98-455: Morgoth Bauglir ( [ˈmɔrɡɔθ ˈbau̯ɡlir] ; originally Melkor [ˈmɛlkor] ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar and the primary antagonist of Tolkien's legendarium , the mythic epic published in parts as The Silmarillion , The Children of Húrin , Beren and Lúthien , and The Fall of Gondolin . Melkor is the most powerful of the Valar but he turns to darkness and
196-644: A calque on the Book of Genesis (whereas Tolkien's Shire is a calque upon England ). Shippey quotes Tolkien's friend C. S. Lewis , who stated that even Satan was created good; Tolkien has the character Elrond in The Lord of the Rings say "For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even [the Dark Lord] Sauron was not so." Shippey concludes that the reader is free to assume "that the exploit of Morgoth of which
294-491: A Satan-figure. Tom Shippey has written that The Silmarillion maps the Book of Genesis with its creation and its fall, even Melkor having begun with good intentions. Marjorie Burns has commented that Tolkien used the Norse god Odin to create aspects of several characters, the wizard Gandalf getting some of his good characteristics, while Morgoth gets his destructiveness, malevolence, and deceit. Verlyn Flieger writes that
392-478: A baby in a boat, presumably from across the sea, and to whom Scyld's body is returned in a ship funeral , the vessel sailing by itself. Shippey suggests that Tolkien may have seen in this both an implication of a Valar-like group who behave much like gods, and a glimmer of his Old Straight Road , the way across the sea to Valinor forever closed to mortal Men by the remaking of the world after Númenor 's attack on Valinor. Scholars such as John Garth have noted that
490-510: A central part of the cosmology of Tolkien's legendarium , telling how the Ainur , a class of angelic beings , perform a great music prefiguring the creation of the material universe, Eä , including Middle-Earth . The creator Eru Ilúvatar introduces the theme of the sentient races of Elves and Men , not anticipated by the Ainur, and gives physical being to the prefigured universe. Some of
588-560: A complex "literary soup". One element of his construction, she states, is the Norse god Odin . Tolkien used aspects of Odin's character and appearance for the wandering wizard Gandalf , with hat, beard, and staff, and a supernaturally fast horse, recalling Odin's steed Sleipnir ; for the Dark Lord Sauron , with his single eye; for the corrupted white wizard Saruman , cloaked and hatted like Gandalf, but with far-flying birds like Odin's eagles and ravens. In The Silmarillion , too,
686-730: A dark spirit in the form of a monstrous spider , he destroys the Two Trees of Valinor , kills Finwë , the King of the Noldor, and steals the three Silmarils , jewels made by Finwë's son Fëanor , filled with the light of the Trees. Fëanor thereupon names him Morgoth , "Black Foe", and the Elves know him by this name alone afterwards. Morgoth resumes his rule in the North of Middle-earth, this time in
784-410: A late essay more powerful than all of the other Valar combined. He develops from a standout among equals into a being so powerful that the other created beings could not utterly defeat him. Over time, Tolkien altered both the conception of this character and his name. The name given by Fëanor, Morgoth, was present from the first stories; he was for a long time also called Melko . Tolkien vacillated over
882-402: A perversion of good correlates to Christian theology regarding the existence of evil in a world made by a benevolent creator. Even Melkor's pride is Eru's will. As Eru himself declares "no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite". Although commentary on The Silmarillion has primarily focused on the work as a whole, the reaction to
980-511: A symbol for the despotism of modern machinery. The Tolkien scholar Brian Rosebury comments that there is a clear mapping to the Christian myth, with Eru as God, Ainur as angels, and Melkor as Satan; but that the differences are equally striking, as creation is in part mediated by the Ainur. His rebellion against Eru is creative, as Melkor is impatient for the void of the world to be filled with things. But his creativity becomes destructive, as it
1078-630: A third. Melkor tries to corrupt this theme with the volume of his music, but it is powerful enough to prevent him from succeeding. Ilúvatar ends the music, chastises Melkor and leaves the Ainur to their thoughts. The deity takes the Ainur to see how music, at the end of the Void, created Arda. When the third theme results in the arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar, the Elves and the Men , many Ainur want to go into
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#17327760926821176-567: Is Melkor , which means "He Who Arises in Might" in Quenya. This too is an epithet, since he, like all the Valar, had another true name in Valarin (in the legendarium , the language of the Valar before the beginning of Time), but this name is not recorded. The Sindarin equivalent of Melkor is Belegûr , but it is never used; instead, a deliberately similar name, Belegurth , meaning "Great Death",
1274-428: Is clearly biblical, evoking Malachi 's messianic prophecy "See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble ... And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet". The theologian Ralph C. Wood describes the Valar and Maiar as being what Christians "would call angels ", intermediaries between the creator, Eru Ilúvatar, and
