The Thieves' Quarrel
From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.
| Thieves' Quarrel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict: Battles of Beleriand | |||
| Date: Years of the Trees | |||
| Place: Lammoth | |||
| Outcome: Victory for the Dark Powers (an order of fallen Ainur led by the Dark Lord Morgoth) | |||
| Combatants | |||
| Morgoth, several Balrogs from Angband and Utumno | Ungoliant, Giant Spiders of Ered Gorgoroth | ||
| Commanders | |||
| Morgoth | Ungoliant | ||
| Strength | |||
| Three of the Dark Powers (Morgoth, Sauron, and Gothmog), several Balrogs | Ungoliant, many other giant spiders from Ered Gorgoroth | ||
| Casualties | |||
| None | The entire swarm from Ered Gorgoroth was killed or driven off far beyond the known realms of Beleriand , Ungoliant flees and sets up her abode in Nan Dungortheb | ||
| |||
[edit] Summary
The Thieves' Quarrel was a skirmish between the giant spider Ungoliant and Morgoth, the Dark Lord. After the dispute of the Silmarils, Morgoth and Ungoliant fled Valinor and made it to lands above the Firth of Drengist. At this place, Ungoliant demanded payment for helping Morgoth overthrow the Two Trees of Valinor and take the Silmarils. Grudgingly, Morgoth gave her all the jewels from one hand, but refused to hand over the Silmarils, even though they burned him, whereupon Ungoliant ensnared him in nets of shadow, but Morgoth sent forth a great cry. Balrogs lurking in the ruins of Angband heard him, and rushed to the rescue with whips of flame. Ungoliant fled the scene and made her abode in Nan Dungortheb.
Thus saved, Morgoth rebuilt Angband, reared the mountains of Thangorodrim, marshaled armies of Orcs, and set the Silmarils in an iron crown for himself.
The area of his strife with Ungoliant was hereafter known as Lammoth. Whenever someone shouted in that region, the cry of Morgoth was heard as the echo.
