#elfhild's essays

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His Name is Not REALLY Sauron, but no one really knows what to call him either

Tolkien's use of "Sauron" is infuriating. The character in question did not like that name because it meant "The Abhorred," or even "Foul-smelling and Vile." It was given to him by his enemies as an insulting play on his true name, which was Mairon, "The Admirable." However, Tolkien is an unreliable narrator at times and wrote from the perspective of a Noldorin/Numenorean/Gondorian scribe. Due to the implied bias in the text, the narrator uses every opportunity possible to get a pot shot in on Sauron Mairon.

This makes it very difficult to know when the character in question would refer to himself as Mairon, Sauron, or any one of his other many names and titles. Did he call himself Mairon in Angband? According to "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), the character used the name of Mairon until the fall of Numenor.

I guess the implication then would be that, since the character in question could no longer take a fair form, he decided to go full-on villain mode and accept the insulting title that his enemies gave him. After all, The Abhorred sounds more intimidating than The Admirable.

HOWEVER, Aragorn tells Legolas and Gimli that the "S" rune on the uruk helms belongs to Saruman, because the other "S" character does not permit his "right name" being written or spoken. (I guess this means that Aragorn considers "Sauron" to be the character's "right name" - not necessarily his "true name.")

To add to the confusion, there is also the existence of the Mouth of Sauron. In theory, this character might actually refer to himself as the Mouth of Mairon, but the Gondorian scribes, continuing their tradition of biased reporting, called him the Mouth of Sauron instead. Another possibility would be that the Mouth of Mairon refers to himself as the Mouth of Sauron when dealing with enemies, as the name would seem more intimidating.

This all makes for a very uncertain experience when writing about this character. Should he be called Mairon, when he isn't going by Annatar or Zigur? Or should the writer adapt the perspective of a Gondorian scribe, who would use the name Sauron at all times?

I don't know if there are any answers to these questions.

#sauron #mairon #annatar #zigur #aulendil #gorthaur #the necromancer #the nameless enemy #the great eye #base master of treachery #king of men and lord of middle-earth #elfhild's essays

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I was wondering if you had any more thoughts on the mouth of Sauron? The version where he did defect is interesting, what would make him do that? I know Tolkien started a story which involved Melkor/Sauron cults in Gondor after the war, but that idea makes more sense to me as something that would happen in Ecthelion’s and Denethor’s rule, a response to Sauron returning among those who expect him to win quickly and want to save themselves. Maybe he was involved in that before fleeing when they were banned and cracked down on? If he was from a prominent noble family I can imagine it being a major scandal, either if he was kidnapped or defected.  

Thank you for asking this intriguing question!

I find all of Tolkien's possible backstories for the Mouth of Sauron to be quite fascinating. To answer your question, I have done a little research on Gondor during the reigns of Steward Ecthelion and Denethor. In 2951, two years before Ecthelion took the throne, Sauron declared himself openly, so dark forces were stirring in Middle-earth. I could not find any reference to internal conflict within Gondor at this time, but the possibility of Melkor/Sauron cults operating in secret is an intriguing one. If Tolkien entertained the idea of these cults arising in the days of peace after Sauron's defeat, it could be entirely possible that there were disloyal Gondorians who secretly served Sauron in the days of the Dark Lord's power.

This concept of Gondorian traitors in league with Sauron would fit in nicely with the second discarded backstory which Tolkien created for the Mouth of Sauron: "But it is said that he was a renegade, son of a house of wise and noble men in Gondor, who becoming enamoured of evil knowledge entered the service of the Dark Tower, and because of his cunning [and the fertile cruelty of his mind] [and servility] he grew ever higher in the Lord’s favour…" (“The Black Gate Opens,” The War of the Ring, p. 431)

In the published version of LOTR, Faramir says, "It is not said that evil arts were ever practiced in Gondor, or that the Nameless One was ever named in honour there […]" ("The Window on the West," The Two Towers, p. 286). However, he does go on to say that many among the Gondorian nobility yearned for immortality, as had the Numenoreans. "Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living […]," and "[…] in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars." To me, this implies that some of the Gondorian kings and nobles were dabbling in alchemy, sorcery, and other forms of magic in an attempt to evade old age and death.

One of the major themes in Tolkien's writing is that it is VERY BAD to attempt to halt change, and a desire to do so leaves one vulnerable to the schemes of Sauron. While Faramir implies that Gondor's flirtation with elaborate tombs and preservation magic diminished with the rule of the kings, perhaps that was not truly the case.

If there was an element of internal corruption within Gondor, the return of Sauron to Mordor in 2951 would definitely have stirred the murky waters. When Faramir says that evil arts were never practiced in Gondor, he was comparing Gondor to Numenor. While Numenor descended into evil and wicked deeds, Gondor remained upon the path of light. However, individuals do not always represent their country, and there may have been a dark malignancy buried deep under the surface.

If one entertains the possibility that the Mouth of Sauron was a renegade Gondorian nobleman in league with the Dark Lord, perhaps his true loyalties were discovered and he was forced to flee Gondor. Logically, this would indeed cause quite a scandal! However, it's possible that his defection was covered up so as to avoid bringing shame to his family, or to discourage others from switching allegiances. It's also possible that the Gondorians practice damnatio memoriae - the removal of the name of a disgraced person from all official records. The ancient Egyptians practiced this custom, and Tolkien compares Numenor and Gondor to ancient Egypt on several occasions. Over the years, fans have theorized that this is why there is no record of the names of the three Numenorean lords who became Nazgul.

#mouth of sauron #tolkien theories #elfhild's essays

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Gift Giving Customs in Mordor and Nurn

I think that there would be a lot of customs involving gift giving amongst the human populations of Mordor and Nurn, given the fact that the land was founded by the Lord of Gifts.