1372-795: Is corrupted by Melkor's power until the Remaking of the World. The Valaquenta tells how Melkor seduced many of the minor Ainur, the Maiar , into his service. After the Creation, many Ainur enter into Eä . The most powerful of them are the Valar , the Powers of the World; the lesser, the Maiar, act as their followers and assistants. They set about the ordering of the universe and Arda within it, as they understand
1470-850: Is employed. Another form of his name is Melko, simply meaning "Mighty One". Like Sauron , he has a host of other titles: Lord of the Dark , the Dark Power of the North, the Black Hand, and Great Enemy. The Edain , the Men of Númenor , call him the Dark King and the Dark Power; the Númenóreans corrupted by Sauron call him the Lord of All and the Giver of Freedom. He is called "Master of Lies" by one of
1568-481: Is exactly right". Tolkien states in another letter that the Valar "entered the world after its making, and that the name is properly applied only to the great among them, who take the imaginative but not the theological place of 'gods'." Whittingham comments that the "thoughtful and carefully developed explanations" that Tolkien gives in these letters are markedly unlike his depictions of the Valar in his "earliest stories". The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey discusses
1666-599: Is inherited by their granddaughter Elwing, who joins those dwelling at the Mouths of Sirion. Her husband Eärendil , wearing the Silmaril on his brow, sails across the sea to Valinor, where he pleads with the Valar to liberate Middle-earth from Morgoth. During the ensuing War of Wrath , Beleriand is destroyed. Morgoth summons many Men to his side during the fifty-year conflict, the longest and bloodiest in Arda's history. Morgoth
1764-552: Is renamed Morgoth, the primary antagonist of Arda . All evil in the world of Middle-earth ultimately stems from him. One of the Maiar of Aulë betrays his kind and becomes Morgoth's principal lieutenant and successor, Sauron . Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan , once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer , but fallen through pride ; he rebels against his creator. Morgoth has been likened, too, to John Milton 's fallen angel in Paradise Lost , again
1862-613: Is set out in more detail than in The Silmarillion , and in a more connected narrative than in Unfinished Tales . It gives the first allusion to the corruption of Men by Morgoth soon after their awakening, and the assertion by Morgoth of his power over the entire Earth through "the shadow of my purpose". Melkor is mentioned briefly in the chapter "A Knife in the Dark" in The Lord of the Rings , where Aragorn sings
1960-590: Is so great that at first the Valar cannot restrain him; he contends with their collective might. Arda is unstable until the Vala Tulkas enters Eä and tips the balance. Driven out by Tulkas, Melkor broods in darkness, until Tulkas is distracted. Melkor destroys the Two Lamps and the Valar's land of Almaren. Arda is plunged into darkness and fire, and Melkor withdraws to Middle-earth. In later versions, Melkor also disperses agents throughout Arda, digging deep into
2058-522: Is tainted with pride. "His desire to create other beings for his glory" turns into a desire for servants and slaves to follow his own will. This "temptation of creativity" is echoed in Tolkien's work by Melkor's opponent Fëanor , who is prepared to fight a hopeless war to try to regain his prized creations, the Silmarils. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that The Silmarillion is most obviously
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#17327760926822156-599: Is the elf Rúmil of Tirion and the language differs from that of the Silmarillion version. "Melkor" is spelt "Melko", and Ilúvatar weeps before he creates the third theme. At the end is a section about the Valar, which was later moved to the " Valaquenta ". Tolkien abandoned the Ainulindalë for many years. Although it did not appear in the "Sketch of the Mythology", in which he summarised his legendarium in 1926,
2254-501: Is unrelated to the other languages of Middle-earth. Only a few words of Valarin, mainly proper names, are recorded. The Valar can communicate through thought and have no need for a spoken language, but may have developed Valarin when they took physical, humanlike (or elf-like) forms. The passage at the start of the Old English poem Beowulf about Scyld Scefing contains a cryptic mention of þā ("those") who have sent Scyld as
2352-518: Is utterly defeated. Thangorodrim is shattered when Eärendil kills the greatest of dragons, Ancalagon the Black , who crashes upon it as he falls. The few remaining dragons are scattered, and the few surviving Balrogs hide themselves deep within the earth. Morgoth flees into the deepest pit and begs for pardon, but his feet are cut from under him, his crown is made into a collar, and he is chained once again with Angainor. The Valar exile him permanently from
