the Trees, took them to
Middle-earth, and guarded them in his great
fortress of
Thangorodrim. Against the will of the Valar Fëanor forsook
the Blessed Realm and went in exile to Middle-earth, leading with him a great part of his people; for in his pride he purposed to recover the Jewels from Morgoth by force. Thereafter followed the hopeless war of the Eldar and the
Edain against Thangorodrim, in which they were at last utterly defeated.
Those wars were fought in the north of Beleriand, westernmost of the lands of Middle-earth.
You might also be thinking about the series of wars that brought about the end of
Arnor, the
North Kingdom of the Dúnedain that was ruled by
Aragorn’s ancestors and of which he was technically king, although a king without a kingdom. (
Gondor was a kingdom without a king.)
There are also wars fought by the forefathers of the
Rohirrim, the
Éothéod, in the north of the Vales of
Anduin. And there seem to have been wars fought by the
Dwarves and the
Men allied to them in the north of
Rhovanion around the
Grey Mountains, the
Lonely Mountain, and the
Iron Hills, although they are discussed very little.
The War of the Elves and
Sauron in the
Second Age only lasted a few years. Haldatyaro is right: this “sounds like an invention by the creators of your video game.” How big they were is not clear, either, although it does seem that Sauron mustered an awfully large army and swept through
Eriador with little effective opposition until he reached the line of the Lhûn, when the forces of
Gil-galad held him off with reinforcements from the Men of Númenor, and the
Númenóreans made a landing behind Sauron’s front lines, attacking him from behind and routing his army. Does any of that sound familiar?
Can you put this “Wars of the North” into context? Any color on what they’re talking about, how it’s being discussed, and so forth?
You might want to get a copy of Karen Wynn Fonstad’s book,
Atlas of Middle-Earth. She lays out all the wars one after the other: it’s kind of a Cliff Notes for the whole history of Middle-earth, and besides, it’s great fun to browse and thumb through.
Edit: And Valandil is right, too: there were whole separate campaigns fought in the north of Middle-earth during the
War of the Ring.