Receiving a valuable gift from a person in power would indebt you to them, effectively forging an alliance between you and the gift giver. Because of the imbalance of power, this sort of gift can be both a blessing and a curse. "Gifts are often manacles in disguise, with a chain that is attached to the hand of the giver," is a common expression in the Land of Shadow.

Becoming indebted to the gift giver only applies if they are of higher standing than you, however. If you are the person in power and someone of lower standing gives you a lavish gift, then it is seen as a form of tribute.

Because of these gift giving customs, the citizens of Mordor and Nurn would take careful thought when choosing a gift for a friend's birthday or other special occasion. Even if one is of equal standing to one's friends, there is still a degree of anxiety involved when selecting a gift. Simple gifts are best, so that the receiver will not think that they owe you, but a gift should not be so simple as to be insulting. The right amount of balance would be needed to avoid potential social blunders.

Gifts made by one's own hands - even if the gift is an ordinary loaf of bread - are considered of higher value than goods purchased from a marketplace. This is because it is believed that the maker imbues their creations with both their intentions and the essence of their being. Naturally, the level of indebtedness that one feels for such a gift increases with the complexity of the gift and the time that was involved in its making.

In the more fertile regions of Nurn, flowers might be popular casual gifts to give when visiting friends. Many cultures have flower languages, and Nurn might be no exception, with different plants or plant colors assigned various meanings. Bouquets of nine flowers would be seen as auspicious, due to the association with the Nine Nazgul.

One should never forget the Lord of Gifts either, He Who Is the Lawful Ruler of Middle-earth! It is customary to give frequent sacrifices gifts to the Great One in gratitude for His blessings. One does not wish to anger the Great Eye, after all...

#mordor #nurn #tolkien worldbuilding #tolkien headcanons #tolkien theories #elfhild's essays #thecirclesofpower

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Sauron as the God King of Middle-earth

I don't think many people consider exactly HOW Sauron came to have such sway over the people of the South and East in the Second and Third Ages. So many people think of him as an evil overlord, who is either ruling over nations of wicked people who have sold their souls to him (both figuratively and literally speaking), or oppressed peoples forced into slavery to a tyrannical master.

However, Sauron is not ruling any of these countries. It is not a case of a nation with superior manpower and/or technology taking over weaker nations and subjugating them. Sauron is one maia who resides in a country slightly larger than Turkey, the northern half of which becomes an inhospitable wasteland whenever Mount Doom erupts for an extended duration of time. The fertile land of Nurn can support a sizable human population, but I do not think that a large enough force could be rallied from the populace to create armies powerful enough to subjugate the peoples of Harad, Khand, and Rhun, while simultaneously assailing the West and protecting Mordor from counter-attacks from all directions.

No, Sauron is not using brute force to intimidate the peoples of the South and East into following him.

He is using religion.

The people of Harad, Khand, and Rhun ally themselves with Mordor because they worship Sauron as a god, not because they are intimidated by his military might. Yes, they fear him, but it is the fear and awestruck reverence with which one regards a deity.

The nations and tribes of the South and East send wagon trains of goods and slaves to Mordor, not as tribute, but as grim tithes to the dark deity whom they worship.

Without his Southern and Eastern allies, Sauron only has orcs and trolls to command, and while they are certainly intimidating, there are not enough of them to subjugate the entirety of the South and East. Plus, orcs and trolls are sensitive to sunlight, which puts them at a disadvantage to humans.

So Sauron's true power comes from the worship of his followers, and not from military might.

I think many times fans regard Sauron as a human dictator. However, human dictators usually come to power by becoming the leaders of countries that already have significant political influence and military strength.

Sauron literally has nothing but himself.

And that is enough, since he is a god, and by nature people want to worship him.

This is why truly defeating Sauron would be so difficult.

Because while individual humans may have a change of ideology and turn away from their original faiths, as a whole humanity prefers to continue worshiping the same deities that their ancestors worshiped.

Kings and warlords may rule for a time, but gods are eternal.

#tolkien #sauron #middle-earth #harad #khand #rhun #elfhild's theories #elfhild's essays

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After the fall of Angmar, did the Witch-king return to a Nazgul-less Mordor, or did he meet up with the other Nazgul there?

There are some confusing and potentially contradicting statements concerning the Nazgûl in the Appendixes of Lord of the Rings.

In the Tale of Years found in Appendix B, it is written, "1980 - The Witch-king comes to Mordor and there gathers the Nazgûl" (368). This would imply that there were no Nazgûl in Mordor at the time the Witch-king got there, and he had to summon the other eight from the four corners of Middle-earth.

However, in "Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion," there is a description of various events which happened in 1856, with a footnote stating, "At this time it is thought that the Ringwraiths re-entered Mordor" (329). This would imply that the eight other Nazgûl were dwelling in Mordor when the Witch-king arrived there in 1980, thus contradicting the entry from the Tale of Years.

I do notice that Tolkien included some weasel words in the statement, "At this time it is thought that the Ringwraiths re-entered Mordor." If it is "thought" that the Nazgûl reentered Mordor in 1856, then it can be assumed that this is not a definite fact, and that the scribe who wrote this text is making an assumption. Remember, Tolkien's writings are meant to be considered translations of ancient texts, so sometimes the narrator is not always reliable, or something is lost in translation. Perhaps the scribe who wrote The Tale of Years was in disagreement with the scribe who wrote "Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion."

With this in mind, it is theoretically possible no Nazgul were in Mordor when the Witch-king arrived there, or possibly a few Nazgûl were there, and he had to summon the rest. For that matter, it could even be possible that there were Nazgûl in Mordor prior to 1856.

#tolkien #nazgul #witch-king #mordor #lotr appendixes #elfhild's essays

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The Witch-king as Sauron's Emissary

Statue based on John Howe's paintings of the Witch-king

In one of Tolkien's earlier drafts, the Witch-king survives the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and serves as Sauron's emissary at the Black Gate.

