[ Daily Tolkien ] Magic by Melkor, No Returns Accepted

Why gold? I've had that question put to me a few times now. Where on Earth did I get the idea that dragons might draw power from gold, or, more specifically, that there was something special about gold when it came to magic?

Well, I neglected to mention one crucial paragraph when I was citing Tolkien's essay (which, by the way, Christopher Tolkien called "Notes on motives in the Silmarillion" -- the Morgoth-element paragraphs were lifted from near the end of section ii).

When last we referred to Tolkien's view on how the magic worked for Sauron, he had said: "...Morgoth's power was disseminated throughout Gold, if nowhere absolute (for he did not create Gold) it was nowhere absent. (It was this Morgoth-element in matter, indeed, which was a prerequisite for such 'magic' and other evils as Sauron practised with it and upon it.)"

But what follows explains my fascination with gold, and why I think dragons might have been able to sustain themselves upon it:

So, there is no specific dragon connection but Tolkien did at least give some thought to gold's peculiar place in the hierarchy of what we could call "magical substances" in Middle-earth. Gold is a fascinating element. It's the third most conductive metal we know of (only copper and silver being more effective). In it's purest form gold can be safely eaten (although gold bouillion is quite expensive, I'm told) though it has no real nutritive value for us. Dragons may or may not have benefitted from soaking up some ounces.

Of course, it's been pointed out to me that a dragon's hoard included more than just gold. Smaug's belly, for example, was encrusted with jewels. That's true. But anyone who has seen the picture of Bilbo and Smaug which Tolkien painted for The Hobbit (titled "Conversation with Smaug") cannot fail to notice that the bulk of the dragon's bed is made of gold. Yes, there are all sorts of sparkly things scattered across the pile (including an Arkenstone atop the heap) but most of the treasure was gold.

Now, that's not to say jewels cannot be special in their own right. Recall how Ungoliant lusted after the gems Melkor stole from the Noldor at Formenos. She ate all but the Silmarils and grew more powerful as she did so. These gems could not possibly have contained what Tolkien referred to as the Morgoth-element, even though Melkor had been held in Aman for a very long time. So, the question arises of whether there was some other "magic" element that Ungoliant was feeding upon, or if she was simply feeding on the essence of the gemstones themselves.

When Ungoliant sucked the life from the Two Trees and then drank the liquid light from the Wells of Varda she grew to an immense size. She became so large and powerful that Melkor feared her. Light was Ungoliant's sustenance, but the light of the Two Trees was the product of what might be deemed "pure magic", the power of a Vala. Yavanna had brought the Two Trees to life by the power of her song, an act of sub-creation within the Halls of Ea which was unequalled, and which she claimed she would never be able to repeat. Thus fed by the power of Yavanna's greatest enchantment, Ungoliant became huge and even more powerful than before.

Likewise the stolen gems of the Noldor were enchanted. Feanor had learned how to make gem-stones which glowed under the starlight, or which glowed of their own accord. He had many years in which to build up a great treasury, and this treasury was moved to Formenos when Feanor, Finwe, Feanor's sons, and the Noldor who followed them settled there far in the north of Valinor during the period of Feanor's banishment from Tirion. So Ungoliant was able to feed not only upon the essence of the Noldorin jewels but also the power Feanor (and any other crafters) had put into them.

If the Noldor were able to create magical gems in Aman, they were no less able to create them in Middle-earth. And as the Noldor were taught by the Valar and Maiar, and especially by Aule, so, too, were the Dwarves taught by Aule himself. The Dwarves had their own skills and special powers. They may have been less powerful than the Eldar, or perhaps less ambitious (for they never made artifacts like the Rings of Power or the Silmarils). But the Dwarves may also have put their thought into the things they made, such as the dragon-helm of Dor-lomin, which warded its bearers against harm. And the Black Arrow of Erebor which Bard used to slay Smaug may have been the product of more than just expert fletching and smithing. Perhaps some Dwarven master, slain by the dragon so that all his lore was lost with him, had put a great effort into the shaft and it bore something of his power.

Elf- and Dwarf-power might not be the equal of Morgoth- or Yavanna-power, but it would still be a source of enchantment. A dragon sitting upon an Elf hoard (as in Nargothrond) or a Dwarf hoard (as in Erebor) might draw upon or simply bask in the energies of the makers of the enchanted items as much or nearly so as upon the Morgoth-element in gold. Which is not to say that dragons had to do this, but clearly the passing of power from a being to an object is a motif Tolkien used over and over again, and in turn he gave us an example of power passing from an object to a being. The immense energies Melkor dispersed throughout Arda in his efforts to identify it with himself would, collectively, overshadow those of the Elven and Dwarven makers of items. But a hoard of gold and gems no matter how large would still be a mere fraction of the essence of Arda. So every little bit would help.

