86 - Wars of Beleriand - Part 1 - Prologue and First Battle

And on with this episode.

So everything we've done so far o- on the recent episodes, particularly Arnor and Gondor, is, uh, it's just an aftermath, essentially.

It's the tail end of the conflicts that are here.

Um, so, so when Elrond stands up at, at the Council of Elrond, right, and talks about the great horse of the elder days, uh, and then, uh, when Gandalf tells Frodo that not even Ancalagon the Black, the greatest dragon that ever lived, could melt the ring, uh, when Aragorn is carrying a ring, the Ring of Barahir, with two serpents on it that is older than the entirety of Númenor and Gondor and Arnor, they're all pointing backwards at these, which are the Wars of Beleriand.

And it's roughly about 600 years of war between the elves and Morgoth or Melkor, the fallen Valar, uh, little G god.

And it's fought over three stolen jewels in a country that no longer exists, Beleriand, because, uh, at the end of the series, spoilers, the sea comes in, uh, swallows it whole, and turns, uh, the Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains, into fantastic beachfront property, which is, uh, I think the plot of one of the "Superman" films.

So were they derivative of Tolkien? Perhaps.

So this is episode one of six, uh, a- and this is the, the starter episode.

It's the pr- like I said, it's the prologue.

It, it's not really anybody famous.

Uh, Tolkien didn't even bother giving it a name, and this was kind of, like, backfilled as well.

So there's no Fëanor yet.

There's no Balrogs.

Um, we're just building the stage tonight.

So we'll meet the land.

We'll meet the people who already live there.

Uh, we'll meet Morgoth, uh, from a higher point of view.

We'll watch the first battle of what begins the, the whole war, essentially.

It can be considered the first proper war that wasn't, uh, fought by the Valar themselves when they wrecked the, the, the world.

But it's fought by mortals is the important part, and it's fought-- Well, yeah, I mean mortals in the sense that they're not the Valar and the Maia.

I guess elves are immortal, so that's quite n- maybe not the right word, phrase, but it's fought by people who aren't of the Ainur, okay? Let's leave it at that, right? Because before the Noldor even arrive in Beleriand, there has already been a war, and the people who fought it paid quite dearly.

The Oath of Feanor, uh, uh, you won't meet it until the end of this episode, but everything in this series kind of hinges on it, and it's one of my favorite speeches in, uh, Quenya, uh, and I love it.

But when it-- whenever there's doubt in this series or whenever you're wondering, "Oh, what's happening during the First Age?" Just trace it back to what is the Oath making people do at the moment, and the answer will always be it's making them do a lot of damage, and that's probably your answer for what's going on in the First Age.

Very, very few periods where there is nothing happening.

And there's, there's a bit of this, there's a bit, bit of a note on geography as we begin, right? Beleriand is sometimes a continent, sometimes it's a country.

And on with this episode.

So everything we've done so far o- on the recent episodes, particularly Arnor and Gondor, is, uh, it's just an aftermath, essentially.

It's the tail end of the conflicts that are here.

Um, so, so when Elrond stands up at, at the Council of Elrond, right, and talks about the great horse of the elder days, uh, and then, uh, when Gandalf tells Frodo that not even Ancalagon the Black, the greatest dragon that ever lived, could melt the ring, uh, when Aragorn is carrying a ring, the Ring of Barahir, with two serpents on it that is older than the entirety of Númenor and Gondor and Arnor, they're all pointing backwards at these, which are the Wars of Beleriand.

And it's roughly about 600 years of war between the elves and Morgoth or Melkor, the fallen Valar, uh, little G god.

And it's fought over three stolen jewels in a country that no longer exists, Beleriand, because, uh, at the end of the series, spoilers, the sea comes in, uh, swallows it whole, and turns, uh, the Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains, into fantastic beachfront property, which is, uh, I think the plot of one of the "Superman" films.

So were they derivative of Tolkien? Perhaps.

So this is episode one of six, uh, a- and this is the, the starter episode.

It's the pr- like I said, it's the prologue.

It, it's not really anybody famous.

Uh, Tolkien didn't even bother giving it a name, and this was kind of, like, backfilled as well.

So there's no Fëanor yet.

There's no Balrogs.

Um, we're just building the stage tonight.

So we'll meet the land.

We'll meet the people who already live there.

Uh, we'll meet Morgoth, uh, from a higher point of view.

We'll watch the first battle of what begins the, the whole war, essentially.

It can be considered the first proper war that wasn't, uh, fought by the Valar themselves when they wrecked the, the, the world.

But it's fought by mortals is the important part, and it's fought-- Well, yeah, I mean mortals in the sense that they're not the Valar and the Maia.

I guess elves are immortal, so that's quite n- maybe not the right word, phrase, but it's fought by people who aren't of the Ainur, okay? Let's leave it at that, right? Because before the Noldor even arrive in Beleriand, there has already been a war, and the people who fought it paid quite dearly.

The Oath of Feanor, uh, uh, you won't meet it until the end of this episode, but everything in this series kind of hinges on it, and it's one of my favorite speeches in, uh, Quenya, uh, and I love it.

But when it-- whenever there's doubt in this series or whenever you're wondering, "Oh, what's happening during the First Age?" Just trace it back to what is the Oath making people do at the moment, and the answer will always be it's making them do a lot of damage, and that's probably your answer for what's going on in the First Age.

Very, very few periods where there is nothing happening.

And there's, there's a bit of this, there's a bit, bit of a note on geography as we begin, right? Beleriand is sometimes a continent, sometimes it's a country.