The scene where Eowyn challenges the Nazgul at Pelennor is much the same: they spar verbally for a few moments, and then she cuts off the head of his fell beast. However, in this version, the Witch-king does not attempt to slay Eowyn for killing his fell beast, and Merry and his barrow blade are nowhere to be found. The Witch-king, now bereft of a mount, makes a hasty retreat. The implication is that he tears off his cloak and flees to safety… which means that he wore no armor to the battle, and that his physical body was naked beneath the cloak.

"She raised her shield, and with a swift and sudden stroke smote off the bird's head. It fell, its vast wings outspread crumpled and helpless on the earth. About Eowyn the light of day fell bright and clear. With a clamour of dismay the hosts of Harad turned and fled, and over the ground a headless thing crawled away, snarling and sniveling, tearing at the cloak. Soon the black cloak too lay formless and still, and a long thin wail rent the air and vanished in the distance." --"The Battle of the Pelennor Fields," The War of the Ring, p. 366

Perhaps the Witch-king mooned Eowyn before making his ungraceful retreat. Either way, the shieldmaiden - and everyone else on the battlefield - got flashed by a streaking Nazgul without ever realizing it…

The next scene of importance in the chronology of the story is the Parley Before the Black Gate. In this version, the Mouth of Sauron does not exist, and the Witch-king acts as Sauron's emissary.

Keep in mind that the Witch-king is called the Wizard King in these early drafts and outlines.

"Aragorn and Eomer wind horns before the Morannon, and summon Sauron to come forth. There is no answer at first, but Sauron had already laid his plans and an embassy was already coming to the Black Gate. The Wizard King? He bears the Mithril coat and says that Sauron has already captured the messenger - a hobbit." --"The Story Foreseen From Forannest," The War of the Ring, 36

The dialog which follows is much the same as in the published version, although the ambassador makes a dramatic exit:

"The ambassador laughs, and gives a dreadful cry. Flinging off his garments he vanishes; but at that cry the host prepared in ambush sally from the mountains on either side, and from the Teeth, and pour out of the Gate. The host of Gondor taken at unawares wavers, and the leaders are surrounded. [Added in pencil: All the Nine Nazgul remounted swoop down; but the Eagles come to give battle." --"The Story Foreseen From Forannest," The War of the Ring, 362

Christopher Tolkien writes the following note about this scene:

"Earlier in this outline my father had questioned whether the ambassador was not in fact the Wizard King himself, and he appears again at the end, dispatched by Sauron to Orodruin (his fate on the fields of the Pelennor was therefore not yet finally decided). Since at the end of the parley the ambassador casts off his garments and vanishes, he was certainly a Ringwraith; is this the meaning of 'All the Nine Nazgul remounted'?" --"The Story Foreseen From Forannest," The War of the Ring, 364

Again, the Witch-king has insulted his enemies by flashing them. That naughty Nazgul!

In the published version of Lord of the Rings, the Witch-king was defeated at Pelennor Fields, and it is heavily implied that he is now a houseless spirit. Therefore, the role of Sauron's ambassador is filled by the Mouth of Sauron, who seems to be a diplomat in the service of the Dark Lord. Some theorize that it was the Mouth of Sauron who came to the dwarves of Erebor, seeking information about the whereabouts of Bilbo Baggins and the One Ring, though this is another subject entirely. (I agree with Michael Martinez in this essay that it was a Nazgul, not the Mouth of Sauron, who served as the ambassador.)

From the text in "The Black Gate Opens," it seems that the Mouth of Sauron has been chosen by the Dark Lord to be the new lord of Isengard, where he would rule over a conquered Gondor and Rohan.

"These are the terms," said the Messenger, and smiled as he eyed them one by one. "The rabble of Gondor and its deluded allies shall withdraw at once beyond the Anduin, first taking oaths never again to assail Sauron the Great in arms, open or secret. All lands east of Anduin shall be Sauron's for ever, solely. West of the Anduin as far as the Misty Mountains and the Gap of Rohan shall be tributary to Mordor, and men there shall bear no weapons, but shall have leave to govern their own affairs. But they shall help to rebuild Isengard which they have wantonly destroyed, and that shall be Sauron's, and there his lieutenant shall dwell: not Saruman, but one more worthy of trust." Looking in the Messenger's eyes they read his thought. He was to be that lieutenant, and gather all that remained of the West under his sway; he would be their tyrant and they his slaves. --"The Black Gate Opens," The Return of the King

Why did Tolkien create an entirely new character to fulfill the Witch-king's original role as Sauron's ambassador, instead of giving the role to one of the other Nazgul? Some have theorized that the Nazgul are just too frightening to be ambassadors, but I think this reasoning is rather faulty, because there is fairly good evidence that Sauron's ambassador to the dwarves was one of the Nine. (See the above linked essay by Michael Martinez.)

It is an important point in the story that Sauron's ambassador is both an emissary and the would-be lord of Isengard. Being second-in-command to the Witch-king, Khamul seems a logical choice to be Sauron's ambassador, but he is the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur. The Witch-king's own lieutenant is Gothmog, who might be a Nazgul (Tolkien never specified if Gothmog was a Nazgul, human, or orc). However, since it is established that Sauron's ambassador will become the new lord of Isengard, Gothmog might not be the best choice, as someone would need to rule Minas Morgul as the Witch-king's regent. We know little about the other Nazgul. Perhaps Sauron had other purposes for them, so he chose the Black Numenorean who would become known as the Mouth of Sauron.

Now this begs the question… In a scenario in which the Witch-king survives Pelennor and the Mouth of Sauron also exists as a character, what role would the Mouth of Sauron play? Would the Mouth of Sauron be named as the new lord of Isengard… or would it be the Witch-king?

I personally believe that the Witch-king should become the overlord of Gondor and Rohan. After all, he has hundreds of years of ruling countries beneath his belt, having been the king of both Angmar and Minas Morgul. We know little about the Mouth of Sauron, but it seems unlikely that he has ever served as a king of a country (For Tolkien's own theories about the identity of the Mouth of Sauron, check out my post: What Could Have Been: The Mouth of Sauron's Backstory.)

