Morgoth
From Free net encyclopedia
- This article is about a fictional character created by J.R.R. Tolkien and presented in his fictional mythology The Silmarillion (1977). For the death metal band, see Morgoth (band).
Morgoth (also known as Melkor) is a divine being, and plays the role of the great enemy of all that is good.
This article discusses Melkor/Morgoth’s origin, his roles in the histories of The Silmarillion, his various characteristics and typical attitudes, and the history of the character’s development through the course of Tolkien’s literary life.
Contents |
Sources
This entire article references, and is based on, all the published works of J.R.R. Tolkien that deal with Middle-earth, especially The Silmarillion (Houghton Mifflin, 1977) and most volumes of The History of Middle-earth (ed. Christopher Tolkien, Volume 1 published in 1984 by Houghton Mifflin). Paraphrased and other descriptions of the narratives, names, etymologies and characters are all drawn directly from these sources, and the reader is directed to them for elaboration, or as citation.
Introduction
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth Cycle. In Tolkien's secondary world, Morgoth is an Ainu; a divine character of the same order and nature as the Valar. In the histories of Middle-earth, Morgoth plays the role of the great enemy of all that is good. Sauron, a better-known Tolkien character, is but a servant to the true 'Dark Lord', Melkor/Morgoth.
Tolkien's Valar and other Ainur are often called the 'gods' of Middle-earth - both in Middle-earth writings by Tolkien himself, and by his readers (cf. Ainur, Valar, Valaquenta and Ainulindalë). While readers often analogize Tolkien's divine characters with other fictional and non-fictional gods, angels and archons, it involves some risk. E.g., Morgoth and Satan, while sharing so much, are also quite different; they are characters of mythologies with similar antecedents and origins, yet they clearly diverge. One thing that is important is that the Valar and other Ainur are always understood as created beings, children of Eru (the true Creator of Middle-earth, of Eä, and of that which is outside Eä).
A character that appears in person only in The Silmarillion, Morgoth is of critical importance to the entire Tolkien cycle. The mythic embodiment of evil in Middle-earth, Morgoth provides later generations of Middle-earth inhabitants with moral warnings against the 'sins' of absolute individuation, of pride, the will-to-power, greed and the ressentiment in which these sins result. His story also powerfully accounts for the existence of evil in otherwise innocent people's lives – it rationalizes (to an extent) the pain the characters of Middle-earth must experience. In true mythic fashion, he is evil made manifest, and his story provides an answer in Middle-earth to the question "Why must we suffer?"
'Morgoth Bauglir' is actually an epithet. His name as first mentioned in Ainulindalë (the creation myth of Middle-earth and first section of The Silmarillion) is Melkor. But this too is an epithet since he, like all the Ainur, has a true name in Valarin (the language of Middle-earth's heaven), but this name is not recorded.
[There is the implication (from evidence found elsewhere in the cycle) that the true name – knowing it and using it – contains a kind of power: the name is the thing, in a sense. E.g., in The Lord of the Rings, one finds Bombadil and his ‘mastery’ involving naming, or Treebeard’s concern with blurting out true names, etc. There is also the apparent fact that Tolkien-as-philologist leaned somewhat towards what others have called Phonosemantics – the study of the primal, instinctive relationship between sound and meaning, which could lead to interesting ideas about the value and power of true names.]
The name Morgoth Bauglir can be translated as “Dark Enemy Tyrant", or "Oppressor of the Dreadful Dark". [Morgoth is Ñoldorin for "The Dark Enemy" or "Dreadful Dark" (roots MOR - black, dark, shadow ; and GOS/GOTH - dread, terror), and Bauglir is Ñoldorin for "Tyrant" or "Oppressor" [root MBAW - compel, force, subject, oppress).]
But he is not properly called ‘Morgoth’ until he is given the name by Fëanor of the Ñoldor. This occurs in the First Age of the World, after he escaped Valinor having subtly corrupted the virtue of the Ñoldor 'tribe' (by giving them a sense of discontent that led ultimately to rebellion and the slaying of their kin at Alqualondë), and after having murdered Finwë king of the Ñoldor (Fëanor's father) and stolen Fëanor's most precious creations - the Silmarils. Prior to this point, he is called Melkor. (see "History" below).