2450-418: The Ainulindalë has been generally positive. Joseph Pearce , a Roman Catholic commentator, called it "the most important part of The Silmarillion " and said, "The myth of creation is perhaps the most significant and most beautiful of Tolkien's works." The scholar of humanities Brian Rosebury considered the Ainulindalë a success, with "appropriately 'scriptural'" prose. Several Jesuits have praised
2548-414: The Book of Genesis . As Tolkien has Elrond say in " The Council of Elrond " in The Lord of the Rings , "For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so." In the Ainulindalë , Ilúvatar creates everything good; evil intrudes later. Though evil is brought about in the creation song by Melkor's pride, Ilúvatar incorporates it into the conclusion of his divine plan. The theme of evil being
2646-631: The Old English view of luck and personal courage, as Beowulf ' s " wyrd often spares the man who isn't doomed, as long as his courage holds." The scholar of humanities Paul H. Kocher similarly discusses the role of providence, in the form of the intentions of the Valar or of the creator, in Bilbo 's finding of the One Ring and Frodo 's bearing of it; as Gandalf says, they were "meant" to have it, though it remained their choice to co-operate with this purpose. Rutledge writes that in The Lord of
2744-494: The 1910s and 1920s. In a letter, Tolkien stated that he had written the first version of the Ainulindalë between November 1918 and the spring of 1920, while he was working on the Oxford English Dictionary . The first draft of the story, written in pencil, does not vary significantly from the published version; future changes involved the addition of Manwë and Aulë. The narrator in the earlier version
2842-513: The Ainur decide to enter the physical world to prepare for their arrival, becoming the Valar and Maiar . Tolkien wrote the initial version of the Ainulindalë between November 1919 and the spring of 1920 as "Music of the Ainur", and then completely rewrote it in 1930. He continued to make further revisions throughout his life. The early version was eventually published by his son Christopher in The Book of Lost Tales 1 . J. R. R. Tolkien
2940-425: The Ainur embody Ilúvatar's thoughts, they are expected to use their freedom to assist the development of the "great" plan. The most powerful of the Ainur, Melkor , is introduced to the music. Although his "loud, and vain" music disrupts the harmony, Ilúvatar stands, smiles and raises his left hand to begin a new theme. When Melkor again spoils the second theme, Ilúvatar rises sternly and raises his right hand to begin
3038-547: The Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor". Since the Great Music stands as template for all of material creation, the chaos introduced by Melkor's disharmonies is responsible for all evil. Everything in Middle-earth is tainted by his influence. In Morgoth's Ring , Tolkien draws an analogy between the One Ring , into which Sauron commits much of his power, and all of Arda – "Morgoth's Ring" – which contains and
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3136-503: The Ainur. The mightiest of these are called the Valar, or "the Powers of the World", and the others are known as the Maiar . The Valar are mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings but Tolkien had developed them earlier, in material published posthumously in The Silmarillion , especially the "Valaquenta" ( Quenya : "Account of the Valar"), The History of Middle-earth , and Unfinished Tales . Scholars have noted that
3234-734: The Edain, Amlach. Melkor is renamed "Morgoth" when he destroys the Two Trees of Valinor , murders Finwë , the High King of the Noldor Elves, and steals the Silmarils in the First Age . Before the creation of Eä and Arda (The Universe and the World), Melkor is the most powerful of the Ainur , the "angelic beings" created by Eru Ilúvatar . Melkor, dissatisfied that Eru had abandoned
3332-504: The Eldar [Elves] never learnt was the traditional seduction of Adam and Eve by the [Satanic] serpent ", while the Men in the story are Adam's descendants "flying from Eden and subject to the curse of Babel ". The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns writes in Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth that Morgoth, like all Tolkien's Middle-earth characters, is based on
3430-592: The Elves are again called to Valinor. During the Second Age , the Valar's main deeds are the creation of Númenor as a refuge for the Edain , who are denied access to Aman but given dominion over the rest of the world. The Valar, now including even Ulmo, remain aloof from Middle-earth, allowing the rise to power of Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron , as a new Dark Lord. Near the end of the Second Age, Sauron convinces
3528-405: The Elves to Valinor meant that the Elves were "gathered at their knee", a moral error as it suggested something close to worship . The scholar of literature Marjorie Burns notes that Tolkien wrote that to be acceptable to modern readers, mythology had to be brought up to "our grade of assessment". In her view, between his early work, The Book of Lost Tales , and the published Silmarillion ,
3626-406: The Elves, whose awakening he blames for his defeat. The Noldor, most skilled of the three kindreds of Elves that had come to Valinor, are most vulnerable to his plots, since they are eager for his knowledge. While instructing them, he awakens unrest and discontent among them. When the Valar become aware of this, they send Tulkas to arrest him, but Melkor has already fled. With the aid of Ungoliant ,
