Alone of the Valar He Knew Fear

It is compelling! In fact, looking at the people Morgoth’s specifically said to fear, you end up with a very interesting list: Varda: “Melkor she knew from before the making of the Music and rejected him, and he hated her, and feared her more than all others whom Eru made.” Arien: “And Arien Morgoth feared…

The Noldor and the Sun

When Tolkien talks about the creation of the sun and the moon in the Silmarillion, he includes a short paragraph listing the names given to these two objects by the elves. Mostly, I think, because he just really liked naming things (the lovable linguistic nerd that he was), but it actually gives us some interesting…

Luthien and Morgoth

The meeting of Morgoth and Luthien is one of the high points of Luthien’s adventure – the elvish princess that stands down the greatest of the Ainur. It’s a fantastic scene. But many readers pick up a sort of weird vibe from Morgoth (weird mostly because it’s so different from Tolkien’s other typically sexless characters.)…