In the course of the literary development of his fictional mythology, Tolkien altered both the conception of this fallen Ainu and his name. Aside from the special name given him by the Ñoldor (i.e., Morgoth), he has been called, in various tales (in various versions) 'Melko', 'Belcha', 'Melegor' and 'Meleko'. The Sindarin form of his name was 'Belegur', which was never used except in the altered form 'Belegurth', meaning 'Great Death'.
But all these name-versions are etymologically consistent with ‘Melkor’; his name in its most ‘removed’ form (common Eldarin) was ‘mbelekôro’. ["Arises in Might" (roots BEL - strong; and KHOR - set going, put in motion).]
Image:Morgoth vs fingolfin.jpg
History
1. Ainulindalë - The time before Time.
Before the creation of Arda (The World), Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur in Heaven. Each of the Ainur had its own 'talents', but Melkor shared somewhat in all of these. Like an unusually precocious and arrogant child, he contended with Eru (‘The One’, a.k.a. Ilúvatar, the All-father and Creator-being) via the Music of the Ainur (a divine grand symphony composed by the Ainur in heaven from themes introduced to them by Eru). Melkor was jealous of his father, and wanted to create and rule other wills himself. He spent a long time looking for the Secret Fire (a.k.a. "Flame Imperishable"), either unaware or uncomprehending that this was a quality exclusive to Eru and his servants through him.
[His fellow-Ainu Aulë later creates, for example, the race of Dwarves, but Aulë's creations were no better than lumps of clay - mindless automatons - until Eru, in his compassion (and as reward for Aulë's 'surrendering' of his work to Eru), endowed the fathers of the Dwarves with the Secret Fire and gave them (for lack of a better term) real being and real souls. Unlike Aulë, Melkor was too proud to admit that his creations were simply discoveries wholly made possible by, and therefore 'belonging' to, Eru. Instead, Melkor aspired to the level of Eru, the true Creator of all possibilities.]
During his search for the Secret Fire, which took him far away [conceptually, if not physically] from Eru and the other Ainur, his thoughts gradually became less and less in harmony with those of his brethren (this ‘apartness’ was the quickening of his downfall). During the Great Music of the Ainur, Melkor attempted to alter the Music and introduce what he believed to be elements purely of his own design. As part of these efforts, he managed to draw many weaker-willed Ainur to him - creating a counter-theme to Eru's main theme. Of course, as a created being, Melkor could not truly create. Instead, he could only discover and/or imitate - and poorly at that: his music was said to be 'loud' and 'vain', 'a clamorous unison as of many trumpets braying upon a few notes'. In frustration at his failures, he turned wholly to perverting the Music's harmony - he tried to hurt what he could not dominate, and so he ‘corrupted’ the entire Music. The irony of his resentful attempts lay in the fact that these attempts could not, as he hoped, truly subvert the Music, but rather could only further elaborate and beautify Eru's original intentions: the Music of Eru took on a depth and beauty precisely because of the strife and sadness Melkor's disharmonies (and their rectification) introduced.
[E.g., when the Ainu Ulmo 'sang' of water, Melkor tried to destroy it (since water was not his creation, nor controllable by him, he must have hated it). He added to water immense heat and immense cold. But his vandalism did not destroy water, as Melkor must have hoped. Rather, his meddling only served to achieve the beauties of clouds, rain, mist, snow and ice.]
Since the Great Music of the Ainur stands as 'template' for all of history and all of material creation in the Middle-earth cycle (it was first sung before Time, and then the Universe was made in its image), there is an aspect of everything in Middle-earth that comes of Melkor's meddling – everything has been somewhat polluted. But the sadness produced will, as with water, only result in the more perfect fulfillment of Eru's will, for Eru conceived of the possibility of Melkor’s pollutions, his corruptions, and even these ‘choices’ will inevitably lead one down a path that (so the text reads) “is tributary to His [Eru’s] glory.”