3724-468: The Isle of Almaren in the middle of Arda, but after its destruction and the loss of the world's symmetry, they move to the western continent of Aman ("Unmarred" ) and found Valinor . The war with Melkor continues: The Valar realize many wonderful subthemes of Ilúvatar's grand music, while Melkor pours all his energy into Arda and the corruption of creatures like Balrogs , dragons , and Orcs . Most terrible of
3822-460: The Moon, and introducing the concept that Ilúvatar created the world after the visions of the Ainur died away. In this version, which added several new details, the story is framed by a fictional narrator, the elf Pengoloð. The Ainulindalë , written early in Tolkien's career, demonstrates the importance of music in his legendarium . According to John Gardner, "Music is the central symbol and
3920-567: The Music of Eru takes on depth and beauty through the strife and sadness Melkor's disharmonies introduce. Unlike Aulë , Melkor is too proud to admit that his creations are made possible entirely by Eru. Instead, Melkor aspires to rival Eru. In an early draft, Tolkien has the Elf Finrod state that "there is nothing more powerful that is conceivable than Melkor, save Eru only". In The Silmarillion , Eru Ilúvatar similarly states that "Mighty are
4018-502: The Music of Ilúvatar, is refined by thoughtful interpretations by the Ainur, who create their own themes based on each unique comprehension. No one Ainu understands all the themes that spring from Ilúvatar. Instead, each elaborates individual themes, singing of mountains and subterranean regions, say, from themes for metals and stones. The themes of Ilúvatar's music are elaborated, and each of the Ainur add harmonious creative touches. Melkor , however, adds discordant themes: He strives against
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4116-416: The Music; his themes become evil because they spring from selfishness and vanity, not from the enlightenment of Ilúvatar. Once the Music is complete, including Melkor's interwoven themes of vanity, Ilúvatar gives the Ainur a choice—to dwell with him or to enter the world that they have mutually created. The greatest of those that choose to enter the world become known as the Valar , the 'Powers of Arda', and
4214-613: The Númenóreans to attack Aman itself. This leads Manwë to call upon Ilúvatar to restore the world to order; Ilúvatar answers by destroying Númenor, as described in the Akallabêth . Aman is removed from Arda (though not from the whole created world, Eä, for Elvish ships could still reach it). In the Third Age , the Valar send the Istari (or wizards) to Middle-earth to aid in the battle against Sauron. The names and attributes of
4312-592: The Rings , and especially at moments like Gandalf's explanation to Frodo in " The Shadow of the Past ", there are clear hints of a higher power at work in events in Middle-earth: There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master ... Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo
4410-479: The Silmarils from Fëanor, kills his father, Finwë , chief of the Noldor in Aman, and flees to Middle-earth. Many of the Noldor, in defiance of the will of the Valar, swear revenge and set out in pursuit. This event, and the poisonous words of Melkor that foster mistrust among the Elves, leads to the exile of the greater part of the Noldor to Middle-earth: The Valar close Valinor against them to prevent their return. For
4508-407: The Silmarils to that of Fëanor, who had created those jewels. She states that the central temptation is the desire to possess, and that possessiveness itself is the "great transgression" in Tolkien's created world. She observes that the commandment "Love not too well the work of thy hands and the devices of thy heart" is stated explicitly in The Silmarillion . Flieger compares Tolkien's descriptions of
4606-465: The Sindarin equivalent of this, which appeared as Belcha , Melegor , and Moeleg . The meaning of the name also varied, related in different times to milka ("greedy") or velka ("flame"). Similarly the Old English translations devised by Tolkien differ in sense: Melko is rendered as Orgel ("Pride") and Morgoth as Sweart-ós ("Black God"). Morgoth is once given a particular sphere of interest: in
4704-705: The Sun and the Moon rise for the first time, and Men awake. The major battles include the Dagor-nuin-Giliath (Battle Under the Stars, fought before the first rising of the Moon), Dagor Aglareb (Glorious Battle), Dagor Bragollach (Battle of Sudden Flame) at which the Siege of Angband is broken, and the battle of Nírnaeth Arnoediad (Unnumbered Tears) when the armies of the Noldor and the Men allied with them are routed and
4802-456: The Sun existed when the world was formed, and the Moon was formed as a result of Melkor's destruction. Tolkien's concept of the Lamps of the Valar was abandoned in favour of a more coherent creation myth, with scientific elements. The idea of a spherical world was abandoned after a reader said that she preferred a flat one. In 1948 Tolkien began a new version, eliminating mentions of the Sun and
