The son of Finarfin, and one of the four brothers of Galadriel. Angrod was especially close to his younger brother Aegnor, and the two were also close allies of their cousin Fingon.
Angrod was a wise and thoughtful Elf. After the Return of the Noldor to Middle-earth, Angrod's elder brother Finrod chose to send him to King Thingol as an emissary, the first of the Noldor to travel to Menegroth and speak to the Lord of Beleriand. Thingol granted lands to the Noldor that lay outside his own power, including Dorthonion in the north. Led by Caranthir, many of the Noldor sought to disregard Thingol's ruling, but Angrod held to it, and it was in Dorthonion that he settled with his brother Aegnor, to keep a watch over the plain of Ard-galen and the distant towers of Thangorodrim.
That disagreement made enemies of Angrod and the Sons of Fëanor, and especially Caranthir. Angrod's anger eventually led him to reveal to Thingol the tale of Fëanor's dark deeds on the journey out of Aman, including the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, where the people of Thingol's brother Olwë were slain. Angrod's words awakened Thingol's fury, causing him to ban the language of the Noldor from his lands. It was thus through Angrod that Sindarin, the language of Thingol's Grey-elves, became the dominant Elvish tongue of Middle-earth.
Angrod and Aegnor ruled the land of Dorthonion for their brother Finrod until the time of the Dagor Bragollach, in which Morgoth burst from Angband and broke the Siege of the Noldor. The two brothers were in the forefront of the fighting along the northern marches, and both were slain in the first onslaught of Morgoth's armies.
Notes
1 |
Angamaitë means 'iron-handed', and was Angrod's epessë or 'after-name' (at least, according to The Shibboleth of Fëanor in volume XII of The History of Middle-earth). It is not to be confused with Angamaitë the Corsair, who is briefly mentioned in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings. That later Angamaitë was a Man who lived more than five thousand years after Angrod's death. |
2 |
Angrod's wife Eðellos and his son Arothir are not mentioned outside The Shibboleth of Fëanor. We know almost nothing of them apart from their names (which mean 'Elven-flower' and 'noble lord', respectively), though it seems that Arothir served as steward to his uncle Finrod Felagund in Nargothrond. |
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- Updated 5 January 2009
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