After the Creation, many Ainur entered into Eä (The Universe). These were the Valar; the most powerful ‘class’ of Ainur in the World, of whom the 'legitimate' King is Melkor's brother, Manwë. They immediately set about building the Universe, and they attempted to manifest Arda (the Earth) according to the Music. But Melkor entered Eä as well, and he set about trying to ruin and undo whatever the other Valar did. His 'natural province' (if it can be called that) is in the area of terrible extremes and violence - bitter cold, scorching heats, quakes, rendings, breakings, utter darkness, ghastly light etc. He exerted his force (which was very great at that time) in whatever way he could; yet, at every step, he was opposed by the other Valar, who struggled greatly to contain him.
[Melkor was at first counted amongst the Valar - great Ainur who entered Eä - but he 'lost' this title and is now simply considered The Enemy.]
Melkor was finally held at bay by the aid of Tulkas, who arrived late just to confront Melkor, and the Valar were for a time free to order the Universe to their pleasing, and to finish Arda. But Melkor was only biding his time. When the Valar finally rested from their long labours, he and his followers descended in magnificent fashion into Arda, and attacked and destroyed the Two Lamps (precursors to the Two Trees and the Sun and Moon). In the process, Arda was plunged into darkness, and Almaren, the first home of the Valar on Earth, was destroyed. (In some versions of the story, Melkor conspired to trick Aulë - who fashioned the Lamps - by convincing him to use a new substance Melkor claimed to have created. The material turned out to be ice, which melted from the heat of the Lamps, toppling them and alternately burning or flooding many parts of the Earth.)
After the fall of the Lamps, the Valar retreated and made Valinor in the West. Melkor held dominion over Middle-earth from his fortress of Utumno in the North. Night reigned in Middle-earth, and fearsome beasts howled and roamed the darkened forests, whose growth had been halted. Yavanna (Vala of growing things) came often to check on the dormant plants, and Oromë came also on his divine horse, blowing his horn, hunting the evil beasts wherever he found them. But other than these visits, which were always brief and must always end, the Valar were shut out of Middle-earth.
Melkor's first reign ended after the Elves awoke in the East of Beleriand, and the Valar resolved to 'rescue' them. With best intentions, the Valar made immediate and devastating war on Melkor, and he was brought to Valinor in chains to serve a term in the Halls of Mandos for three Ages.
During the second war between the Valar and Melkor, much of the north of Middle-earth was destroyed yet again. Lands went under the wave, and mountain ranges were thrust up - all by the violence of the battle. Melkor remembered the timing of these events, and he blamed the Eldar (Elves) ever after for his first downfall.
[It is rumoured (in some versions of the story) that Melkor actually captured some Elves before the Valar came to rescue them, and he tortured and perverted them, producing the race of Orcs. But other versions of the story (written both before and after the version that appears in The Silmarillion) discount this, and claim that the Orcs are soulless beings animated solely by the will of their evil lord (be it Melkor or, later, Sauron), which explains why they collapse and retreat willy-nilly in battle should the 'guiding will' be removed. This latter version falls more in line with the idea of Melkor/Morgoth's 'dispersal' into the world he mars, and with the idea that his 'creations' are mere 'imitations' (i.e., 'Orc' = parody of 'Elf'); it also provides a moral basis for later inhabitants of Middle-earth, who kill Orcs without compassion or compunction. Still, the questions of Orc reproduction and of the possible melding of the races of Orcs and Men must be dealt with - both issues lend credence to the Silmarillion version. Cf. Middle-earth canon.]
After his three-age sentence was ended, Melkor was released 'on his own recognizance', yet he was confined to Valinor. He used his newfound freedom to somewhat corrupt the virtue of the Ñoldor (a people of the Elves that had been relocated to Valinor), to kill Finwë their King, and to steal the Silmarils - jewels that Finwë's son Fëanor made by encasing the light of the Two Trees in an unknown substance. It was Fëanor (for a time himself King of the Ñoldor in Middle-earth) who first named Melkor Morgoth, "The Dark Enemy of the World". Fëanor also rashly swore an oath (making his sons swear it too) to regain the jewels from Morgoth - or from anyone who held them against the family's will.
