#and knowing that even if death is ugly and change might be upsetting they're fundamental for the existence of life

[celebbun]

Is Melkorist something like what the Numenoreans were doing?

I'm guessing this is in reference to my tags on @melkors-defense-attorney 's post here.

While Númenor's cult to Melkor is certainly the clearest and most explicit form of Melkorism we see in the Legendarium, it's not what I mean when I reference it in junction with Thranduil's character.

I'll put the the explanation under a cut because it's quite long:

To get started, I think I first have to explain both what Thranduil and Melkor represent to me.

Thranduil I think represents growth, or more specifically, regrowth. It's right there on the meaning of his name (or epessë in my headcanon), Vigorous Spring. Spring as in the season after winter, the unquieting of things, blooming and, most of all, regrowth. Spring is the season of life that comes after the harsh, silent and dead winter. It softens the blow of the cold and promotes renewal, offering hope for a new cycle of growth. That's exactly what Thranduil means to me. He's the one to regroup and rebuild and reestablish both home and hope, and that's so incredibly valuable to people after a period of great loss and uncertainty. He takes the hand of those who have suffered and helps them grieve, but also helps them look beyond that grief and towards finding new hope and purpose. Hearing his voice after a long, hard battle would be akin to hearing the first notes of the song of a bird at the end of winter and knowing that the cold will finally give way to warmth and all will be well.

Melkor, on the other hand, means change. He’s chaos and time and inevitability. All things change, for better or for worse; no matter what you do or wish for. Nothing is ever static, and that constant motion is only natural. Change is fundamental do life, life doesn’t exist without change. Change is present in all aspects of life, from the greatest to the most minute. A person may die or give birth, and that is change; or their cells might divide and create new tissues, and that is also change. Molecules will attach to certain receptors or promote the synthesis of a new protein, and all that will have tiny or immense impacts on an organism, like smelling a new perfume or the synthesis of antibodies that will help protect the body from an infection. The point is: life is dependant on change.

One of the greatest changes a living thing can suffer, and one that promotes the most growth is, ironically, death. The death of an organism is one that nurtures soil, plant and animal alike. A whole new ecosystem will rise from the death of just one being, and there are countless species that depend on that process to take place. Life can be greater and stronger after death takes place, like new trees after a forest fire or the fertilized soil after a volcanic eruption. Life and death walk hand in hand, one dependant on the other to exist.

Regrowth, in the end, is applied change. I think Thranduil is one of those people who channels the Discord around him and shapes it to his will, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not, but he does all the same. And I also think that his being is intimately related to the cycle of life and death and change, always change. He sees the importance of Melkor’s Song and Discord, he sees how life can't exist in the way it does without them, and he respects them for it. And despite the possibility of there being a better world in the future without these things, this is the world he chose to love.

For all those reasons, I also think he greatly dislikes the Blessed Realm and is, most of all, disappointed in the Valar. The Blessed Realm, also called the Undying Lands is an antithesis to what it proposes to be. A land without death is also a land without proper life. The immutable nature of Aman, a land where no being meets its end, where no leaf falls and no seasons change, ultimately stifles growth. It would be madenning to someone like Thranduil. A land with no contrast, with no joy and relief at the songs of springtime birds; a perfect land, where the trees don’t speak and the ground never shifts. It’s still, quiet, overwhelmingly so. It’s a type of absolute silence that actually feels dangerous, like a forest when a predator walks by.

Now, this isn't to say that Thranduil agrees with Melkor’s actions, on the contrary. I think that his love for life and its fundamental aspects make him abhor pretty much the entirety of the First Age. Death is extremely important, yes, but forcefully inflicting death also goes against the natural cycle of life. In this aspect, Melkor’s rage is the other side of the Valar's stillness' coin. He learned to appreciate the Songs for what they are and what they contribute, but he has little love for the ones that originated them.

In conclusion, when I say my Thranduil is a Melkorist, I mean that he has Melkor's Song as a driving force behind his values and that he respects Melkor for the essential aspects he contributed to life in Arda, not that he's out there doing human sacrifices lmao