Utumno


 * Also known as Udûn (Sindarin: "hell"), this was the first fortress of Melkor in the far north of Middle-earth. The name Utumno contains the Quenya element tum or tumbo("deep valley under or among hills"). Utumno was delved by Melkor after his return following his first expulsion from Arda. The Valar had by this time created the Two Lamps, and Utumno was built around Valian Year 3400 under the Ered Engrin, where the light of the Two Lamps, Illuin and Ormal, was very dim.
 * Also known as Udûn (Sindarin: "hell"), this was the first fortress of Melkor in the far north of Middle-earth. The name Utumno contains the Quenya element tum or tumbo("deep valley under or among hills"). Utumno was delved by Melkor after his return following his first expulsion from Arda. The Valar had by this time created the Two Lamps, and Utumno was built around Valian Year 3400 under the Ered Engrin, where the light of the Two Lamps, Illuin and Ormal, was very dim.

Utumno Location
 * Tolkien was not entirely consistent about the location of Utumno, but it was always placed in northern Middle-earth, in or behind the Ered Engrin (the Iron Mountains north of Beleriand). One of Tolkien's sketch maps from the Ambarkanta shows Utumno (with the earlier spelling "Utumna") north of the Ered Engrin, toward the western end of the mountain chain. Early and late texts (reflected in The Silmarillion) distinguish between Morgoth's first fortress Utumno and his later fortress Angband, the latter built beneath the western Ered Engrin, thereby creating the peaks of Thangorodrim above its entrance. But Tolkien's unfinished index for The Lord of the Rings describes Udûnin terms similar to Angband, reflecting a period in the development of the mythology that describes only a single fortress.


 * Utumno was the base of Morgoth's operations for 1149 Valian Years. From there he assaulted the Two Lamps and began corrupting Arda. It was also here that the first captured Elves were taken, and breeding of the Orcs began. Giant spiders and other creatures also gathered or were bred there. Among Melkor's servants were the Balrogs; in the Third Age, Gandalf would address the Balrog of Moria as "Flame of Udûn!", using the Sindarin variant of the name of the fortress.


 * Utumno was laid waste during the Battle of the Powers in the Years of the Trees, Valian Year 1099, in the War that the Valar began against Melkor for the sake of the Elves. Melkor was chained and dragged as a captive to Valinor. Utumno was besieged and destroyed, although not all sections were totally destroyed.


 * The name Udûn was later applied to the valley in north-west Mordor, shown on the map of Gondor, Rohan, and Mordor included with The Return of the King.