A sense of scale develops when one weighs the great (evil) powers of the First Age against those of later ages. Melkor governed his realm from Angband, where he was surrounded by his servants: Sauron, the Balrogs, Draugluin and the were-wolves, Orcs, Trolls, Thuringwethil and perhaps other bat-like creatures, and other monsters unnamed in the legends of the Elves and Edain. He bred the dragons there and nourished Carcharoth, the great Wolf. But his creatures also dwelt throughout Middle-earth. The siege of Angband was more a show than anything else, because Melkor's forces were able to come and go as they pleased by northern routes. And Melkor recruited many Men from the east.

In the Second Age Sauron started out with himself. He eventually gathered all evil creatures together again but nearly all of Melkor's Maiaric servants had perished or hidden themselves. And if there were dragons in his service they don't seem to have achieved much in Eriador (unless it were that when Sauron set the great forests of Minhiriath and Enedwaith aflame in the War of the Elves and Sauron he did so with the aid of dragons). By the end of the Age Sauron had enslaved the nine Nazgul. Since a vast army of Elves, Dwarves, and Men was able to defeat him Sauron wasn't really as powerful (militarily) as Melkor had been at the end of the First Age. Part of that military strength no doubt arose from the number of sorcerors in Melkor's service, and their quality. Even in their fallen state the corrupted Maiar were very powerful.

In the third Age Sauron took shape very slowly, and he concentrated his efforts around Dol Guldur for a long time. He sent the Lord of the Nazgul north to found the Witch-realm of Angmar, and from Angmar Sauron struck out at the Dunedain of the North (and to a lesser extent at the Eldar, too). Part of Angmar's strategy seems to have been to corrupt the Hill-folk of Rhudaur, some of whom became sorcerors. But though perhaps feared by Men these sorcerors don't seem to have made a lasting mark upon history. They were virtually wiped out during or after the war of 1409.

Though Tolkien doesn't speak of the sorceries performed by the Hill-folk he does reveal something of the kinds of sorcery used by the Lord of the Nazgul and by the Barrow-wights, which were sent by the Witch-king to inhabit the barrows of Tyrn Gorthad after the Great Plague destroyed most of Cardolan's people. The Nazgul and the Wights seem to be adept at killing living beings, and the Nazgul especially (with their Morgul-blades) enslaved the spirits of those whom they had slain. The Barrow-wight which captured Frodo and the Hobbits was ready to sacrifice them, presumably to send their spirits to Sauron or the Lord of the Nazgul.

In Morgoth's Ring, the essay on "Death and the severance of the fea and hrondo (>hroa)", Tolkien speaks of how the spirits of slain Elves can linger in Middle-earth:

One must wonder what that last sentence means. Sauron was known as the Necromancer during the long years he dwelt on Dol Guldur. Did he work bodilessly to enslave others while he regained his strength? Did he at times forsake his body to work with sorcerors who thought they might enslave him? What would become of the slaves Sauron made this way, and who were his followers who could also practice such deceptions? Were the Nazgul taking possession of would-be sorcerors? Such perilous communions with Sauron might explain both how he was able to control so many leaders of men and why they would drawn to him in the first place. The shamans and kings and chieftains wouldn't know, until it was too late, that their predecessors who had become powerful were in fact little more than avatars for Sauron. That is not to say that all of Sauron's servants would be so directly manipulated. But the most powerful leaders among his servants and allies may indeed have been sorcerous puppets.

Perhaps that also explains the heathen custom where kings would have themselves burned on a pyre. Denethor II chooses to die this way and Gandalf rebukes him for it, saying only the heathen kings are so treated. If Sauron decided he had no further use for one of these slaves it might be convenient to destroy all the evidence of his possession of it rather than let his followers learn the truth, or some portion of it. On the other hand, one might argue, if Sauron and the Nazgul could possess people, why didn't the Lord of the Nazgul use Earnur's body to gain control over Gondor? It may be that, if he made the attempt, the Lord of the Nazgul didn't possess the power necessary. Earnur would not have willingly communed with a Nazgul or even Sauron himself. His will might be broken but he would probably die, burned out by the struggle.