In this scenario, the Mouth of Sauron would remain the Lieutenant of Barad-dur and Sauron's primary ambassador in non-Ring related matters.

The Witch-king would become the new lord of Isengard.

Or perhaps he would prefer to rule from Minas Tirith.

"Shall there be two cities of Minas Morgul, grinning at each other across a dead land filled with rottenness?" --Faramir, "The Forbidden Pool," The Two Towers

Although Faramir is speaking of the corruption that the One Ring would bring to Gondor, the same could be said for a Minas Tirith ruled by the Witch-king.

#witch-king #nazgul #mouth of sauron #lord of the rings #return of the king #history of middle-earth #tolkien theories #of course I'm thinking about exploring these ideas #within the realm of #thecirclesofpower #elfhild's essays

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Could the Witch-king Wear His Ring and Remain Visible? A Scholarly Essay About Naked Nazgul

The Black Wizards by Bastien Lecouffe Deharme

This is a follow-up of my post entitled "The Witch-king as Sauron's Emissary."

In early drafts from The History of Middle-earth, the Witch-king had a penchant for making dramatic getaways by flinging off his clothing Níniel style and fleeing naked and unseen from his enemies. He does this both at the Battle of Pelennor Fields when fleeing from Eowyn, and at the Black Gate, where he serves as the Emissary of Sauron who offers terms of surrender to the Host of the West. This habit, while peculiar, does not seem out of place within the writing of an author who was known to include random scenes of non-sexual nudity in his works. In fact, when taking the material from The History of Middle-earth into consideration, the Nazgul have more nude scenes in the legendarium than the hobbits and anyone associated with the Children of Hurin combined.

"With a clamour of dismay the hosts of Harad turned and fled, and over the ground a headless thing crawled away, snarling and sniveling, tearing at the cloak. Soon the black cloak too lay formless and still, and a long thin wail rent the air and vanished in the distance." --"The Battle of the Pelennor Fields," The War of the Ring, p. 366

"The ambassador laughs, and gives a dreadful cry. Flinging off his garments he vanishes; but at that cry the host prepared in ambush sally from the mountains on either side, and from the Teeth, and pour out of the Gate." --"The Story Foreseen From Forannest," The War of the Ring, 362

Just to clarify, the garments that the Witch-king casts aside refer to the clothing that he wears in the world of the living, not to the garments that he wears in the wraith world. I believe that a Nazgul's appearance in the wraith world is more representative of his soul/fëa, and has little correlation with what he wears upon his physical body/hröa. This explains why the Nazgul are described as wearing black garments when pursuing Frodo, but gray robes when he puts on the One Ring and sees them in the wraith world for the first time.

Now one might assume that the Witch-king in these early drafts did not possess his Ring. It has often been assumed that the Nine Rings work in the exact same fashion as the One Ring: the moment that the wearer puts one of the Nine Rings upon their finger, they become invisible to mortals, clothing and all. Using that logic, if the Witch-king had his Ring in these two scenes, he would have had no need to tear off his clothing to become invisible. He would simply take his Ring from a pocket in his cloak, or from a chain about his neck, and slip it onto his finger. Instant invisibility - with far more dignity.

However, this is the tricky part.

Tolkien might have intended for the Witch-king to be wearing his Ring in both of these scenes.

"The Nazgul came once more, slaves of the Nine Rings, and to each, since now they were utterly subject to his will, their Lord had given again that ring of power that he had used of old." --"The Siege of Gondor," The War of the Ring, 335

Now, there is very strong evidence in the published version of Lord of the Rings that Sauron had possession of the Nine Rings of the Nazgul in the latter part of the Third Age. Tolkien even stated in Letter 246 that Sauron held the Nine Rings and used them to have "primary control of their wills." So it is obvious that Tolkien abandoned the idea of having the Witch-king and other Nazgul wield their Rings at the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Over the years, I have read theories that perhaps Tolkien did not want to address the situation which might arise if someone found the Witch-king's Ring after he fell upon the battlefield, and that it would be better if the Nine Rings were destroyed during the fall of Barad-dur. Whether or not this was Tolkien's actual line of thinking when he made this decision, only Eru and the Professor know.

But back to the early drafts in which the Witch-king was wielding his Ring at the Battle of Pelennor and at the Black Gate.

If the Witch-king's clothing was visible when he was wearing his Ring, that means that the Nine Rings might work more like the Three Elven Rings as opposed to the One Ring. In other words, the clothing of the wielder stays visible, while the wielder can will the Ring itself to appear invisible. Remember how Frodo could see Nenya on Galadriel's hand, while Sam could not.

While we do not know the exact properties of the Nine Rings, we do know that they were originally created for elves. When Sauron's plan to control the elves through rings did not pan out, he reclaimed sixteen of them and gave nine to powerful men. Tolkien writes, "The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay […], the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance […]. But they also enhanced the powers of a possessor […]. And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron […] such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible." (Letter 131)

These preservation effects have a unique effect upon Men: "A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings." - "The Shadow of the Past," Fellowship of the Ring, p.56

Of the Nazgul, we know: "Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows." - "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," The Silmarillion, p.289

I posed this question some time back on Reddit, and one person theorized that since the Nazgul were already wraiths, the property that Rings of Power have of drawing a mortal wearer into the spirit realm would no longer have any effect upon them. So, based upon this theory, the Nazgul would function more like elves or maiar when wearing their Rings. We know that Galadriel, Gandalf, and Elrond were visible at all times, although Nenya, Narya and Vilya remained hidden.

So could a Nazgul wear his own Ring without his clothing turning invisible?

By time of the War of the Rings, the Nazgul had been wraiths for almost 5,000 years. Surely by that time they would have figured out a way to will their clothing to be visible while wearing their Rings.

