#Melkor in the Void

[overlord-of-fantasy]

Sauron spilled the tea... too early

[anoriel-niqetilde]

Okay, I guess I’m doing this! Part 2 of Melkor in the Void, aka I mess around in Procreate as long as I don’t have to try to draw people. Based on a post by @curufiin. Featuring Eärendil this time (by way of his silmaril). Original idea and part 1 here.

(I discovered the flare brush btw. That’s the only reason he looks this good)

I have no idea how far my art skills will take this idea, but whatever. It’s good practice!

[wormboyfriendcentralstation]

tolkien is full of three dimensional villains who understand the mistakes that they've made and regret them, or who have very understandable motivations that we literally watch spiral downward. melkor, meanwhile, came into existence as the strongest prettiest best cosmic entity, immediately started trying to fight god for the aux cord, and made it everyone else's problem for the next All Of Existence

[sun-snatcher]

Wasn’t this how The Silmarillion went

[aguythatlikesstuff]

Tulkas is so funny to me. His greatest joy in life is fighting Melkor. In theory he basically fills the role of "God of War" but in practice it's really just "God of Kicking Melkor's Ass".

I imagine Nessa saw this on Tulkas' dating profile:

Likes: Breaking Morgoth's stupid face.

Dislikes: Morgoth's stupid face.

Hobbies: Rearranging the features of Morgoth's stupid face; painting landscapes with Morgoth's blood; learning new knots to tie Morgoth's limbs in.

Favorite Music: Morgoth's bitchy scream; Morgoth's bones snapping; Morgoth begging for mercy.

[atane-is-here]

@ainurweek

Melkor and Mairon / The Void, The Flame Imperishable

Not many in middle earth noticed the strangeness of the glow in Annatars eyes that could be so easily mistaken for the light of the trees. But those who were wise enough noticed the absence of Valinors light and knew it as the flame of creation itself, that within him it had twisted into a burning inferno.

In the beginning Melkor had searched the void far and wide for the flame imperishable. As he realized that a part of that flame resided within him he desperately tried to reach it. Tearing himself apart in the process.

[winds-of-zephyr416]

Melkor’s horrible pickup lines 2 electric boogaloo: The One That Worked.

Melkor: Heyyy Mairon, what did you make your fána out of? Copper(II) telluride?

Mairon: Hm, no, just the usual carbons and nitrogens and stuff. Why do you ask?

Melkor: Oh really? ‘Cause when I look at you, all I see is CuTe.

[gauntletgirlie]

Your pain is my pain

Do you think in this moment he thought of Melkor, chained and alone in The Void?

Do you think he remembered how Melkor’s crown was made into a collar, as his own chafed and bit into his neck?

Do you think Melkor felt Mairon’s pain too?

When I saw this scene in The Rings of Power, it was what I immediately thought of. The show is known for its use of parallels in its story telling and this one stood out to me, whether it was intended by the writers or not.

The show decided to use Morgoth’s crown in a non-canon way, which irked me at first, but I didn’t hate how it ended up being using in TROP and, if anything, the crown got my boy mentioned (more) in the show so it’s a win in my eyes.

There’s also something fitting about Mairon being in possession of the crown of his lover/master/pick either or both. That crown caused Melkor pain due to the silmarils set in it. That crown caused Mairon pain in TROP because Adar stabbed him with it. Morgoth’s crown linked Melkor to the light he craved via the silmarils; it linked Sauron to the light he craved through him stabbing Galadriel with it and forging a connection to her through that action.

“There Morgoth stood at last at bay, and yet unvaliant. He fled into the deepest of his mines, and sued for peace and pardon; but his feet were hewn from under him, and he was hurled upon his face. Then he was bound with the chain Angainor which he had worn aforetime, and his iron crown they beat into a collar for his neck, and his head was bowed upon his knees.”

- The Silmarillion

[nighttimepatrons]

the ainur discussing Melkor before they indubitably let him back into arda

[perlen-gold]

Melkor: Precious, I killed those half-pints, that miserable Gollum creature and that midget, Bilbo What's-he-called-Raggings or something like that.

