What forces were involved in fight the War of the Wrath?

[WizardKing]

did valar fight with men and elves side by side or who led who and how did you valar now who was on thier side, please fill me in?

[FoolOfATook]

I'm sure someone will answer, and none of us begrudge answering a few questions to help others understand Tolkien and Middle-earth better, but this question leads me to believe that you haven't read the Sil. You could hear this answer from one of us, but I think that most of us would rather you let Tolkien answer your question- it really is more fufilling that way.

[redline2200]

Simply put, the War of Wrath was when the Valar went to battle against all the forces of Melkor at the end of the first age. There is A LOT more to that, but I agree with Foolofatook, you should read it yourself because it will be better that way.

[Beleg]

The Forces of the Valar consisted of,

1. Maiar
2. Noldor who at the Rebellion didn't leave Aman.
3. Vanyar

It is said that the Edain helped also in the Final War.
But of the Participation of the Exiled Elves and the Elves of Middle-Earth opinions are varied.

[Niniel]

Check this (http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?threadid=10046&highlight=Valar+Wrath) thread.
And this (http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?threadid=10175&highlight=Valar+Wrath) one.

[Aiwendil2]

The Valarin host certainly included a great many Maiar and Vanyar, and a somewhat smaller number of Noldor. The Vanyar probably formed the largest segment and were the backbone of the host.

We are told that they were joined by some remnants of the Edain in Middle-earth. This might have included some Men from Balar (previously from the Havens), though in that case it is a mystery why the Elves that dwelt there did not also join. A surer bet would be the oppressed people of Dor-lomin. I can well imagine that when word came of the landing of Eonwe, the remaining faithful of the Third House had more incentive to rise up against the Easterlings. Eonwe may even have sent a force north to aid them. I seem to recall a quote from QS supporting this view, though I don't have the book with me at the moment - something to effect that Hithlum was "a blaze of glory". It's also possible that some of the remaining Men of the Second House joined the fighting, though this cannot have been in large numbers, due both to their low population and the fall of the house of Haleth.

It's interesting to note that though the Men that would have joined at the outset of the war would have been about two generations younger than Turin and Tuor, the war lasted fifty years or about two generations. In other words, children that were born early in the war would have been getting a bit too old for it by the end. So even if the initial forces of the Edain were small, they may have increased as more children grew up, particularly if regions such as Dor-lomin were liberated.

I've always wondered why none of the Elves joined in the fighting. It would seem that the people of Cirdan (with the remnants of Gondolin and Doriath) would at least be willing to help.

[Inderjit S]

It would seem that the people of Cirdan (with the remnants of Gondolin and Doriath) would at least be willing to

Interesting point, I'm pretty sure that I read Celebrimbor was present at the War of Wrath. I think this was when he was a refugee of Nargothrond, and thus a son of Curufin and Feanor's descendant, Which is re-iterated in Lord of the Rings and he wasn't a Elf of Gondolin as is stated in Of Galadriel and Celeborn, one of Celeborn's three companions from Valinor (Where Celeborn is here Teleporno, a Telerin prince as opposed to his being a Sindarin prince as attributed in The Pubished Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings,
(though from Galadriel's words to the Fellowship, i always thought that then Celeborn was a Nandorin Elf.) or a descendant of Daeron as is written in Of Dwarves and Men a throwback, seemingly from the original sketches of his ancestry as he is stated to be a descendant of Daeron in The Return of the Shadow, in early LoTR sketches.

anyway, that enough rambling, my point is that if Celebrimbor was, as I believe in the War of Wrath, then weren't some other Elves involved too? Gil-Galad maybe? Maybe he fled from Nargothrond with Celebrimbor? Elrond was present in the overthrow of Morgoth, presumably Maedhros and Maglor went with Eonwe for Morgoth’s overthrow, though in the Letters of J.R.R.T Tolkien states that Elros and Elrond were abandoned by the two, and Elrond got his name because he was playing in a waterfall. (Hence the meaning of his name 'star-spray', though the meaning is further discussed in the Problem of Ros)

Of Dwarves and Men tells us that 10,000 or so of the Edain left for Numenor, so one can assume that there was quite a large-ish population, of Edain dotted around and more came as more of Beleriand was 'liberated' by the Valarin forces. Though as aiwendel says, there War of Wrath lasted a long time so men had a lot of time to re-produce etc.

[Beleg]

Of Dwarves and Men tells us that 10,000 or so of the Edain left for Numenor, so one can assume that there was quite a large-ish population, of Edain dotted around and more came as more of Beleriand was 'liberated' by the Valarin forces. Though as aiwendel says, there War of Wrath lasted a long time so men had a lot of time to re-produce etc.

But Ten Thousand still seem like a great number seeing the relative lack of population in Middle-Earth.
Also the full host of Edain that entered Beleriand consisted of about 10000 or so grown men. The House of Beor was almost completely wiped out, A great deal of House of Hador was destroyed and the Haladin were greatly diminished. So 1000 still seem like a great number to me, even If Edain had two generations of relative peace to reproduce and increase their numbers.

[Inderjit S]

But Ten Thousand still seem like a great number seeing the relative lack of population in Middle-Earth.

Yes-10,00 full grown Men, the were problably as many women and as many children too. Most of the Haladin were wiped out as the Problem of Ros tells us, the Beorians who fled from Dorthinion went to Hithlum. Though there were various other places where men resided, for example, Estolad, the land of Amrod, where the men were said to be out of the affairs of the WoTJ and there was a mixture of Haladin, who came from Thargelion and refused to go with Haleth to Brethil or wherever she wanted to go, and some of the Marchian and Beorian tribes that never left for other places (It was after about 100 years that reisdences for men, such as Dor-lomin and Ladros were set up) or who never left for Eriador, such as Bereg and his 1000 people.

Though I have to admit I too was shocked by the 10,000 figure!