#witch-king #nazgul #ringwraiths #lord of the rings #return of the king #history of middle-earth #tolkien theories #rings of power #nine rings #wraith world #elfhild's essays

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Cosmic Love, or Solar Eclipses in Tolkien

But Tilion went with uncertain pace, as yet he goes, and was still drawn towards Arien, as he shall ever be; so that often both may be seen above the Earth together, or at times it will chance that he comes so nigh that his shadow cuts off her brightness and there is a darkness amid the day. --Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor

This is just a fancy way of saying that every time that there is a solar eclipse, Arien and Tillion are having spicy times. 😉

#silmarillion #arien #tillion #2024 solar eclipse #elfhild's essays

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What Could Have Been: The Mouth of Sauron's Backstory

There are two popular fan theories about the Mouth of Sauron: 1. that he is an ancient Numenorean whose life was somehow prolonged by magic, or 2. he is a much younger man of Black Numenorean heritage.

What is not common knowledge is that Tolkien came up with two possible backstories for the Mouth of Sauron.

"No more is said in the draft of the history of the Lieutenant of Barraddur, the nameless Mouth of Sauron, than that ‘It is told that he was a living man, who being captured as a youth became a servant of the Dark Tower, and because of his cunning grew high in the Lord’s favour…’ In the fair copy this was repeated, but was changed subsequently to: ‘But it is said that he was a renegade, son of a house of wise and noble men in Gondor, who becoming enamoured of evil knowledge entered the service of the Dark Tower, and because of his cunning [and the fertile cruelty of his mind] [and servility] he grew ever higher in the Lord’s favour…’ (these phrases being thus bracketed in the original). In RK (p. 164) the Mouth of Sauron ‘came of the race of those that are named the Black Numenoreans.'" --"The Black Gate Opens," The War of the Ring, p. 431

If one goes by the first proposed backstory, the Mouth of Sauron could have been a Gondorian boy who was captured, possibly by corsairs. During the reign of Steward Echthelion, Gondor was being threatened by Corsair attacks upon the navy and coastal areas. Now Echthelion became steward in 2953, sixty-six years before the War of the Ring, and the Corsair threat was neutralized in T.A. 2980 when Gondorian forces led by Aragorn (using the name Thorongil) launched a surprise attack upon the Havens of Umbar. If the Mouth of Sauron had been an unlucky victim of kidnap by pirates sometime between T.A. 2953 and 2980, he might be somewhere in his mid-fifties to mid-eighties.

If one goes by the second proposed backstory, the Mouth of Sauron might be between the ages of 90 to 120 years of age. Sauron returned to Mordor in T.A. 2942, so unless the Mouth of Sauron first worked for the Nazgul, he would have had to come to Mordor sometime after this.

The fact that there is a possibility that the Mouth of Sauron could have been a slave from an enemy land, or a traitor from an enemy land, means that Mordor might be a meritocracy, in which one's social class or country of origin have little bearing upon how far up one can climb upon the social ladder. With enough ambition and treachery, it might be possible for the lowliest of slaves to rise to the top and become one of Sauron's favored.

In the published Return of the King, the Mouth of Sauron is listed as being a Black Numenorean who "entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again." Most likely this refers to the rebuilding of Barad-dur in T.A. 2951, sixty-eight years before the War of the Ring. This might put the canonical Mouth of Sauron's age at approximately 90 years of age, at the very youngest.

Another fun fact is that the character of Sauron's ambassador was originally the Witch-king, who managed to survive the Battle of Pelennor Fields (The War of the Ring, 361-2, 4). When Tolkien finalized the Witch-king's fate, the Mouth of Sauron character was created to fulfill this role.

#history of middle-earth #mouth of sauron #mordor #elfhild's essays

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The Lost Elves of Mordor?

"But still she [Shelob] was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dûr; and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness." -- "Shelob's Lair," The Two Towers, p. 375-6.

Now it could be assumed that the "Elves and Men" whom Shelob was eating were prisoners fed to her by Sauron.

However, this quote is discussing how long Shelob had been dwelling in Mordor. We definitely know she was living there before year 1000 of the Second Age. (This was when Sauron came to Mordor and started building Barad-dur.)

"How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tell tales, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come." ("Shelob's Lair," 375.)

This implies that Shelob's arrival to Mordor was a direct result of the fall of Beleriand. (I assume this is what "ruin" refers to here.) However, I suppose one could argue that it is theoretically possible that Shelob could have been living in Mordor during the latter years of the First Age. After all, the text is purposefully vague: "for out of the Dark Years few tales have come."

(Mordor existed in the First Age; the Atlas of Middle-earth is incorrect in this regard. There is proof of this in Unfinished Tales and Peoples of Middle-earth.)

So where is Shelob getting these tasty elves prior to Sauron's arrival in Mordor???

In fact, it is implied that Shelob gets fewer elves and men BECAUSE of Sauron!

"[...] long now had she been hungry, lurking in her den, while the power of Sauron grew, and light and living things forsook his borders; and the city in the valley was dead, and no Elf or Man came near, only the unhappy Orcs." ("Shelob's Lair," 376)

Could these references to Shelob's victims be evidence of a human (and elvish!) presence in Pre-1000 Second Age Mordor?

After all, it was the ELVES who gave Mordor its name, "because of its volcano Orodruin and its eruptions" ("Last Writings," The Peoples of Middle-earth, 390). Tolkien implies that the elves had been calling this land Mordor for an undetermined amount of time prior to year 1000 of the Second Age.

Amazon's "Rings of Power" explored the possibility of both men and elves living in Second Age Mordor. At the beginning of the show, the volcano is dormant, and Gorgoroth is a green and fertile land, much like in Sam's vision. Keep in mind that the Gorgoroth region of Mordor might not always have looked like a desolation, for thousands of years passed between eruptions. There may have been some truth in the vision that the Ring showed to Sam.

An indigenous human population in ancient Mordor definitely seems like a possibility, but could elves have lived there as well?