With the aid of Ungoliant, Morgoth destroyed the Two Trees and brought darkness to Valinor. He fled with Ungoliant into the South of the World, enmeshed by her shadow, which was more than just a darkness, and rather like a complete absence of being. No servant of his, she quarrelled with him over the spoils, and he (in actual fear of her) fed her all of the jewels of the Ñoldor that he had taken, save the Silmarils, which he hid from her (though they burned his hands such that he was never free of the pain). In the end, they parted ways when he cried out and Balrogs came to rescue him.
[What became of Ungoliant is uncertain - she may have simply consumed herself; in any event, she was the ancestor of Shelob, and even of the nasty spiders of Mirkwood (appearing in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, respectively).]
Back in Middle-earth, Morgoth resumed his reign in the North - this time in Angband, which had not been destroyed as thoroughly by the Valar as had been his main fortress Utumno. Fëanor and most of the Ñoldor pursued him (but not before the Kinslaying and other treacheries, and the Doom of Mandos/Curse of Mandos). The rebel Ñoldor arrived in Beleriand and established princedoms and set themselves against Morgoth and his armies, severely restricting them. Just after this, the Sun and the Moon first arose (made from posthumously-borne flowers from the dead Trees in Valinor), and the race of Men awoke in the World. Several battles ensued, including the Dagor-nuin-Giliath (Battle Under the Stars - fought before the rising of the Moon), Dagor Bragollach (Battle of Sudden Flame), and the Nirnaeth Arnoediad (Battle of Unnumbered Tears) at which the armies of the Ñoldor and the Edain were utterly defeated and routed. Excepting a few mournful refugees living on or near a bay island off the mouths of Sirion, Morgoth had once again attained the mastery of Middle-earth.
[Between and amidst all these events, the great tales of Túrin and Nienor, Beren and Lúthien, Tuor and Gondolin all took place. Morgoth had varying roles in each, and it is debatable whether he played a larger role with the Children of Húrin, or with Beren and Lúthien. In any event, the story in which we get to see inside Angband, and to see Morgoth at his most... human... is that of Beren and Lúthien; there, he conceives his most evil thought, yet is overwhelmed in the end and has a Silmaril stolen from his iron crown.]
Morgoth's reign was not to last. Eärendil, descended from Elves, Maiar, and Men, and bearing a Silmaril on his brow [to see exactly how this came about, see the Lay of Leithian and the Fall of Gondolin, both in The Silmarillion.], managed to sail across the sea to Valinor, where he pleaded with the Valar until they agreed to send an army to vanquish Morgoth and liberate Elves and Men.
[The army of Valinor (who/what was in it) is unclear – in The Silmarillion, it is simply referred to as ‘the host of the Valar’, and it is said that “the might of the Valar descended into the deeps of the earth.” (Sil, 252) But, in The Shaping of Middle-earth (volume 4 of The History of Middle-earth), it is clear that earlier versions held that only certain Maiar went (called at that time ‘sons of the Valar’ – a familial conception that was also later to be abandoned), and that armies of the Calaquendi (‘Light Elves’, mostly Vanyar, living in Valinor) were ferried over to Middle-earth by the ships of the Teleri (‘Sea Elves’). In any case, the army that was sent was sufficient to the task.]
During the ensuing War of Wrath, Beleriand and much of the north of Middle-earth was again destroyed/reshaped, yet Morgoth was utterly defeated. He was bound once again with the chain Angainor and he was led to the judgment of the gods. This time, his punishment was final. Melkor/Morgoth's fëa ('spirit', as in 'Fëanor' - 'spirit of fire') was shut outside the Door of Night forever. He is unable to return; not until the rumoured Final Battle, when he will re-enter Eä, destroy the Sun and the Moon, and then fight a united army of Valar, Maiar, Elves and Men). Despite his absence until the End Time, Morgoth's evil remains as ‘Arda Marred’, and his will walks yet with the feet of the living.
[One legend of Middle-earth suggests that in the Last Battle, Morgoth will be slain by Túrin Turambar, who will return from the dead to defeat him. This tale was included in one of Tolkien's many notes on The Silmarillion, and was also published in The Shaping of Middle-earth.]
Appearance & Characteristics
[For the characteristics of all the divine characters of Middle-earth, see Valaquenta.]