The fear some of the Rohirrim express, wondering if Aragorn and his companions may be Elvish wights when he takes the Paths of the Dead, may also be grounded in a suspicion that perhaps they have been possessed by Elven spirits. The speculation implies that the Rohirirm have had experience with men who have been possessed by Elven spirits, or perhaps have heard enough tales of such men to believe they are true. At the very least we know that Tolkien wasn't completely back-tracking when he wrote the essay on death and the severance of spirit and body. He was filling in some of the gaps for the framework already established by The Lord of the Rings.

And thus we can safely deduce that, in the world of Aragorn and his companions, there were or had been men who had foolishly attempted to become powerful through unnatural means. Perhaps envious of, or inspired by, the Istari and the Elves, who possessed such abilities naturally, men were drawn toward the darkness. And the apparent increase in strength and sophistication of the enemies of Arnor and Gondor may also show that men were succumbing to the temptation to seek out alliances with malevolent spirits, though they might not have thought they were doing so.

Which brings us back to how men could begin such experimentation. Even Sauron would need a first volunteer to succeed with. Did he discover that men were already toying with the notion when he first took shape again? Had he perhaps sown the seeds of such practices in the Second Age? If so, the ancient lore might have receded into the distant east but would not have been completely lost. Perhaps the Nazgul kept alive the knowledge in anticipation of Sauron's eventual return. And men seeking power might seek for objects of power. Gold would be valuable, but gold worked by Elves and Dwarves would be more magical than whatever Men could gain for themselves.

Hence, would-be sorcerors might strike up trade bargains with Elves and Dwarves if they had wealth and resources the Elves and Dwarves desired. Otherwise, Men would prey upon Elves and Dwarves in the hope of gaining treasures. The animosity and estrangement which developed between Men and the other races in the Third Age might have many causes, but Tolkien notes that the Dwarves were often plundered by Men, probably more so than by dragons. And so generation upon generation of sorcerors and students of necromancy would fight and haggle over precious artifacts and gems, valuing them not for their beauty but for their enchantment.

Not that all practitioners of magic would have to be evil. The Numenoreans of Cardolan, at least, had the means to make enchanted swords. The barrow-blades Tom Bombadil gave to the Hobbits were "wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor". Faramir told Frodo and Sam that even in Gondor some of his people continued to make elixirs in their desperate search for longer life, and some men continued to consort with the Elves. And in a letter to a reader, Tolkien said that Beorn was a Man, "though a skin-changer and a bit of a magician". Such men would not have sought to commune with the Elvish spirits, the Unbodied, or with Sauron and the Nazgul. They would have sought a less tainted lore.

And since Melkor's power was disseminated through the physical world there would be plenty of material to work with. One did not need to enchant material which was already enchanted. Gold made a poor source for weaponry but it could be traced upon the blades of iron swords (as the barrow-blades were so traced). The barrow-blades were also decorated with gems, and made of a strange metal the Hobbits did not recognize. And Denethor knew at once that Pippin's sword had been made by Dunedain of the north. Did he recognize the weapons by their design, their materials, or by something else?

The Numenoreans also constructed the vast tower of Orthanc, which was so smooth and so strong its stone could not be broken by the Ents. Was there magic involved there? Was the dark stone with which the Numenoreans worked filled with an unusually large amount of Melkor's essence, or was there simply enough that they could sing or chant their thought into it so that the tower became nearly impregnable? And what was the black stone of Erech made of? Why was it so important to the Dead Men of Dunharrow? Isildur had placed it there, and their king had sworn an oath upon it. Was the stone perhaps a repository of a greater portion of the Morgoth-element than, say, other stones of similar size and shape?

But then, would Isildur still be able to make use of the Morgoth-element to curse the Men of Dunharrow for breaking their oath? As a Man he lacked the power to confine an entire tribe's spirits to Middle-earth for thousands of years. Even the mightiest of sorcerors among Men don't seem to have achieved anything comparable. Hence, Isildur's curse must have been powered by something greater, something more pure. Even the Valar did not have the authority to keep Men in the Halls of Ea forever. It would be an act of defiance and rebellion for Namo to keep a Mannish spirit very long at all. So the will and authority to enforce Isildur's curse must have come from a greater power, and that could only be Iluvatar himself.