Going by the quote in Peoples of Middle-earth, it is obvious that elves explored Mordor at some point during the First and/or Second Ages. Could there have been elvish villages in Mordor and/or Nurn? And if there were, what happened to these elves? Were they frightened away by the eruptions of Mount Doom, killed by human and/or orc warlords who desired their lands, or driven away by the predations of a giant spider?

One thing is for certain: by year 1000 of the Second Age, any remaining elvish presence in Mordor would have been enslaved or exterminated.

#tolkien #middle-earth #shelob #second age #middle-earth history #tolkien headcanons #mordor #amazon rings of power #elfhild's essays

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Lorien Is Protected By Song

In this quote, Galadriel talks about the various defenses of Lorien, leading up to her admission that she possesses the Ring of Adamant:

"'I know what it was that you last saw,' she said; 'for that is also in my mind. Do not be afraid! But do not think that only by singing amid the trees, nor even by the slender arrows of elven-bows, is this land of Lothlórien maintained and defended against its Enemy." --The Mirror of Galadriel, Fellowship of the Ring, p. 409

The line 'singing amid the trees' probably goes unnoticed by most readers; after all, that is what elves do: sing a lot. However, this reference to singing comes in a list of Lorien's defenses, not in a list of the various ways that elves entertain themselves in the forest. So this implies that these songs are not ordinary "Tra la lally, welcome to the valley" songs, but rather Songs of Power. Notice that Galadriel lists the singing first and then uses the words "nor even" when referring to the "slender arrows of the elven-bows," implying that the songs have the greater power when compared to ordinary martial strength.

There are two opinions among Tolkien fans regarding Galadriel's powers. One argument states that, while Galadriel possesses much inner strength, wisdom, and foresight, she is an ordinary elf, and most of her magic powers come from Nenya. The counter argument states that Galadriel has much innate power as a daughter of the Noldor, and even without Nenya, she would be a force to be reckoned with. After all, she is the sister of Finrod Felagund, who had no ring of power when he used a song "of changing and of shifting shape" to disguise himself and his companions as orcs, or when he fought against Sauron in a duel of song, sorcery, and shapeshifting.

Most likely, the "singing amid the trees" referenced in this chapter are some Girdle of Melian type enchantments, which Galadriel would have learned from Melian herself. I believe it can be argued that Galadriel used her own native power here, a power which was amplified by Nenya.

I also feel that there is an implication that the voices of other elves are bolstering the magic defenses around Lorien. Perhaps Galadriel has a group of pupils to whom she has taught the art of Songs of Power, much like how she herself was taught by Melian.

#tolkien #galadriel #lorien #fellowship of the ring #mirror of galadriel #songs of power #nenya #tolkien headcanons #girdle of melian #elfhild's essays

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Grima Wormtongue, Clandestine Horse Trader?

In regard to the rumor that Rohan paid a tribute of horses to Mordor. Boromir denied it during the Council of Elrond, and later Eomer denied it when speaking to Aragorn.

However, one must keep in mind that Grima was doing a lot of shady dealings in secret. Perhaps Rohan really WAS paying tribute to Mordor, and Grima was setting up clandestine deals with Mordorian agents.

According to Eomer, Sauron reached out to Rohan at some point in the past with an offer “to purchase horses of us at great price.” However, Rohan refused to have dealings with the Dark Lord, and so Sauron took by force what he couldn’t obtain by diplomacy.

Or so the official story goes. However, perhaps some of these “orc raids” were really dealings between Grima’s agents and the agents of Mordor. Eomer stated that nearly all the black horses had been stolen from Rohan. It seems rather unusual that the Rohirrim, many of whom were hardy warriors, were powerless to stop these raids.

Perhaps Grima, who was actively working to destabilize the country, prevented aid from being sent to the border so that Mordor could continue stealing Rohan’s horses. Or perhaps some of these “raids” were not really raids at all, and Grima was pocketing Mordorian coin from illicit horse sales. Indeed, maybe Rohan was paying tribute to Mordor, but not in the way that one would think.

After all, it is often said that within every lie there is a hint of truth.

I do not take credit for this headcanon/conspiracy theory. My friend Angmar came up with it years ago.

#tolkien #tolkien headcanons #grima wormtongue #rohan #mordor #elfhild's essays

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What Could Have Been: Frodo and Sam's Adventures in Minas Morgul

In the published version of Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam only see Minas Morgul from a distance. However, at one point, Tolkien had a different idea in mind for the two hobbits. Instead of being taken to Cirith Ungol, Frodo is taken to Minas Morgul (the geography has not yet been finalized at this point).

An uneasy twilight lay in the shadowy streets. Shrill cries came as it were from underground, strange shapes flitted by or peered out of alley[s] and holes in the [?gaping] houses; there were [??dispirited] voices and faint echoes of monotonous and unhappy song. All the carven faces leered, and their eyes glowed with a fire at great depth.

The hobbits shuddered as they hurried on. Feet seemed to follow them, and they turned many corners, but they never threw them off. Rustling and pattering on the stones they came doggedly after them.

They came to the gates. The main gates were closed; but a small door was still open. Sentinels stood on either side, and at the opening stood an armed warder, gazing out into the gathering dusk. The Orcs were waiting for the messenger from Baraddur.

--"The Story Foreseen from Lorien," The Treason of Isengard, 336-7.

This chapter of HoME is very interesting, because it gives a glimpse into the mysterious city of the wraiths. "Minas Morgul must be made more horrible. The usual 'goblin' stuff is not good enough here," Tolkien stated in one of his notes (340).

The Silent Watchers of Cirith Ungol were originally written as being in Minas Morgul. There are other statues which appear to be haunted as well. Some even posses glowing eyes!

Tolkien had difficulty figuring out how to get Frodo and Sam out of Minas Morgul, and came up with several possibilities. Several scenarios involve the hobbits pretending to be orcs and attempting to simply walk out of the city gates. ("Swagger is the only hope, Mr. Frodo, begging your pardon." 337) In other scenarios, the hobbits rely upon the elven cloaks to protect them from enemy eyes.

