Red Maw

A name for the mightiest wolf ever to live, given as an interpretation of his Elvish name, Carcharoth. He was bred in the pits of Angband as a guard against Huan the Hound of Valinor. Huan, it was prophesied, could only be slain by the greatest of all wolves, and Carcharoth the Red Maw proved to be that wolf. Before the gates of Angband, he bit Beren's hand from his arm, and with it the Silmaril he carried. Burned by the power of the Jewel, Carcharoth fled into the south. At last, he was discovered within the borders of Doriath itself, where he fought his last fight with Huan: the Wolf of Angband and the Hound of Valinor took one another's lives in that combat.