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…

Melkor’s final impotence and despair lay in this: that whereas the Valar (and in their degree Elves and Men) could still love ‘Arda Marred’, that is Arda with a Melkor-ingredient, and could still heal this or that hurt, or produce from its very marring, from its state as it was, things beautiful and lovely, Melkor could do nothing with Arda, which was not from his own mind and was interwoven with the work and thoughts of others: even left alone he could only have gone raging on till all was leveled again in a formless chaos. And yet even so he would have been defeated, because it would still have ‘existed’, independent of his own mind, and a world in potential.

The Histories of Middle Earth vol. 10 “Myths Transformed”

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Anonymous asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme: “What is the saddest thing/quote you read about Melkor/Morgoth?”

This is an excerpt from the collection of essays titled “Myths Transformed”, found in volume 10 of The Histories of Middle Earth. This particular section discusses the differences between Sauron and Morgoth, especially concerning their motives is attempting world domination. This excerpt was recorded as part of my Tolkien Reading Day 2015 celebrations. You can download…

Melkor >>> Morgoth

Names have great power and importance in Tolkien’s writings (mostly because I think Tolkien the linguist liked the excuse to come up with forty names for everyone.) And we often see a character’s identity represented by their name. Therefore, when characters undergo great changes, a change of name is not uncommon. Turin is probably one…

I recently saw a theory about Morgoth during the Tale of Adanel and I was curious about your opinion on it. The theory is that Morgoth in this case was actually Sauron in his fair form, (especially because he calls himself “the giver of gifts” which is so similar to his Annatar disguise). I like this theory because I think it makes sense, but I’d really like to hear your opinion on it.

(Here’s a post about the Tale of Adanel and the Fall of Men, for those who don’t know it yet.) Hmmm… I like this theory in that it fits the timeline for the Flat World version of Arda’s history, which I personally prefer to the Round World version. (See this post for more information on…

Sauron and Morgoth After the First Age

celestialwanderer:

askmiddlearth:

As far as Tolkien wrote, there was no attempt on Sauron’s part to bring Morgoth back into the world. To be honest, I don’t think he would have wanted Morgoth to return. The two had pretty different philosophies (while Morgoth wanted to destroy everything, Sauron was more…

I actually disagree with this, though I haven’t the books to hand to locate anything to back my claims up, but from what I recall Sauron was incredibly loyal to Morgoth and tried to get him back but realised he couldn’t, so then took up the mantle himself.

If there’s another version of this story I can’t find it (but would love to read it, so if anyone knows anything let me know!), but from what the Silmarillion tells us there was no attempt to free Morgoth:

When Thangorodrim was broken and Morgoth overthrown, Sauron put on his fair hue again and did obeisance to Eonwe the herald of Manwe, and abjured all his evil deeds. And some hold that this was not at first falsely done, but that Sauron in truth repented, if only out of fear, being dismayed by the fall of Morgoth and the great wrath of the Lords of the West. But it was not within the power of Eonwe to pardon those of his own order, and he commanded Sauron to return to Aman and there receive the judgement of Manwe. Then Sauron was ashamed, and he was unwilling to return in humiliation and to receive from the Valar a sentence, it might be, of long servitude in proof of his good faith; for under Morgoth his power had been great. Therefore when Eonwe departed he hid himself in Middle-earth; and he fell back into evil, for the bonds that Morgoth bad laid upon him were very strong. 

Not only is there no mention of Sauron wanting to free Morgoth, but it sounds like his repentance was even fairly sincere in the beginning, but his pride and fear of punishment pushed him to run instead of return to Valinor.

Sauron and Morgoth After the First Age

Archive Monday

Happy Archive Monday! Please please remember to check below to see if the question you’re waiting to see answered is one of this week’s repeat questions! There’s a lot of them down there, and you wouldn’t believe the topics I’ve already written about, lol. After that, enjoy this week’s list from the archives. Today’s theme…

Sauron and Morgoth After the First Age

As far as Tolkien wrote, there was no attempt on Sauron’s part to bring Morgoth back into the world. To be honest, I don’t think he would have wanted Morgoth to return. The two had pretty different philosophies (while Morgoth wanted to destroy everything, Sauron was more than happy to let things and people exist,…

Aegnor, Andreth, and the Enemy

Okay, so a quick bit of backstory: Aegnor was one of the sons of Finarfin and a lord of Beleriand in the First Age. He met and fell in love with the mortal woman Andreth, but since he knew that such a relationship was doomed to end in tragedy, he refused to marry her and…

Middle Earth and Flood Myths

To begin with, just so we’re all on the same page, the flood myth definition I’m working it is based on the Wikipedia page, which says it’s “a narrative in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys a civilization, often in an act of divine retribution.” It’s also mentioned that the flood may be an…