4900-453: The Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came ... and the hosts of Mordor wailed ... and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. The Episcopal priest and author Fleming Rutledge comments that while Tolkien is not equating the events here with the Messiah 's return, he was happy when readers picked up biblical echoes . In her view the language here
4998-466: The Valar had greatly changed, "civilized and modernized", and this had made the Valar "slowly and slightly" more Christian. For example, the Valar now had "spouses" rather than "wives", and their unions were spiritual, not physical. All the same, she writes, readers still perceive the Valar "as a pantheon", serving as gods. Elizabeth Whittingham comments that the Valar are unique to Tolkien, "somewhere between gods and angels". In her view they mostly lack
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#17327760926825096-534: The Valar like pagan gods , he imagined them more like angels and notes that scholars have compared the devotion of Tolkien's Elves to Elbereth, an epithet of Varda, as resembling the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary the mother of Jesus . Dickerson states that the key point is that the Valar were "not to be worshipped". He argues that as a result, the Valar's knowledge and power had to be limited, and they could make mistakes and moral errors. Their bringing of
5194-576: The Valar resemble angels in Christianity but that Tolkien presented them rather more like pagan gods . Their role in providing what the characters in Middle-earth experience as luck or providence is also discussed. The creator Eru Ilúvatar first reveals to the Ainur his great vision of the world, Arda , through musical themes, as described in Ainulindalë , "The Music of the Ainur" . This world, fashioned from his ideas and expressed as
5292-545: The Valar resemble the Æsir , the Norse gods of Asgard . Thor , for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the strongest of the Valar. Manwë, the head of the Valar, has some similarities to Odin , the "Allfather", while the wizard Gandalf , one of the Maiar, resembles Odin the wanderer. Tolkien compared King Théoden of Rohan , charging into
5390-405: The Valar", and the females are called "Queens of the Valar," or Valier . Of the known seven male and seven female Valar, there are six married pairs: Ulmo and Nienna are the only ones who dwell alone. This is evidently a spiritual rather than a physical union, as in Tolkien's later conception they do not reproduce. The Aratar ( Quenya : Exalted ), or High Ones of Arda, are the eight greatest of
5488-589: The Valar: Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aulë, Mandos, Nienna, and Oromë. Lórien and Mandos are brothers and are collectively called as the Fëanturi , "Masters of Spirits". Ilúvatar brings the Valar (and all the Ainur) into being by his thought and may therefore be considered their father. However, not all the Valar are siblings; where this is held to be so, it is because they are so "in the thought of Ilúvatar". It
5586-504: The Valarin language and its grammar in the early 1930s. In this early conception, as described in the 1937 Lhammas , all Middle-earth's languages are derived from Valarin. In the 1940s, he changed his mind, and the tongue he had developed became Primitive Quendian instead. He then conceived an entirely new tongue for the Valar, still called Valarin; he did not develop this new language in any detail. In this later conception, Valarin
5684-419: The Void, seeks to emulate his creator and fill the Void with sentient beings. This, however, requires the Flame Imperishable, the Secret Fire , which belongs to Eru alone; Melkor cannot find it. He contends with Eru in the Music of the Ainur , introducing themes of his own. He draws many weaker-willed Ainur to him. Ironically, these attempts do not truly subvert the Music, but elaborate Eru's original intentions:
5782-421: The West, Valinor, where the Valar concentrate their creativity. There they make the Two Trees , their greatest joy because they illuminate the beauty of Valinor and delight the Elves. At Melkor's instigation the evil giant spider Ungoliant destroys the Trees. Fëanor, a Noldor Elf, with forethought and love, captures the light of the Two Trees in three Silmarils, the greatest jewels ever created. Melkor steals
5880-437: The arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar; Melkor repeatedly thwarts their preparations, desiring to rule Arda. Manwë summons the Ainur to resist Melkor, who retreats. When the Valar later assume bodily form, the first war of Eä begins, but Manwë's efforts make the Earth habitable for Elves and Men. Tolkien initially intended the Ainulindalë ("The Music of the Ainur") to be part of The Book of Lost Tales , which he wrote in
5978-473: The central temptation is the desire to possess, something that ironically afflicts two of the greatest figures in the legendarium, Melkor and Fëanor . The name Morgoth is Sindarin (one of Tolkien's invented languages ) and means "Dark Enemy" or "Black Foe". Bauglir is also Sindarin, meaning "Tyrant" or "Oppressor". "Morgoth Bauglir" is thus an epithet . His name in Ainulindalë (the creation myth of Middle-earth and first section of The Silmarillion )
