The Dark GOD - Demon KING & Ultimate EVIL: Melkor / Morgoth - Lord of the Rings
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Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's episode, we're going to take another dive into the Lord of the Rings universe, specifically, into the life of Melkor, whose name means "He Who Arises in Might", the incarnation of evil and nemesis of all that is green and good in the Tolkien Legendarium. The Balrogs served him, he created all the dragons of the world, he created or corrupted every other evil creature, either directly or indirectly, and he was more powerful than any of the other greater spirits that came to Ea, the world. We're going to start things off with some general, introductory info, and then we're going to do an overview of his whole life.Let's get into it Long before the events that take place in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sauron, the main antagonist of the series, wasn't his own master; rather, he was a servant of Melkor, the true Dark Lord. Melkor was, essentially, the incarnation of evil. In power he was second only to Eru, the One, the only god in the monotheistic structure that underpins the Lord of the Rings Mythos. Melkor was very similar to Lucifer, both as being part of an angelic race and as, driven by lust and hubris, falling from grace and plunging into shadow. When he first came to earth, his appearance was colossal and elemental, as tall as a mountain, as fell as a black cloud storm laced with lightning, with ice, fire and shadow about him. Later, after his first imprisonment, he assumed a fair form, one that helped convey the pretense of reform he maintained to belie his true thoughts and intentions. And later, after much of his personal power was dispersed - infused into his wicked works, such as corrupting the land, building fortresses and breeding armies - his individual potency was diminished; in this state, he appeared as a giant man plated in black armor, a sable bulwark of shield on one arm, Grond, the Hammer of the Underworld, wielded in the other. Though Melkor was not technically a god, once he descended to earth from the timeless halls, the power he possessed over life and land was certainly god-worthy when compared to the deities that populated the pagan pantheons of bygone polytheistic religions, like those of the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Greeks The only way to tell Morgoth's long and wicked story is by winding the clocks back to a time that precedes creation itself. In the very beginning, there was only Eru, the One. In Elvish his name was Iluvatar. He was self-created and, for a time, was the only thing that existed in the void. Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, in power and province, he was similar to the gods of monotheistic religions. His first creations were the Ainur, an angelic race. They were manifestations of his thought, and using the Flame Imperishable - itself an aspect of Eru - he imbued them with eternal life. The Ainur dwelt in the Timeless Halls, a place Eru created for them.