Ainu Melkor initially could take any shape, but his first recorded form was "...as a mountain that wades in the sea and has its head above the clouds and is clad in ice and crowned with smoke and fire; and the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that withers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold." (Sil, 22) After he had succeeded in alienating the Noldor from Valinor and stealing the Silmarils, he descended in the pits of Angband, and his shape eventually became that of the Dark Lord Morgoth: gigantic and terrible to behold. During this time he lost the ability to freely change shape, and in effect became bound to this one, terrible form. His hands had been burned by the theft of the Silmarils, and never healed. The one time he did emerge, to fight High King Fingolfin, he was stabbed seven times, including in the foot, and had a limp ever after. That battle also saw Thorondor, the great Eagle, swoop down and scar Morgoth's face with his talons, a wound that also never healed. In battle he wore night-black armour and wielded Grond, the Hammer of the Underworld. He also wielded a black spear, and in early texts a poison sword.
Melkor's powers were originally immense – greater than those of any other single Ainu. He shared a part of the powers of every other Valar, but unlike them used this for his own gain. Because of this, Morgoth dispersed his essence throughout Middle-earth, tainting the very fabric of Arda itself with his will, and he became ever more diminished and restricted.
[This ‘diffusion’ was later emulated in miniature by Morgoth’s servant Sauron who, in creating the One Ring, became far less powerful whenever he was without it. The theme of somewhat of the creator passing into the thing created is pervasive in Tolkien’s work, with the 'false' creation of the evil ones being naught more than a diminution and diffusion of themselves, while Eru's creations are limitless, yet He is diminished not one whit.]
Pity was beyond Morgoth’s understanding, as was courage, for he alone of the Valar knew fear.
Politics & followers
Morgoth considered himself the rightful King of Arda. He also claimed to be ‘Master of the Fates of Arda’. In any event, every action he took was based on the twisting of truth. Whatever truth there was in his claims was passed through an evil filter, so it cannot be trusted at all.
As the mightiest dweller in Arda, many "flocked to his banner." Morgoth's chief servants were certain Maiar he corrupted: Sauron - later Dark Lord of Mordor and his chief servant; Gothmog - the Lord of Balrogs and High-Captain of Angband; Glaurung - the Father of Dragons; Ancalagon "the Black" - greatest of the Winged Dragons; Carcharoth - the mightiest wolf that ever lived (possessed by an evil spirit); Draugluin - Sire of Werewolves; Thuringwethil - Sauron's vampire messenger; and Lungorthin, captain of Angband "security".
When the race of Men awoke, Morgoth (or his servant, depending on text consulted) is said to have temporarily left Angband, to dwell amongst them: the Atanatári (Fathers of Men) repressed (or tried to forget) tales speaking of a Dark Lord who once led men to worship him, banning Ilúvatar from their hearts. But the Atanatári were those Men who repented and fled West (toward the rumour of the Valar); yet Morgoth ever after had many legions of fallen Men at his service. (see esp. Morgoth's Ring: Tale of Adanel)
Morgoth is known to have betrayed his own servants: e.g., after the Ñoldor were defeated, he confined all Men in his service to the lands of Hithlum, forbidding them to enter Beleriand, their promised reward. Since he could never fully conquer Men, he could never really trust them. It seems that, once victorious, he would have destroyed them just as he intended to destroy those who fought for him.
Character development & history
In the early versions of Tolkien's stories, Melkor/Morgoth was not seen as the most powerful Ainu. He is described as being equal in power to Manwë, chief of the Valar in Arda. But Melkor/Morgoth's power increased in later revisions of the story until he became the most powerful Ainu, and then (in a late essay), more powerful than all of the Valar combined. His character thus developed from being a standout among equals (by virtue of his wickedness and rebellion), to being invincible with regards to all the others: at the end of the day, no characters in the Universe have the power in themselves - alone or united - to utterly 'defeat' Melkor/Morgoth - it's a losing battle. Yet, of course, there is One that can (and will) defeat him in the end.
