Hells of Iron

The Hells of Iron (partially conjectural)

A name, and essentially a poetic translation, of Angband, the stronghold of Morgoth in the North of the world. It was originally an outpost of his great underground dwelling at Utumno, which was ruined at the time of his capture in the Battle of the Powers. When Morgoth returned to Middle-earth after the Darkening of Valinor, he ruled from the dark depths of Angband. During the time after the first rising of the Sun and Moon, and especially after the Dagor Bragollach, he took many of the Noldor and Sindar captive and enslaved them, thus giving rise (at least in the later conception of The Silmarillion) to the name Angband, literally meaning 'iron prison', but from which the name 'Hells of Iron' is derived.

In earlier conceptions of The Silmarillion tales, the name 'Hells of Iron' had a much more literal meaning. In that formulation of the stories, Melkor actually had the power to draw the spirits of the dead to him, and those who were not granted a place in the Halls of Mandos would be borne '...to Angamandi,¹ the Hells of Iron, where they have evil days.'² In later versions of Tolkien's cosmology, this idea of Melkor as a literal lord of Hell was soon abandoned, so that all spirits would eventually find their way to Mandos, but nonetheless the resonant title 'Hells of Iron' survived into the published work.