As a King of Gondor, Isildur was, in fact, a priest of Iluvatar on behalf of his people. "It later appears," Tolkien notes in Letter 156, "that there had been a 'hallow' on Mindolluin, only approachable by the King,...

The Gondorian kings (and, presumably, the Arnorian kings) were only continuing or reviving the ancient worship their people had practised in Numenor.

Iluvatar did not imbue Arda with his personal essence as Melkor had, but then there would be no need. Iluvatar created Ea with the Flame Imperishable, and he set the Flame at its heart. The Halls of Ea are indisputably identifiable with the will of Iluvatar, and Melkor's petty machinations could only bestow a veneer of identification upon Arda. Hence, Iluvatar is free to act within his own creation when he desires. And Gandalf points out to Frodo that there is some guiding purpose at work in Arda, when he says, "There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master....Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker...."

And we can be sure Gandalf was speaking of Iluvatar because Tolkien says so in Letter 156, "So God and the 'angelic' gods, the Lords or Powers of the West, only peep through in such places as Gandalf's conversation with Frodo". Whether the Valar had some part in the decision that Bilbo should find the Ring or not, Tolkien was clearly including Iluvatar in the decision.

The infusion of a divine element into the "magic" of Middle-earth thus raises a question of applicability. Is the word being used too much? But there Tolkien expressed regret at using the word at all, which described both the sub-creational works of the Elves and "the deceits of the Enemy". Although he defined two aspects of magic, magia (physical effects) and goiteia (effects on the mind or spirit), he insisted that either type could be good or bad depending on the motive of the user, and that both the good actors (Elves, Valar) and bad actors (Melkor, Sauron) used both kinds of magic. And yet all "magic" or power ultimately came from the will or thought of Iluvatar, who created the beings which practiced magic. So if the power of Melkor, or Ulmo, is the product of Iluvatar's thought, does it differ in nature from Iluvatar's own direct interventions?

In one respect, Melkor's power was his own: given to him irrevocably by Iluvatar. Only Iluvatar or Melkor could alter his natural strength. Other beings, like Manwe and Namo, might be able to capture and execute Melkor, and thus weaken him as a result of his being forceably evicted from his physical incarnation. But such eviction was the result of the physical laws of Creation. That is, Iluvatar made the rules by which even Melkor had to abide. He couldn't just refuse to be killed. His physical incarnation was subject to the consequences of physicality. Hence, there was a very real, if minimal, chance that Fingolfin could have slain Melkor. And that is why Gil-galad and Elendil (or Isildur, as some hold) were able to slay Sauron. Sauron died in Numenor but the destruction of Numenor was achieved by Iluvatar. Sauron's death on the slopes of Orodruin was achieved by a being or beings of far less power and stature than Manwe.

The divine aspect of "magic" is therefore identifiable with the laws of nature. That is, the will of Iluvatar cannot be distinguished from an aspect of itself or its creation. If Creation must behave in a certain fashion, and Creation is itself achieved by Iluvatar's power, then all things within Creation are by extension exhibiting Iluvatar's power, though portions of that power have been given irrevocably to them.

There may, therefore, be an aspect of Arda (and all the Halls of Ea, Creation) which is very like the Morgoth-element, though more pure and more consistent: an Iluvatar-element. Not usable for the purposes of conducting "magic", perhaps, but irrevocably imprinted with his will. Things exist because Iluvatar says they should, and they work according to the Laws of Creation which he defined. Hence, all the power of the Ainur and the Elves and the Dwarves, whether they retain it or infuse other items with it, must exist and function according to Iluvatar's natural laws. And Iluvatar himself would thus not need to contravene his own natural laws in order to achieve his will within the world. The world will achieve his will for him because the laws of nature stem from his will.

That is to say, there is really no distinction between the "magic" of Iluvatar and the "magic" of Melkor, except in scale and purity of purpose. Melkor's power is incomparably small beside Iluvatar's, but Melkor's perversion has also corrupted or tainted his power so that it is impure. All power is cut from the same mold, and flows from the same source. But Iluvatar bestows power irrevocably in some measure upon the creatures of his thought. Melkor's efforts to identify himself with Arda by disseminating his strength throughout the world are thus an act of defiance. And largely fruitless. Iluvatar won't rescind his gift to Melkor, but neither is he barred by Melkor's will.