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#17327760926826076-426: The chief Valar, as they are described in the " Valaquenta ", are listed below. In Middle-earth, they are known by their Sindarin names: Varda, for example, is called Elbereth . Men know them by many other names, and sometimes worship them as gods. With the exception of Oromë, the names listed below are not actual names but rather titles: The true names of the Valar are nowhere recorded. The males are called "Lords of
6174-441: The connection between the Valar and " luck " on Middle-earth, writing that as in real life, "People ... do in sober reality recognise a strongly patterning force in the world around them" but that while this may be due to " Providence or the Valar", the force "does not affect free will and cannot be distinguished from the ordinary operations of nature" nor reduce the necessity of "heroic endeavour". He states that this exactly matches
6272-412: The created cosmos. Like angels, they have free will and can therefore rebel against him. Matthew Dickerson , writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , calls the Valar the "Powers of Middle-earth", noting that they are not incarnated and quoting the Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger 's description of their original role as "to shape and light the world". Dickerson writes that while Tolkien presents
6370-408: The creation account of the Ainulindalë ... are inescapable." The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns , who studied the different versions of the Ainulindalë , said that Tolkien increasingly Christianised the Valar and reduced the influence of Norse mythology in successive revisions. In the story, Tolkien expresses a global view of Christianity, with good and evil parallelling the stories in
6468-433: The creation of Arda by the deity Eru Ilúvatar . The story begins with a description of the Ainur as "children of Ilúvatar's thought". They are taught the art of music, which becomes the subject of their immortal lives. The Ainur sing alone or in small groups about themes given to each of them by Ilúvatar, who proposes a "great" plan for them all: a collaborative symphony where they would sing together in harmony. Although
6566-406: The darkness". Vala (Middle-earth) The Valar ( ['valar] ; singular Vala ) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium . They are "angelic powers" or "gods" subordinate to the one God ( Eru Ilúvatar ). The Ainulindalë describes how some of the Ainur choose to enter the world ( Arda ) to complete its material development after its form is determined by the Music of
6664-681: The early Tale of Turambar , Tinwelint (precursor of Thingol ) names him "the Vala of Iron". Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan , once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer , but fallen through pride ; he rebels against his creator. Tolkien wrote that of all the deeds of the Ainur, by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron". John R. Holmes, writing in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , suggests that Melkor's nature resonates with John Milton 's fallen angel (Satan) in Paradise Lost . Melkor creates an "iron hell" for his elven slave labourers. His greed for ever more power makes him
6762-417: The early deeds of Melkor is the destruction of the Two Lamps and with them, the original home of the Valar, the Isle of Almaren. Melkor is captured and chained for many ages in the fastness of Mandos, until he is pardoned by Manwë. With the arrival of the Elves in the world, a new phase of the regency of the Valar begins. Summoned by the Valar, many Elves abandon Middle-earth and the eastern continent for
6860-405: The earth and constructing great pits and fortresses, as Arda is marred by darkness and rivers of fire. The Valar withdraw into Aman in the far West. The country where they settle is called Valinor , which they heavily fortify. Melkor holds dominion over Middle-earth from his fortress of Utumno in the North. His first reign ends after the Elves, the eldest of the Children of Ilúvatar , awake at
6958-409: The enemy at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields , to a Vala of great power, and to "a god of old": Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of
7056-406: The escape of Turgon to Gondolin by sacrificing their army and themselves. Huor is slain, but Húrin is brought before Morgoth alive. As revenge for his aid to Turgon and his defiance, Morgoth curses Húrin and his children, binding Húrin to a seat upon Thangorodrim and forcing him to witness all that happens (using Morgoth's long sight) to his children in the succeeding years. The encounter with Húrin,
7154-445: The farseeing Vala Manwë, who lives on the tallest of the mountains, and loves "all swift birds, strong of wing", is Odinesque. And just as Sauron and Saruman oppose Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings , so the enemy Morgoth gets Odin's negative characteristics: "his ruthlessness, his destructiveness, his malevolence, his all-pervading deceit". Burns compares this allocation to the way that Norse myth allots some of Odin's characteristics to
7252-559: The half-ruined fortress of Angband. He rebuilds it, and raises above it the volcanic triple peak of Thangorodrim . The Silmarils he sets into a crown of iron, which he wears at all times. Fëanor and most of the Noldor pursue him, along the way slaying their kin the Teleri and incurring the Doom of Mandos . On arriving in Beleriand , the Noldor establish kingdoms and make war on Morgoth. Soon,
