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PotbellyHairyfoot
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Post Character analysis - Melkor/Morgoth
on: July 02, 2007 05:00
The most important character in the world of that Hurin and his children lived in is Melkor/Morgoth. Almost everything that happens to them is due to him and his manipulations.
What sort of creature is Melkor?
What sets him apart from the other Valari?
What are his fears and desires, his likes and dislikes and why does he seem so evil?
What is his ultimate goal?
What mistakes and errors in judgment has he made?

References----
Melkor's fears

The Morgoth Element

Morgoth and the Silmarils
Was Morgoth created evil?





[Edited on 10/7/2007 by PotbellyHairyfoot]

[Edited on 10/7/2007 by PotbellyHairyfoot]
cirdaneth
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Post RE: Character analysis - Melkor/Morgoth
on: July 03, 2007 08:58
The most important character in the world of that Hurin and his children lived in is Melkor/Morgoth. Almost everything that happens to them is due to him and his manipulations.

Well … almost everything that happens to everyone in Tolkien’s mythology!

What sort of creature is Melkor? He is a Valar, (one of the Ainur that chose to enter Arda and prepare it for habitation by the Children of Eru/Illuvatar/the One.)

What sets him apart from the other Valari? The Ainur are Eru’s original creation, “offspring of his thought”. They are facets of Himself except that He gave each of them free will and a specific talent to use in His Creation. Melkor/Morgoth was given a measure of all the talents, an idea of the overall picture. Perhaps he saw himself as Jack-of-all-Trades-and-Master-of-None, as he had no single great talent. This seems to be the source of his resentment.

What are his fears and desires, his likes and dislikes and why does he seem so evil? He was jealous of the others, and angry with Eru when he realised he could not create things to his own design. At first he enjoys the use of fire and ice and the disruption they cause. Later his pleasure is in corruption, twisting and destruction of the other Valar’s work. Morgoth seems to me to have echoes of the evil Finnish sorcerer Kullervo.

What is his ultimate goal? His main quarrel is with Eru Himself, and his aim seems to be total destruction. He does it slowly at times because he has come to enjoy watching the suffering. At others he lets rip with earthquakes, eruptions and dangerous beasts and does a lot of damage in a short time.

What mistakes and errors in judgment has he made? He fails to see that however much he uses his free-will to mess it up for the other Valar, he cannot outplay the One, who created him, and even if it takes many millennia, all his efforts will be turned to the completion of Eru’s plan, just as his discords in the Music were woven into the original musical theme.

Deep stuff, and I believe it to be Tolkien's (possibly unconscious) "mission statement".
Ilandir
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Post RE: Character analysis - Melkor/Morgoth
on: July 03, 2007 07:39
My ideas; pretty much the same as cirdaneth.

What sort of creature is Melkor? He is a fallen vala.

What sets him apart from the other Valari? He was given the greatest power by his creator and can thus be considered as the most powerful, until he became corrupt and began losing his power.

What are his fears and desires, his likes and dislikes and why does he seem so evil? Same idea as cirdaneth - jealousy. He desired to find the Imperishable Flame and be his own creator. This he could not do, and revolted against the world and it's own inhabitants. He fears his loss of power and desires to be King of Arda.

What is his ultimate goal? Claim all lands and cast down the power of the Valar and being able to challenge Ilúvatar himself.

What mistakes and errors in judgment has he made? That fate has already been sealed and his own actions are part of what was meant to happen by Eru. His main mistake was the fact that he did not know (or was blinded) that each that he transferred his power to his own servants, he lost more and more, thus drawing away from his main goal of ruling Arda and beyond.


[Edited on 4/7/2007 by Ilandir]
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PotbellyHairyfoot
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Post RE: Character analysis - Melkor/Morgoth
on: July 03, 2007 08:30
Melkor , although the firstborn of the Valar seems to be jealous of the possessons of others, and wants everything for himself, or failing that he wants to destroy everything that he didn't take a hand in creating. In many ways he acts like an overgrown spoiled coward.

One of the biggest things that sets him apart from the other Valar is that he has given up so much of himself to his underlings that he can no longer change his form. He is permanently attached to the corporeal form he has taken. This has lead to him being wounded in battle, and in addition he has actually been tricked, and subdued, by lessor creatures and now, because of this he is also different from the other Valar in that he alone feels fear.

His biggest fear is that he may face the consequences of his actions , be defeated, and lose to the very creatures he hates, in particular the Noldor. He hates and seems to want to destroy, anything that he cannot control, or that was made by anyone other than he. In war and battles it isn't enough for him to subdue his enemies; he needs to make sure that they survive to see what he has done to them. One thing that really makes him sem evil is the regular use of betrayal. He and his lieutenants will promise anything to trick you into helping him and then immediately renege on the promise.

His goal seems to be the complete and utter destruction of those who have defied him and the total control of the entire surface of Middle-earth.

I'd have to agree that transferring some of his power to hi underlings was a big mistake. In many ways he is now even less powerful than the Maia and other lesser Valar.




[Edited on 4/7/2007 by PotbellyHairyfoot]
Arawn
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Post RE: Character analysis - Melkor/Morgoth
on: July 05, 2007 04:45
Melkor was the first of the valer and he has never forgotten this. It's like the situation with Kain and Abel: Melkor is bitter, because Iluvatar gave Manwe more power. Or so it seemed to him. He will stop at nothing really to regain his position. It is difficult for him to imagine that others will not react like he would in specific situations. He thinks that everyone has a similar character to him, which leads to wrong assumptions.
Linwe_Saralonde
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Post RE: Character analysis - Melkor/Morgoth
on: July 05, 2007 06:40
What sort of creature is Melkor? : A fallen Vala. In the beginning, he had the power do do good, but was decieved by his own powers and lust.

What sets him apart from the other Valari? : This desire to rule and dominate, which none of the other Valar have. This is seen at the arrival of the Elves. The Valar wanted to help them and teach them, wheras Melkor only saw them (maybe out of fear of himself and his own power) as pawns, and seeked to rule them by causing fear

What are his fears and desires, his likes and dislikes and why does he seem so evil?: The first thing Melkor wishes to do his to create things that come from him and him only. But seeing the works of the other Valar, this desire is mingled with anger, fear and jelousy (because a part of him thought all the other Valar beneath him, because he his as powerful as Manwe is the mind of Iluvatar). So Melkor sees the Valar in their work and is in a sense angered by the fact that they can do things while he cannot. Hence, this anger is turned into a desire to prove his might through destruction. Though his creation, he also seeks to bring down the works of the Valar and Iluvatar, because his deceptions have brought him to mock the infaliabilty of Iluvatar and he wishes more than anything to discredit his works. This might be one of the reasons which pushed him to capture Elves and torture them until they became was gave birth to the Orcs. First, this deed brought him some kind of dominion over a living form and proved to him that the creation of Iluvatar can not only be killed, but can also be broken, which is even better in his mind.

What is his ultimate goal? Utter destruction of all who opposed him. He seeks not only revenge, but wants to prove to himself that he his the one and only master in Arda.

What mistakes and errors in judgment has he made? To seek what he could never attain. In a way he wished to replace Iluvatar himself, which does not make any sense. He was created by Iluvatar and could not have been without his power. So he is a part of Iluvatar himself and his Great Scheme.
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