Sauron/Mairon: Nice. What gave you the idea, my lord?

Melkor: Those perverts kept stroking themselves and calling your name! Like this! *touches one finger to his palm*

Sauron/Mairon: *facepalm*

[eri-pl]

"Nothing is evil in the beginning" (but it needs a better title, this line is too overused) (for @morgoth-into-the-void-week day 4)

Melkor character study. Surprisingly no TWs, despite sticking close to canon. If I even get this far in the timeline, there won't be drastic descriptions.

But we're in his head (3rd person) and watch him spiral downwards. I guess this may be unsettling. As for now I got through Ainulindale and it's pretty benign in my opinion. A lot of unheatlthy emotions though.

Why do I love writing characters who are wrong? For the irony? Maybe.

No "thee" this time, because the format is weird already. I hope it's readable enough. It is a bit experimental in form. I also hope to some day finish it all the way back to the Void.

Fic below cut.

"I can handle this."

"You can't. You would unmake yourself in an instant. You need to learn. I love you."

"I could. I know I could." He lunges into the void, seeking, yearning, burning to create. It's empty. It shouldn't be empty. He will make it full. "I can handle this."

"Come, meet your kin. Learn them, learn with them. I love you."

"I will. Later. I need to see what's there, I need to find It, I know You will let me one day, I need to. I will learn them later."

"You have to choose. I love you."

"I can do both. I can handle this."

A melody comes, and it's stranger than the Void.

He makes it even stranger, stretches it into far reaches of his thought, far into the Void, where he can make it into something that never have been. And singing it, changing it, making it kindles a light in his heart. It's almost what he had longed for. It is something where there was nothing. But then he stops singing and it fades, and what was it's not no more.

"Almost" is not enough.

He sings again, there is something in the motive, something yearning for an answer, if he could only find it.

"Come, sing with your brother, learn to harmonize with him. I love you."

"I need to understand first! I can't let anyone muddle the question before I find the answer! I can handle this, I can find it, I will not fail You."

"You will. But I love you, Melkor."

He sings louder, desperate to hear it, to grasp it. It's still not loud enough. He needs to grow. So Melkor stretches into the Void, trying to be more than he is. Melkor. That his name. It fits.

Everyone gathers and Melkor meets many of his kin for the first time. Still, his thoughts are wandering through the Void, seeking the answer. When he manages to become fully present and feels the others, the Music has already begun.

It had begun and continued, changing. Not like one motive, explored back and forth in his mind, in his singing, but... Like a line. It had more of this strange quality of passing and then being no more. It was beautiful, but boring, slow. When will we get to filling the Void?

The others sang wrong. It wasn't the song Melkor had been given, it was simpler. Less important. Melkor sang louder to lead them into a more worthy music.

They didn't want to be led and started quarreling. He added more ideas, showing them what could be, what he could make if they stopped slowing him down. If they let his questions bloom to their full glory, if they let him seek the answers undisturbed. Yes, they were trying to help, he was aware of this. But they only slowed him down. He could handle it by himself.

Some managed to help a little, though, adding to his song, and it grew even mightier. But still not mighty enough.

A new theme appeared, but it didn't help, as most of his "kin" still didn't understand anything. A few went quiet, a few more joined him, but this still wasn't enough. Why? Why would they not understand?

Melkor sang as loud as he could, turning his voice into a defeaning roar, yet still, they opposed him. Even his so-called brother. Mostly him.

How could they all be so stupid, so— there was no concept for this. How they sang was— it was like imagining a wrong solution to a problem, but without the "imagining" part. It made Melkor feel things he'd never known before, and they were not entirely unpleasant.

There was strength in this feeling. He channeled this new sensation into his song and many of the others finally shut up.

Then, before Melkor could develop his theme, another break.

He resumed his song, accompanied by some others, seeking... What was he seeking? The quiet countermelody, too slow, too chromatic and yet not tense enough, distracted him.