Tolkien even explored the possibility of a Nazgul arriving in Minas Morgul while the hobbits are in the city. "A Vulture bearing a Ringwraith settles in the main square. The Ringwraith has come to take Frodo back to the Dark Tower. At that moment boom, the alarm is sounded from Loathly Tower. The Ringwraith says Ring has not left City: he feels it. Hunt in town. Hairbreadth escape of hobbits." (343)

An exploration of what could have been.

#minas morgul #frodo baggins #samwise gamgee #nazgul #history of middle-earth #tolkien #elfhild's essays

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Mordorian Obsidian and Other Igneous Rocks of Power

According to Wikipedia, "Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock."

Naturally, there would be a lot of obsidian - and other igneous rocks and minerals - around Mount Doom.

I have a theory that this obsidian would have a slight degree of magical power, and would be greatly desired by craftsmen to make weapons, tools, jewelry, and other items of personal adornment. Now exactly HOW magical these items would be would be up to interpretation.

Of all the volcanoes in Middle-earth - and surely there would be many unnamed volcanoes, since Arda is an alternative universe fantasy version of our earth - Sauron chose the one located in the region which the First Age elves called the Dark Land (Mordor in Sindarin). Most likely the reason why Sauron chose this particular volcano was that Melkor himself had created it when the Valar were terraforming Arda. (See The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XIII. Last Writings", p. 390, note 14.)

Perhaps Melkor imbued the volcano with some of his terrible power, perhaps on purpose, perhaps by accident, because every creator in Middle-earth leaves a part of himself or herself in their creations. Therefore, any of the volcano's byproducts would have a small fraction of this power. This would include igneous rocks such as lava stone, pumice, obsidian, quartz, granite, peridot, feldspar, diamond, etc. Even the ash from the volcano would probably have some sort of magical effects. Most likely this is the reason why Nurn is so fertile -- because the ash is used as fertilizer.

I'm not a geologist - I just know a little bit about gemstones because I dabble in making jewelry - so I can't give a complete list of all the types of rock which might be found around Mount Doom and in Gorgoroth. Also, the land forms of Arda developed in a very different way from those on our earth, so that might affect which rock deposits would be found in Mordor.

But there would definitely be a lot of igneous rocks scattered throughout Gorgoroth, each one possessing varying degrees of power.

#tolkien #mordor #mount doom #tolkien headcanons #elfhild's essays

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Arda Was Always Marred

Or, A Reflection Upon The Darker Side Of The Tolkien Fandom.

Since the release of Amazon's Rings of Power, many people have complained about how toxic the Tolkien fandom has become. Unfortunately, it has always been so, at least in certain enclaves.

This is the story of my late writing partner, Angmar, and his less than pleasant interactions with the fandom in the mid-2000's.

Wanting to connect with other fans, Angmar started going to a Tolkien themed chat server. While roleplay was not really the focus of the server, it wasn't discouraged. Some of the people there would engage in casual roleplay, i.e. joking around in character, as opposed to engaging in complicated campaigns and scenarios. Because Angmar despised small talk and revealing anything about himself, he decided that he would take on the name and personality of one of Tolkien's characters – in this case, a Nazgûl.

Angmar tried to stay in character at all times, playing devil's advocate (or Sauron's advocate) during discussions and reacting to topics as though he was a Nazgul. Most people either accepted or ignored Angmar's wraith act. After all, there were people on this chat server who took on the identities of elves, orcs, fairies, and talking animals, so a random Nazgûl was hardly unusual. Unfortunately, there were some who did not approve of the servant of Sauron in their midst. It was as though these people thought that Sauron and the Nazgûl were real, and that they were vanquishing evil by ganging up on Angmar. Sometimes it felt like they were members of a religious cult that worshiped the Valar as deities, not realizing that these were fictional characters from a series of books. Perhaps they saw Tolkien's writings as allegory, and viewed Sauron as a stand-in for the Evil One in their own personal religious beliefs. (Real world religions were seldom discussed on the chat server, so I do not know what sort of beliefs any of these people had.)

The owner of this chat server – I shall call them Móru – helped fuel the atmosphere of chaos. Móru's attitude towards Angmar was very strange and contradictory. Móru made Angmar one of the moderators, and gave him semi-private rooms for him and his friends to roleplay in. Móru also gave Angmar various duties and responsibilities, such as hosting trivia nights and other formal events. This would imply that Móru had a degree of trust and respect for Angmar, but Móru also took an active role in the bullying and even encouraged others to join in.

If Móru had wanted to be a part of Angmar's roleplaying campaigns, Angmar would have welcomed them. However, Móru was NOT a roleplayer, and had no desire to become one. Still, though, Móru would randomly "punish" Angmar for roleplaying as a bad guy, even though he had not actually broken any of the rules of the chat server. One of the ways Móru would "punish" him was by deleting his favorite room backgrounds and replacing them with different images. Then Móru would say that the Valar were punishing him for being a servant of Sauron, and demand that he beg for forgiveness (even though he had not broken any rules or done anything disruptive). This was NOT roleplay. This was the owner of a chat server abusing their administrative privileges in an attempt to exert power over one of their staff members.

As time went by, Angmar recruited a small group of roleplayers and began planning serious campaigns. His group would go to the semi-private rooms designated for them, so that their roleplaying would not disrupt the chat in the main room. However, Móru and their friends would follow Angmar around and bother him when he was trying to roleplay. They criticized every creative decision he made in his character development and worldbuilding for a roleplaying campaign THEY WEREN'T EVEN PLAYING.

