Quote:
Originally Posted by Zigûr
Hello all,
Lately for my academic research I've been looking into Tolkien's theodicy, and something struck me while reading the account of the First Fall of Man in Morgoth's Ring. Now in the published version of The Silmarillion we are told this:
In the 'Tale of Adanel' in Morgoth's Ring the figure who arrives to corrupt Men is described thus:
Does that sound like anyone we know? I realise that the Tale is both a) unpublished material as far as the Professor was concerned, and b) a rather sketchy account by those who fled into the West, but the idea that Morgoth came among Men in "great and beautiful" form does appear to contradict the notion in the published Silmarillion that before Melkor even left Aman, before even killing the Trees and therefore precluding the existence of the Sun he "put on the form that he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno: a dark Lord, tall and terrible. In that form he remained ever after." (p. 73) The Tale also says that the corrupter of Men referred to himself as the "Giver of Gifts" (Morgoth's Ring p.346).
I also realise that Professor Tolkien eventually had an impulse to drastically overhaul the timeframe of the awakening of Men, such that perhaps in a revised history Morgoth could have come among Men in a beautiful form, and the published Silmarillion specifically mentions that Sauron was at home minding the shop while Morgoth was out on his corrupting rounds. It just seems to me that whoever came among Men seems in many ways to bear noticeable similarities to Sauron, who didn't lose his ability to assume a pleasing form for thousands of years afterwards and who called himself Annatar, Giver of Gifts, to the Elves of Eregion. Of course the fact that this figure establishes a religion worshipping himself in the 'Tale of Adanel' is more consistent with Morgoth being there in person rather than a servant doing the work, and perhaps the similarities I'm seeing are just another way in which Sauron came to be a more and more direct imitator of his old Master. I suppose he's even responsible for the Second Falls of Elves and Men (Eregion and Númenor) the same way Morgoth was for the First Falls (Valinor and Hildórien) although in both cases the 'Fall' was of course much more overt for Men than it was for Elves.
I find these parallels extremely interesting and I thought I'd share them with you. I don't suppose I really think that it was Sauron who went and corrupted Men; I kind of have an image in my head of Morgoth doing the mythic equivalent of hastily packing a suitcase and reeling off instructions to Sauron like how often the dogs need to be fed and what the emergency numbers are and things after hearing about the rise of Men. Nonetheless I think the similarities are intriguing, especially considering Morgoth's apparent circumstances. Is the element of mystery surrounding the identity of the corrupter of Men deliberate, do you think, or was Professor Tolkien recycling old ideas in his characterisation of Sauron to emphasise the stale, recursive nature of Evil?
|
When it comes to inferences about an author's intentions, there in the blurry space between words, is the dimension where our creativity must meet the author's. On the subjects of metaphysics, evil, good, perversion, corruption, tyranny, mastery, beauty and truth, the mythology reiterates some basic underlying themes--at least some that I see.
For the corruption of Men and sewing the seeds of Evil, Tolkien took a particular set of emphases, and stirring insurrection by appeals to vanity, power, through arts of seduction (not overtly sexual, but with some sexual overtones, I argue) is one of those repetitive themes. There, with Annatar, Giver of Gifts, who is an often replayed 'Sauronic' theme. The lure of Ring Lore for the already fallen Noldor--the-Elves-already-vulnerable--and ruined by Melkor's perversion of Valinor-ian truths through Melkor's earlier work.
I do not see Melkor as quite the same vassal as Sauron, (though, 'servants' they both were. Wasn't Melkor just a slave to his own desires, ultimately, in the end when you strip away the godlike powers he had), although, at times he was someone who gave Lore or its promise, in exchange during a Tolkienian 'corruption'. Melkor, in the stories we're brought about him, used language to lure Elves into seeing an enemy in the 'other' and in the Valar in Valinor. He made gross tools of power--ruined Elves (arguably), dragons, and seduced Maia--the Balrogs--for his purposes. Ungoliant was not brought to the Two Trees by being promised gifts. She was a ravenously greedy being with no bottom to the greed, and who just wanted to devour. Where is 'Giver of Gifts' in those outrageously gross indications of power in Melkor's bearing?
Granted, Maeglin was broken in Thangorodhrim, more by a 'Sauronic' promise for possession of a female Elf in some kind of rape-theme that did bear clear sexual overtones. I'm not sure that 'giver of gifts' quite applies here. Also granted, Sauron had extended periods not as a Giver of Gifts at all, but as overt tyrant who used open threats, and torture to subordinate. The Nine were more created through the covert-seduction route and through trickery.
As for how Morgoth corrupted Men, my reading of this (and I don't have a comprehensive access to academic materials) was that his appeal to Men had two dimensions of influence. One was literal and concrete, and the second metaphysical. On the former, he used the tools of a tyrant in overt power displays to compel Men into capitulation through intimidation, fear and terror. Allied to that, appeals to power, territory and overlordship, for loyal service, where 'loyal' meant enslaving and eliminating anything Valinorean, Elvish, Kelvar, etc. His second influence--another strong theme recurrent in the mythology--metaphysical. Even from beyond the Void Melkor, we're told, had ongoing influence. Men, and their vulnerability to his Shadow, was how it has been put. I've seen this theme emergent in UT's materials on Galadriel and Celeborn, where there was reference to the actual Sun being sullied by Melkor from the Void, with implications for the making of the second Elessar (with implications that it was not as potent, because the Sun -- and all of Middle Earth -- were aging and diminishing, over the Ages, because of Melkor).
I want to finish by remembering that it is the reader--human--who anthropomorphises Elvendom and all things in Middle Earth. As such, Tokien's innate humanity was borne upon his mythology, and so, his divisionist thinking about 'good' and 'evil', greatly influences his expressed notions of beauty, truth, corruption, good, evil and tyranny. I'm really not so sure about Tolkien's mind on one level. His ideas about good and evil do divide the world in some scary ways. For example, the deadlock he places about Evil and races--is rather troubling. If you scratch the surface here, you will see then that, really, Melkor and Sauron were not really necessarily fairly placed as a source of 'Evil'. The inter-subjectivity of good and evil were never really fully explored in the mythology. For example, and I've mentioned this elsewhere, Noldorin imperial Elvendom was pretty perverse when you look more closely at it. Eol's screams as he was hurled off the crags at Turgon's palace of weirdos--case in point.