…He had been asking a question. It had been important. And his foolish "kin" made him lose it.

He would find it again. He was the mightiest, if he wouldn't find it, than no one would. And it was too beautiful to be lost forever. So, he had to.

But first he needed to convince the others, to make them understand that they were singing wrong. They kept stealing his chords, harmonizing them into something unbearable, something... painful. The pain was another new thing.

Another sudden break, halfway as something was beginning, something—

"Melkor, my beloved child. There cannot be a wrong music, none of you can change it against Me even if you try. And if anyone dares, they will prove a part of my plan still, and they will witness beauty beyond their furthest imagining. I love all of you."

All of them. But when it came to a reprimand, Melkor is mentioned specifically. Even thought they were the ones singing wrong.

That hurts.

A Vision appeared before them, solidifying again the order of Time, but Melkor didn't pay much attention to it. And hearing that he was but a part, but an insignificant embellishment—

Something changed.

New beings appeared, like the Ainur but yet unlike. How? How was that not impossible? So fragile, and yet they had a depth to them, and a blinding newness. Something inside them called to Melkor: an answer and a question. He needed to understand. And those creatures, those silver and gold juxtapositions, moved erratically and yet too slowly, not letting him see clearly, not letting him—

What? He started in amazement at how much those Children (was he not enough?) were given, waiting. But no gifts were offered to him, or any of the Ainur; not even to his boring, obedient brother.

Why? A tempest swirled in him, those feelings he'd put before into Music, and a piercing longing. It was as if the whole last part of the Song sounded in his heart.

Melkor pushed it back.

He could handle those feelings, nobody needed to know how lost he was. He would find himself quickly. He'd got enough reprimands already, he didn't need to make it worse by asking stupid questions. Apparently he wasn't good enough. Well, he would prove himself. He could handle this.

First, he had to make this messy place worthy of those tiny, absurd creatures endowned with such gifts. Which, of course, meant that he had to work against most of his so-called "kin", who understood nothing of it.

Why did he always have to do the hardest work?

But he was the mightiest. He could handle this.

the Vision is gone, interrupted earlier even than the Music, and there is Darkness. How can it be gone, after Melkor has put so much effort into it? It hurts, but he can't show that. He has to be mighty. To prove himself.

The Darkness seems to look at him with too many eyes, and he needs to hide his pain his secrets from it, so that it doesn't interfere with his plans. Most of the Ainur look at him with anger, and even the few who joined him shy back in fear. But Melkor needs every tool he can have, so he decides that being feared is a good thing.

"I know that you long for the world to be, that you yearn to meet and know something unlike you, and yet akin, separate and yet real. I love you all, and so—

Eä!"

[hailturinturambar]

“I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things,secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.”

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII by Pablo Neruda

MELKOR & NIENNA: my roman empire

[overlord-of-fantasy]

Trouble in (the opposite of) paradise (Void)

Sauron: You’re mean to me! Morgoth: You’re meaner to me! Sauron: Yeah, well, you’re ugly too! Morgoth: You’re uglier! Sauron: *Offended ghasp* You’re a dumbass! Morgoth: You’re a dumberass! Sauron: You think “dumberass” is a good insult!

[braxix]

Elrond: *Holding a spider.*

Elrond: I don't understand why you're all acting like that. It's cute.

Literally everyone: PUT IT DOWN!

[morgoth-into-the-void-week]

The previous poll is still going, but since i'm impatient (like our main star of the week... ):

[transsexualhamlet]

the good old days

[click for resolution, id under cut]

Extras:

[id: a digital painting of Mairon and Melkor from the Silmarillion on a background of dark fiery mountains. It is mainly shades of orange and indigo. Melkor has grey skin, with ram's horns and sharp teeth, with a giant hammer at his side. Mairon has tan skin, is shirtless, and holds a bloody sword. Both are wearing armor. Melkor holds a large chain connected to a spiked collar around Mairon's neck. end id]