They would harass him for his portrayal of the Nazgul, because he depicted them as invisible men whose physical appearances were frozen in time, as opposed to the desiccated zombies of the film trilogy. They would tell him that his character existed in a perpetual state of rot and decay and was infested with maggots, even when there was nothing in Tolkien's writings that would support such ideas. Angmar got so sick and tired of attempting to educate these people about the Nazgul that he compiled a list of quotes from the books to counter their ill-informed arguments. This list later became part of the Nazgul Information Page at the Library of Minas Morgul website.

The trolls on this chat server even used the "Evil cannot create" line to harass Angmar. One time he had Khamul using magic to light a candle. These trolls were outraged by this, because they claimed that "evil cannot create," so it was lore-breaking for Khamul to use magic to create fire. We were never certain how they justified the Witch-king's fiery sword.

The troll brigade also believed that there would be no competent healers or advanced medicine in Mordor, because "evil cannot create." They completely ignored the fact that even orcs have primitive forms of medicine, and that logically there would be human healers, loremasters and scholars dwelling in Mordor who would have far more advanced knowledge of the healing arts.

These trolls, while claiming to be huge Tolkien fans, knew very little of his writing beyond what they watched in the movies. Of course, there was nothing wrong with that; not every Tolkien fan has the same amount of knowledge or interest. Some people have difficulty reading the books, and prefer the movies instead. And that is perfectly fine! However, it was the attitude that these people possessed that was so wrong. They were arrogant and condescending and acted like a pack of playground bullies or a cult of religious zealots. But worst of all, perhaps, they were know-it-alls who knew nothing.

Angmar loved discussing the Silmarillion and Morgoth's Ring, but the very idea of Tolkien writing depressing tragedies upset many people on this chat server. They did not want to speak about the Kinslaying, the imprisonment of Maedhros, the fall of Finrod Felagund, the incestuous relationship of Turin and Nienor, the imperialism of the Numenoreans, the Gondorian civil war, racism towards the "Lesser Men," the fact that the One Ring drove Frodo to the point that he wanted to rule the world and create a society dominated by hobbits, etc. Angmar genuinely wanted to talk about the deeper topics and more obscure bits of lore found within Tolkien's writings, and enjoyed imparting his knowledge to fans who weren't so well versed with Tolkien. However, so many people treated him with rudeness that he eventually stopped going into the main chat rooms to discuss Middle-earth history, and spent most of his time in the roleplaying section.

Now I will admit that this chat server was definitely on the fringes of the Tolkien fandom, and that most forums of that time period would not have lambasted Angmar for his choice of screen name and roleplaying character. He just had the misfortune of finding a clutch of weirdos. However, I have always wondered, why were these people obsessed with tormenting Angmar? In a world where villains such as the Joker and Darth Vader are fan favorites, a group of people harassing someone for portraying one of the Nazgul seems strange indeed.  

Even though Tolkien specifically stated that he despised allegory, many people turn Middle-earth into their own personal allegory. Some prefer to see the world in terms of absolute good vs. absolute evil, and I think they latch onto the "Lord of the Rings" film series because they fail to see the nuance that Tolkien intended. While the film trilogy is fairly faithful to Tolkien, there are slight variations between the themes of the films and the books. I have noticed that many people who watch the films without reading the books assume that Sauron is a somewhat stereotypical nihilistic villain who wants to destroy the world, or at the very least turn it into a dismal hellscape. However, if one studies Tolkien's various writings, it is revealed that Sauron wants to enslave the world, not destroy it. Sauron craves order at the expense of freedom, and desires to be worshiped as a god. If Sauron destroyed the world, he would have no followers to bow down and pay tribute to him! However, some people prefer a black and white tale devoid of shades of gray, which pits absolute good against absolute evil, and for them Sauron becomes a one-dimensional bad guy upon whom they can project their anger at life's injustices.

Angmar finally quit himself of that particular chat server and took his roleplaying campaign elsewhere. However, the bullying he experienced during his time there permanently tainted his perception of the Tolkien fandom. He was afraid to explore many of his headcanons, because he feared that the fandom would damn him for ever considering such outrageous things as Khamul possessing fire magic, flagrant use of spells and sorcery, Nazgul having romances, Sauron and Galadriel having a love/hate relationship, the spirit of the Witch-king possessing Aragorn's corpse and wearing it as a meat suit, etc. Who knows what delightfully morbid horrors Angmar would have unleashed upon the Tolkien fandom had he not been so relentlessly bullied.

#tolkien fandom #tolkien fandom history #lotr fandom #elfhild's essays

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Numenorean and Gondorian Remarriage After the Death of a Spouse

We all know that Tolkien only wrote of ONE elf who remarried after the death of a spouse. However, what of the Numenoreans, and their descendants the Gondorians?

Here is what the Nature of Middle-earth says about the matter of Numenorean remarriage:

"A second marriage was permitted, by traditional law, if one of the partners died young, leaving the other in vigour and still with a need or desire of children; but the cases were naturally very rare. Death untimely, whether by sickness or mischance, seldom occurred in the early centuries. This the Númenóreans recognized as due to the 'grace of the Valar' (which might be withheld in general or in particular cases, if it ceased to be merited): the land was blessed, and all things, including the Sea, were friendly to them." --"Lives of the Númenóreans," The Nature of Middle-earth, p. 321-22

The chronicles only record one case of a Gondorian noble remarrying: Steward Túrin I of Gondor (T.A. 2165-2278) remarried after his wife died, most likely because he needed a male heir for his line to continue. (Gondor did not have ruling queens or stewards.)

"He [Túrin] was the third child of Hurin. He was wedded twice and had several children (a thing already rare and remarkable among the nobles of Gondor); but only the last, a child born in his old age, was a son." --"The Heirs of Elendil," The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 204

Of course, both cases have to do with the ruling class. Perhaps there was a higher rate of remarriage after the death of a spouse for Numenoreans and Gondorians of less noble birth. This is purely speculation, however.

#tolkien #numenor #gondor #history of middle-earth #nature of middle-earth #peoples of middle-earth #numenorean culture #gondorian culture #second age #third age #elfhild's essays