7350-534: The late-biblical angels)"; at a deeper level, it means "the One", Eru Ilúvatar, or in Christian terms, divine Providence. Music of the Ainur The Ainulindalë ( Quenya : [ˌai̯nuˈlindalɛ] ; "Music of the Ainur") is the creation account in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium , published posthumously as the first part of The Silmarillion in 1977. The Ainulindalë sets out
7448-557: The lesser are called the Maiar . Among the Valar are some of the most powerful and wise of the Ainur, including Manwë, the Lord of the Valar, and Melkor, his brother. The two are distinguished by the selfless love of Manwë for the Music of Ilúvatar and the selfish love that Melkor bears for himself and no other—least of all for the Children of Ilúvatar , Elves and Men . Melkor (later named Morgoth , Sindarin for "dark enemy") arrives in
7546-470: The making of the world. Their power and wisdom is derived from their Knowledge of the cosmogonical drama". He explains that he intends them to be "of the same order of beauty, power, and majesty as the 'gods' of higher mythology". Whittingham notes further that Tolkien likens lesser spirits, wizards, who are Maiar not Valar, to guardian angels ; and that when describing the Maiar he "vacillates between 'gods' and 'angels' because both terms are close but neither
7644-829: The men of the East join Morgoth. Over the next several decades, Morgoth destroys the remaining Elven kingdoms, reducing their domain to an island of refugees in the Bay of Balar, and a small settlement at the Mouths of Sirion under the protection of Ulmo . Before the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the Man Beren and the Elf Lúthien enter Angband and recover a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown after Luthien's singing sends him to sleep. It
7742-451: The power and audacity of imaginative genius Tolkien and his brilliant style" and the Ainulindalë has "organ tones". Although Ralph C. Wood called it "one of the finest and most original of [Tolkien's] writings", the stylistic differences between this story and the rest of The Silmarillion have been the subject of debate. The American opera singer Adam C. J. Klein composed an opera , Leithian , based on The Silmarillion , while
7840-523: The remainder of the First Age , the Lord of Waters, Ulmo, alone of the Valar, visits the world beyond Aman. Ulmo directly influences the actions of Tuor , setting him on the path to find the hidden city of Gondolin . At the end of the First Age, the Valar send forth a great host of Maiar and Elves from Valinor to Middle-earth, fighting the War of Wrath , in which Melkor is defeated. The lands are changed, and
7938-477: The rough brutality of the Norse gods; they have the angels' "sense of moral rightness" but disagree with each other; and their statements most closely resemble those of Homer 's Greek gods , who can express their frustration with mortal men, as Zeus does in the Odyssey In a letter to Milton Waldman, Tolkien states directly that the Valar are "'divine', that is, were originally 'outside' and existed 'before'
8036-519: The sake of the Elves, the Valar wage a seven-year war with Melkor, defeating him after laying siege to Utumno. These battles further mar Arda. Tulkas defeats Melkor, binds him with a specially forged chain, Angainor, and brings him to Valinor. He is imprisoned in the Halls of Mandos for three ages. Upon his release, Melkor is paroled to Valinor, though a few of the Valar continue to mistrust him. He pretends humility and virtue, but secretly plots harm toward
8134-411: The shores of Cuiviénen , and the Valar resolve to rescue them from his malice. Melkor captures some Elves before the Valar attack. He tortures and corrupts them, breeding the first Orcs . Other versions describe Orcs as corruptions of Men , or as soulless beings animated solely by the will of their evil lord. His fortress Utumno disperses deathly cold and brings on an endless winter in the North; for
8232-481: The story of Tinúviel and briefly recounts the role of Morgoth ("the Great Enemy") in the wider history of the Silmarils. In the early versions of Tolkien's stories, Melkor/Morgoth is not seen as the most powerful of the Valar. He is described as being equal in power to Manwë , chief of the Valar in Arda. But his power increases in later revisions of the story until he becomes the most powerful among them, and in
8330-450: The story; James V. Schall said, "I have never read anything as beautiful as the first page of The Silmarillion " and Robert Murray said, "In all literature, from the formation of the sacred books of humanity, it is very difficult to find a comparable mythological story of creation by its beauty and imaginative power." According to Fantasy Literature: A Core Collection and Reference Guide , "Every part of [ The Silmarillion ] benefits from
8428-413: The subject was briefly mentioned in " Annals of Valinor " and " Quenta Silmarillion ". Tolkien rewrote "The Music of the Ainur" during the 1930s, leaving most of its storyline intact. In 1946, while he was drafting The Lord of the Rings , Tolkien wrote a new version of the Ainulindalë of which only half a torn page survives. His legendarium then changed radically , so that Arda had always existed,
