Anfauglith

Anfauglith was a charred desert to the north of Beleriand. It was originally called Ard-galen and it was a vast green plain with rich grass. But in F. A. 455, during the Dagor Bragollach ("Battle of Sudden Flame"), "Morgoth sent forth great rivers of flame that ran down swifter than Balrogs from Thangorodrim, and poured over all the plain; (...) Thus Ard-galen perished, and fire devoured its grasses; and it became a burned and desolate waste, full of a choking dust, barren and lifeless. Thereafter its name was changed, and it was called Anfauglith, the Gasping Dust. Many charred bones had there their roofless grave; for many of the Noldor perished in that burning, who were caught by the running flame and could not fly to the hills."

Seventeen years later, the Nirnaeth Arnœdiad ("Battle of Unnumbered Tears") took place here, where the high hopes of Elves and their allies turned into a disastrous defeat. "By the command of Morgoth the Orcs with great labour gathered all the bodies of those who had fallen in the great battle, and all their harness and weapons, and piled them in a great mound in the midst of Anfauglith; and it was like a hill that could be seen from afar. Haudh-en-Ndengin the Elves named it, the Hill of Slain, and Haudh-en-Nirnaeth, the Hill of Tears. But grass came there and grew again long and green upon that hill, alone in all the desert that Morgoth made; and no creature of Morgoth trod thereafter upon the earth beneath which the swords of the Eldar and the Edain crumbled into rust."
J. R. R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion; quotes from Chapter 18 ('Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin') and Chapter 20 ('Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad')

pencil and charcoal, A3 paper. 2017.

After my previous picture, the lush and verdant Greenwood the Great, now for something completely different – although it is from Middle-earth as well. I got the idea on Ash Wednesday, when I felt the need to draw something ash-themed. And what in Middle-earth (save perhaps for Ered Lithui) is more ashy than Anfauglith?
It was a rather relaxing piece and quick by my standards (some 4 hours); most of it I made during two days, only for adding some finishing details such as the bones I needed more time.
I must also admit an inspiration (though unconscious at first) by the illustration of Anfauglith by my friend peet:

I'll appreciate you comments!