On the other hand, having made the Halls of Ea and populated them with Ainur and other creatures of similar but lesser stature, Iluvatar doesn't need to continually infuse Ea with his power. So there is a finite aspect to magic. Only so much of it came into the universe, only so much has been added through the births of beings with the ability to enchant things. The separation of Aman from Middle-earth in a way limits or even diminishes the magic which can be "tapped" by Men or other beings. What Melkor left behind is about it. New Elves and Dwarves may be born, but their power is incomparably small next to Melkor's. As Elves leave or die, as Dwarves die, and as their artifacts vanish or are destroyed, the available reserve of usable, tractable magical energy diminishes.

That is, it should become more and more difficult through the passing millennia for Men to practice "true" magic because the sources of magic they require become fewer and fewer. One of the harshest criticisms levelled at Tolkien by modern fantasy writers is that there seems to be no limit to the magic in his world, and yet nothing could be farther from the truth. "Magic" is extremely difficult to define, but the expressions of power, the creation of "magical artifacts", diminish in scope and number as the ages pass because the power is leaving Middle-earth.

Hence Feanor's Silmarils and the Rings of Power define an upper limit of the expression of power in Middle-earth. Undoubtedly other great works were achieved: the cities of Gondolin, Menegroth, and Khazad-dum were in many ways "magical". But they were the products of whole populations, the results of ages of labor. And yet nothing like them would be achieved again. Even in the Fourth Age, when Durin VII led his people back to Khazad-dum, it's unlikely they would revive the ancient glory of their city. Only an echo of the past would be achievable, in part because their numbers had been diminished, but also because they had lost so much ancient lore. Khazad-dum was the last relic of a span of ages when magical cities were possible. Now they are simply legends.

Galadriel's fear that her people would be diminished in the age of Men, doomed to become a rustic folk of cave and dell, is thus founded on a very real problem. Once the Rings of Power failed, the Elves (who had been sheltered from the effects of Time) had to leave Middle-earth. The Elves lost not just a great part of their pool of talent, but also of their "power reserve". That is, there were fewer Elves left to build new cities. Some of the High Elves remained in Imladris and Lindon but there would never again be a great Eldarin nation. There were no more artifacts, no more cities to be built in the lands of Men. And the Elves who understood that Arda still possessed the Morgoth-element might be reluctant to use it again on the scale of creating Rings of Power. They had learned through many bitter lessons what the price of working such magic would be.

Something might be said here of Mithril. If gold is highly magical, is Mithril even more so? I should think so. Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to come by. Gold was much more plentiful. So were jewels, for that matter. And a lot of the Mithril which had been brought to light was lost. Tar-Telemmaite, fifteenth king of Numenor, gathered all he could find of Mithril. Sauron, too, collected all the Mithril he could. Although it's doubtful the Numenoreans were sorcerors, Sauron may indeed have found sorcerous uses for his Mithril. And when the Barad-dur was destroyed a great deal of Mithril may have been destroyed with it. Slowly Mithril vanished from Middle-earth.

There may be good reason for why the Balrog of Moria hid itself in or near a vein of Mithril. The Mithril in its raw state might have masked his power. And it may be that if dragons could in fact draw power from gold and jewels they could draw it from Mithril, too. But then, if silver (normal silver) possessed less of the Morgoth-element than gold, would Mithril possess more than silver? Or, being "true silver", was Mithril nearly free of the Morgoth-element? We'll probably never know.

Author: Michael Martinez
Published on: December 22, 2000
Michael Martinez is the author of Visualizing Middle-earth

The Daily Tolkien articles by various authors	The Tolkien Virgin articles by Mark-Edmond
ARTICLES 01-10	ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 11-20	ARTICLES 11-20
ARTICLES 21-30	ARTICLES 21-30
ARTICLES 31-40	31) The Hobbit - Chapter 8
ARTICLES 41-50	32) The Hobbit - Chapters 9 and 10
ARTICLES 51-60	32) The Hobbit - Chapters 11 and 12
ARTICLES 61-70	33) The Hobbit - Chapters 13 and 14
ARTICLES 71-80	34) The Hobbit - Chapters 15, 16 and 17
81) J.R.R.Tolkien, Catholicism and the Use of Allegory	35) The Hobbit - Chapters 18 and 19
82) Where Have All the Dragons Gone?	36) FOTR - Book 1 - Prologue & Chapter 1
83) Magic by Melkor, No Returns Accepted	37) FOTR - Book 1 - Chapter 2
	38) FOTR - Book 1 - Chapter 3
	39) FOTR - Book 1 - Chapter 4
	40) FOTR - Book 1 - Chapter 5

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