8526-450: The themes of Eru. Melkor and his followers enter Eä as well, but he is frustrated that his colleagues do not recognize him as leader of the new realm, despite his great knowledge. In anger and shame, Melkor sets about ruining and undoing whatever the others do. Each of the Valar is attracted to a particular aspect of the world. Melkor is drawn to extremes and violence—bitter cold, scorching heat, earthquakes, darkness, burning light. His power
8624-628: The total myth of The Silmarillion , a symbol that becomes interchangeable with light (music's projection) ." The scholar Verlyn Flieger , too, stresses the pervasive themes of music and light from the creation onwards. "The Music of the Ainur", as it appears in The Book of Lost Tales , is based on Norse mythology . Like Hesiod 's Theogony or the Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda , it answers questions of cosmogony , and its style has been compared to that of old Norse texts. Although
8722-543: The troublemaker god Loki . Odin has many names, among them "Shifty-eyed" and "Swift in Deceit", and he is equally a god of the Norse underworld, "Father of the Slain". She notes that Morgoth, too, is named "Master of Lies" and "Demon of Dark", and functions as a fierce god of battle. The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger , discussing the splintering of the original created light of Middle-earth , likens Melkor/Morgoth's response to
8820-420: The two characters: "the heart of Fëanor was fast bound to these things that he himself had made", followed at once by "Melkor lusted for the Silmarils, and the very memory of their radiance was a gnawing fire in his heart". She writes that it is appropriately ironic that Melkor and Fëanor, one the greatest of the Ainur, the other the most subtle and skilful of the creative Noldor among the Elves – should "usher in
8918-496: The wording differs substantially, the Valar and the Æsir are alike in influencing the world and being influenced by their actions; Manwë has been compared to Odin in this context. Despite the story's Norse pagan elements , such as the Ainur performing the creative work of Ilúvatar, other aspects of the Ainulindalë reflect Tolkien's Catholicism. His pre-Christian story has been called "Tolkien's Genesis essay"; according to another source, "The Biblical parallels evinced by
9016-417: The world first, causing tumult wherever he goes. As the others arrive, they see how Melkor's presence would destroy the integrity of Ilúvatar's themes. Eventually, and with the aid of the Vala Tulkas , who enters Arda last, Melkor is temporarily overthrown, and the Valar begin shaping the world and creating beauty to counter the darkness and ugliness of Melkor's discordant noise. The Valar originally dwell on
9114-471: The world to visit them. Although Melkor was the first of the Ainur to be named, Ulmo was the first to take action in Arda. Despite Melkor's efforts, Ulmo's water cannot be ruined by heat or cold; he and Manwë are revealed as the primary agents of Ilúvatar's plans. Some Ainur remain in the Timeless Halls with Ilúvatar, and others go into Arda as the Valar and Maiar . The Ainur begin to prepare for
9212-612: The world, thrusting him through the Door of Night into the void until the prophesied Dagor Dagorath, when he will meet his final destruction. But his evil remains, and his will influences all living creatures. In this more complete version of a story summarized in Quenta Silmarillion , Húrin and his younger brother Huor are leaders of the House of Hador, one of the three kindred of elf-friends. At Nírnaeth Arnoediad they cover
9310-482: Was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. [Tolkien's italics] Rutledge notes that in this way, Tolkien repeatedly hints at a higher power "that controls even the Ring itself, even the maker of the Ring himself [her italics]", and asks who or what that power might be. Her reply is that at the surface level, it means the Valar, "a race of created beings (analogous to
9408-705: Was an English author and philologist of ancient Germanic languages , specialising in Old English, and a devout Roman Catholic ; he spent much of his career as a professor at the University of Oxford . He is best known for his novels about his invented Middle-earth , The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . He described The Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work", rich in Christian symbolism . He however spent much of his life working on his Middle-earth legendarium , which remained unpublished in his lifetime. That large body of stories
9506-433: Was edited after his death by his son Christopher , initially in 1977 as a single text, The Silmarillion , containing a version of the Ainulindalë . That was followed, between 1983 and 1996, by the twelve volumes of The History of Middle-earth , which revealed and annotated the many drafts of the overlapping stories of the legendarium, including other versions of the Ainulindalë . The Ainulindalë recounts
9604-401: Was the Valar who first practise marriage and later pass on their custom to the Elves; all the Valar have spouses, save Nienna, Ulmo, and Melkor. Only one such marriage among the Valar takes place within the world, that of Tulkas and Nessa after the raising of the Two Lamps. Tolkien at first decided that Valarin , the tongue of the Valar, would be the proto-language of the Elves. He developed
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