Sauron's werewolves in The Silmarillion and how Huan beat him

What if I told you that Middle-earth has vampires, werewolves and giant spiders, and that the dark lord himself started out as a cat? Tolkien's legendarium is full of Halloween-themed creatures. For each one there is a real story, some myth behind it, and Tolkien's own words to show where it came from. As you go through them, one villain keeps changing: Sauron.

The second of Sauron's forms is the werewolf. These are talking werewolves. There's no full moon and nobody dramatically ripping their shirt off. They're something much nastier, and Sauron had an entire island full of them.

Sauron takes Tol Sirion and makes it the Isle of Werewolves

You can find this in chapter 18 of The Silmarillion. Later in that chapter, Sauron takes Minas Tirith on the island of Tol Sirion. Under his rule the island becomes Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves.

Tolkien writes that Sauron took Minas Tirith by assault, because a dark cloud of fear fell on its defenders. Orodreth was driven out and fled to Nargothrond. Sauron then made the tower into a watchtower for Morgoth, a stronghold of evil and menace. In Tolkien's words, "the fair Isle of Tol Sirion became accursed and it was called Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of werewolves."

From that tower, no living creature could pass that Sauron didn't see. Morgoth now held the western pass, and his terror filled the fields and woods of Beleriand. Beyond Hithlum, he pursued his foes relentlessly, searched out their hiding places and took their strongholds one by one.

Finrod keeps his promise to Beren in Sauron's werewolf pit

In chapter 19, Beren sets out to steal a Silmaril from Morgoth. With him are the Elven king Finrod and ten companions, all disguised as orcs. They run into Sauron, and he challenges Finrod to a magical singing contest. Yes, singing. This isn't the kind of talent show where the chairs spin round, though. The two of them are trying to destroy each other with songs of power.

Sauron wins. Their disguises fall away and they're thrown into a pit beneath the tower. Then Sauron sends in a werewolf to eat one of them. Then another, and another, until only Beren and Finrod are left.

Here's what makes it so much worse: Finrod didn't even have to be there. Years earlier, Beren's father, Barahir, had saved Finrod's life, and Finrod promised to help his family whenever they needed it. That's all well and good until Beren turns up asking for help stealing a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. At that point I'd probably be checking the terms and conditions of that promise, because that's a fairly big favor.

But Finrod doesn't back out. He gives up his crown and leaves his kingdom to go with Beren, even though almost nobody will follow him. He ends up imprisoned by Sauron inside a fortress he built himself. He could have stayed at home, but he keeps his word. When the last werewolf comes for Beren, Finrod breaks his chains and kills it with his bare hands, then dies from his wounds. I think that's something Tolkien did well. He gives you all these enormously powerful characters, but sometimes the bravest thing they do has nothing to do with power. It's keeping their word.

Huan, the hound of Valinor, defeats Sauron in werewolf form

Then we meet one of my favorite characters in the whole story: Huan. Huan is a giant hound from Valinor, and there's a prophecy that he can only be killed by the greatest wolf that ever lived. He turns up with Lúthien to rescue Beren.

I like Huan a lot. He's surrounded by dark lords, Elven kings and ancient monsters, and he's completely unfazed by any of them. He's loyal and ridiculously brave, and he spends most of his time sorting out everybody else's problems. That makes what happens to him later all the more tragic.

Sauron sends out his werewolves, including Draugluin, the father of them all, and Huan kills them all. So Sauron turns himself into the biggest werewolf anyone has ever seen, and Huan batters him. One of the most powerful evil beings in Middle-earth has just lost his island to a dog. Admittedly a very impressive dog, but still a dog.

Carcharoth bites off Beren's hand and the Silmaril with it

I've always thought Beren had absolutely no sense of self-preservation. He's agreed to steal a jewel from the dark lord, and somehow he pulls it off. But on his way out he meets Carcharoth, the Red Maw, a wolf Morgoth raised specifically to kill Huan. Beren holds up the Silmaril, hoping its light will scare the wolf off, and Carcharoth bites off his entire hand.

It's a brutal reminder that waving something shiny at an enormous angry wolf isn't always the best plan. The Silmaril then starts burning Carcharoth from the inside, and he goes mad with pain. He's a perfect example of what Morgoth does to everything he touches: he takes something living and turns it into a weapon.

Huan's last fight with Carcharoth fulfills the prophecy

In Tolkien's account of the hunt, Huan grows impatient and goes into a thicket alone to drive the wolf out. Carcharoth avoids him, bursts from the thorns and leaps at King Thingol. Beren steps in front of the king with a spear, but Carcharoth sweeps it aside, fells him and bites at his breast. Huan then leaps on the wolf's back and they fight. Tolkien writes that in Huan's baying was heard the voice of the horns of Oromë and the wrath of the Valar, while Carcharoth's howls carried the hate of Morgoth.

Huan kills Carcharoth, but his own long foretold doom is fulfilled. He is mortally wounded and the venom of Morgoth enters him. Falling beside Beren, he speaks for the third time and bids Beren farewell before he dies. Beren doesn't speak, but lays his hand on the hound's head, and so they part.

Mablung and Beleg arrive to help the king, and when they see what has happened they cast aside their spears and weep. Mablung cuts open the wolf. Inside, it is almost entirely consumed as if by fire, but Beren's hand holding the jewel is untouched. When Mablung reaches for it, the hand vanishes and the Silmaril lies there, its light filling the forest. He sets it in Beren's living hand, and Beren holds it up for Thingol. "Now is the quest achieved," he said, "and my doom wrought." And he spoke no more.

Carcharoth and Fenrir: a parallel in Norse mythology

That moment with Beren's hand has something very similar in Norse mythology. The gods trick the wolf Fenrir into being tied up, and he bites off the god Tyr's hand. None of the gods would agree to his demand, knowing it would mean losing a hand and breaking an oath. "And at last the brave Tyr, for the good of all life, volunteered to fulfill the wolf's demand."

When Fenrir found he couldn't escape, he bit off and swallowed Tyr's hand. He was taken to a lonely, desolate place, chained to a boulder, and a sword was placed in his jaws to hold them open. There he howled, with a river flowing from his drooling mouth, and there he remained until Ragnarok.

Tolkien never said that Carcharoth was inspired by Fenrir. But the similarity is pretty hard to miss.