[Without drawing any straight comparisons, it has often been remarked how this 'lost cause' theme is quite reminiscent of the Norse myth of Ragnarok, the Final Battle which will be for divine Odin and crew a total defeat - yet a better world will be reborn nonetheless.]
The Silmarillion conception of Ungoliant clearly contained the idea of her independence from Melkor/Morgoth - a solitary, different kind of evil; an embodiment, perhaps, of the desire to destroy creation rather than to control it (as Melkor wanted to do). But, in addition to the growth of his power, late essays make Melkor the ultimate source of all evil and corruption in Arda. At some point, Ungoliant's character would need to be 'subsumed' within the circle of Ainur corrupted by Melkor in heaven - though her 'independence' from (and antagonism towards) Melkor/Morgoth need not be inconsistent with her lessened standing.
The Silmarillion as published might seem to lean toward the earlier conceptions of Melkor's power: there is less discussion of Melkor/Morgoth's marring of all Arda by diluting himself throughout it. Yet the implication of his 'total' power remains clear in his role in Ainulindalë, and it is supported by the important idea (widespread in all the versions) of the 'passing of somewhat of the creator into thing created'. This is all to say that the 'strengthening' of Melkor/Morgoth's position is wholly consistent with core themes present in all versions.
"The Morgoth"
A distinction is made between Ainu Melkor, most powerful of Eru's created beings, and the diminished being that styled itself Dark Lord of Arda - Morgoth. This distinction is not limited to a name-change only ('Arises in Might' to 'Dark Enemy').
Melkor's musical disruptions marred the Music of the Ainur in Heaven. Melkor's thematic variations in that Music amounted to his own self-elaboration (each Ainu is, in its conception, the 'concretization' of a divine theme, existing beforehand only in the mind of Eru). Eä, or the World that Is, mirrors the Music. Thus, the 'evil' that Melkor wove into the Music is mirrored in Eä by the evil he weaves into the fabric of reality, as history progresses. Part and parcel with Melkor's inability to perform true creation is the idea that somewhat of his actual being must pass into the things he 'creates', in order to give them an effective substance and reality. That is, he cannot create a new thing - what he can do is create a parody of an already-existing thing by 'cutting off', as it were, a piece of his own being and using it as the clay to make his false-creations. From Trolls to the Sun (which was made from a flower from a Tree poisoned by Ungoliant - and thus is itself 'imperfect'), Melkor's being was diffused throughout the material (and immaterial) Universe. As a result, he - in his individuated being - has been diminished. He has been reduced to Morgoth - 'Dark Enemy' or, more exactly, 'Dreadful Dark'. It's almost as if 'he' - as a person - has suffered a reduction to an 'it'; a thing; Dreadful Dark.
To distinguish between the greater Melkor that exists both as an individual (Morgoth) and as an element of all being (because he has corrupted, to an extent, everything that comes from the Music of the Ainur, and his being has - as that corruption itself - been diffused throughout material reality), the former came to be called 'The Morgoth' (cf. Morgoth's Ring; History of Middle-earth, vol 10)
So, there is Morgoth - the fallen and greatly diminished Ainu - and there is The Morgoth, which is The Dreadful Dark and Arda Marred (those elements of reality corrupted by the diffusion of Melkor's being).
See also
| Ainur of Middle-earth | |
|---|---|
| Ainulindalë (Music of the Ainur) | |
| Lords of the Valar: | Manwë | Ulmo | Aulë | Oromë | Námo (Mandos) | Irmo (Lórien) | Tulkas |
| Queens of the Valar (The Valier): | Varda | Yavanna | Nienna | Estë | Vairë | Vána | Nessa |
| The Enemy: | Morgoth (a.k.a. Melkor) |
| Maiar: | Eönwë | Ilmarë | Ossë | Uinen | Salmar | Sauron | Melian | Arien | Tilion | Gothmog Curumo (Saruman) | Olórin (Gandalf) | Aiwendil (Radagast) | Alatar and Pallando | Durin's Bane |
de:Figuren aus Mittelerde es:Morgoth fr:Morgoth he:מורגות' it:Morgoth ja:モルゴス nl:Morgoth no:Morgoth pl:Morgoth pt:Melkor fi:Melkor sv:Melkor