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This article is about the Lord of Balrogs. For the Lieutenant of Morgul, see Gothmog.

Gothmog was the primary Lord of Balrogs during the First Age, and the greatest Balrog ever to walk Middle-earth. He was High-captain of Angband, being Morgoth's front-line lieutenant as well as one of his most important servants. He fought many battles in the name of his master, and was personally responsible for killing two of the High Kings of the Ñoldor.

Gothmog, like the rest of his kind, carried a fiery whip into battle, but was also known for wielding a great black axe, feared by Elves across Beleriand.

Biography[]

GothmogByPopuche

Gothmog in arms, by Popuche

Gothmog, Kip Rasm

Gothmog confronting Fingon, by Kip Rasmussen

Gothmog was initially one of the Maiar who gave their allegiance to Melkor. Prior to the revolt of the Ñoldor, he was High Captain of Angband, given the title "Lord of Balrogs."[2]

During the Dagor-nuin-Giliath in YT 1498,[3] Fëanor pressed on to Angband with just a small company, and in that hour, the Balrogs issued forth. Gothmog was among them. Fëanor came even within sight of Angband, but was ambushed with few Elves about him. Soon he stood alone, but long he fought on alone against all the Balrogs. But at the last Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, smote him to the ground, inflicting a mortal wound, and the High King of the Ñoldor fell. The Sons of Fëanor arrived and carried the body of their father away, but Fëanor had passed.[2] Gothmog reappeared as a general of Angband in several more major conflicts, including the Dagor Aglareb and the Nírnaeth Arnoediad. During the Nírnaeth, Gothmog engaged the High King of the Ñoldor, Fingon, in battle. Gothmog separated Fingon from the main host but was unable to kill Fingon (in earlier versions) until the second and lesser Balrog lord Lungorthin appeared behind the Ñoldorin king and "cast a throng of steel about him". This allowed Gothmog to slay Fingon and beat the body to dust. Thereafter, he captured Húrin, father of Túrin Turambar, and dragged him back to Angband.[1]

In FA 510, Gothmog and the forces of Angband besieged the Hidden City of Gondolin. They breached the northern gates and were later confronted by Ecthelion of the Fountain, whom Gothmog dueled. Knocking Ecthelion's sword out of his hands, Gothmog prepared to strike at him, but, as he raised his axe, Ecthelion ran forward at the Balrog lord, ramming his pointed helmet into the beast's chest and forcing both of them into the Fountain of the King. The waters quenched the flames of Gothmog and drowned both him and Ecthelion, ending the Battle of Gondolin.[4][5]

Etymology[]

Gothmog is a Quenya name, of the terms gos or goth ("dread") and -mbaw ("compel, force, subject, oppress").[6]

Gothmog's Quenya name was Osombauko.[citation needed]

In other versions[]

Gothmog was briefly conceived as an offspring of Melkor and Ulbandi, an ogress, and went by the name of Kosomot. The root of the name moko translated to "hate".[7]

Gallery[]

Ectheliongothmog
Ecthelion of the Fountain fights the Lord of the Balrogs, Gothmog
Troll guard by jmkilpatrick-d7n6miz
Gothmog and troll guards, by JMKilpatrick
Fingon-and-Gothmog
Fingon versus Gothmog, by Ted Nasmith
Gothmog
Ecthelion's Last Stand
Echtelion against Gothmog, by Jenny Dolfen
LOTR Ecthelion and Gothmog
Ecthelion and Gothmog standing near their grave, by Cloister
The balrogs of morgoth by thylacinee-d5pl60x
Gothmog and fellow Balrogs serving the Lord of Angband with Durin's Bane to his left, by Thylacinee
Gothmog ecthellion
Gothmog and Ecthelion during the Fall of Gondolin, by Odival Quaresma
Gothmog the balrog's king
Gothmog (Balrog) card
Gothmog in a community-made expansion to The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Armenian Գոթմոգ
Arabic غومويغ
Belarusian Cyrillic Готhмог
Bengali গোঠমোগ
Bulgarian Cyrillic Готмог
Catalan Gòthmog
Chinese (Hong Kong) 葛斯摩
Georgian გოთმოგი
Greek Γοθμογ
Gujarati ગોથમોગ
Hebrew גותמוג
Hindi गोथ्मोग ?
Japanese ゴスモグ
Kannada ಗೋಥ್ಮೊಗ್
Kazakh Готмог (Cyrillic) Gotmog (Latin)
Korean 고스 모그
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Готhмог
Macedonian Cyrillic Готмог
Marathi गोथमॉग
Mongolian Cyrillic Готмог
Nepalese ङोथ्मोग
Pashto عوتهموګ
Persian گوتموگ
Punjabi ਗੋਥਮੋਗ
Russian Готмог
Sanskrit ङोथ्मोग्
Serbian Готмог (Cyrillic) Gotmog (Latin)
Sinhalese ගොමොග්
Tajik Cyrillic Готҳмог
Tamil கோத்தமாகி
Telugu గోతమోగ్
Thai กอธม็อก
Urdu گوتموگ
Ukrainian Cyrillic Готмог
Uzbek Готҳмог (Cyrillic) Gothmog (Latin)
Yiddish גאָטהמאָג

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XX: "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XIII: "Of the Return of the Ñoldor"
  3. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth's Ring, The Annals of Aman
  4. The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXIII: "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
  5. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, chapter III: "The Fall of Gondolin"
  6. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies"
  7. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part I
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