Melkor

Melkor was once a Vala who was named Morgoth Bauglir in Beleriand and Middle-earth.

Biography
Melkor was the first Dark Lord and, even as an Ainu, he was filled with pride and malice, bringing a discord to the Great Music of the Ainur.

During the creation and shaping of Arda, Melkor thwarted the efforts of the other Valar, marring the world, and while the Valar started to build their kingdom of Almaren Melkor corrupted many of the Ainur. First, he dwelt in The Void outside Ea at the beginning of the World, but he later built a new undergeround fortress in the north of Middle-Earth. Naming it Utumno, he built it behind the Ered Engrin in the far east of Beleriand.

From Utumno Morgoth waged five massive wars against the Valar, flattened Almaren, and destroyed the Great Lamps. It is likely that in this time Melkor delved his second, lesser fortress of Angband in the west, as a defense from the other Valar should they attack. Angband was delved into the Ered Engrin, and was given to Sauron to command. While the Valar were unsure where the Children of Ilúvatar would awake, they were reluctant to wage war against Melkor, fearing the clash of powers might result in massive collateral damage. It is in this time that Melkor discovered the Elves first, captured many of them, and transformed them by torture and other foul craft into Orcs.

When it was discovered by the Vala Orome where the Elves were, the Valar took immediate action against Melkor. Both Angband and Utumno were razed, and Melkor brought back in chains. However, many of Melkor's servants (including Sauron and the Balrogs) were not found, since in their haste the Valar did not wholly destroy Angband.

During the War of the Powers, Melkor had been captured and chained, and for some years Middle-earth was allowed to prosper. But at last Melkor was brought before the Valar to be judged. To the Valar he seemed to have changed and mellowed such that Manwë, Lord of the Valar, ordered his chains removed. But they were all deceived, and Melkor continued to wage war against them, destroying the Trees of the Valar with his ally Ungoliant (the first giant spider of Middle-earth) and stealing the gemstones known as the Silmarils.

After this point, the name Melkor was no longer used. In their grief and hatred, the elves titled him Morgoth, "The Black Foe" and occasionally referred to him as Belegurth, "The Great Death," a perversion of Belegur, the Sindarin form of Melkor.

Upon fleeing back to Middle Earth, he rebuilt Angband as his center of operations, and reared the tallest mountains to have ever been in Middle Earth, the Thangorodrim, over its gate. Thangorodrim was adorned with walls and gates, and functioned as a guardian fortress to Angband proper, which was underground.

Another war began, The War of the Great Jewels, in which the Noldor waged a long and ultimately hopeless war again Morgoth for the recovery of the Silmarils. This war lasted through the whole of the First Age of the Sun. Finally, in the War of Wrath, Angband was destroyed and, though Morgoth tried to call up more and more beasts of the shadows to aid him, he was sent into the Void by the Valar. Although he could not escape and return to conquer Middle-earth, he left his lieutenant and ally behind, Sauron. Morgoth's terrible power would live on yet through Sauron, as is described in The Lord of the Rings. It is prophesied that Morgoth will return for the final battle between light and darkness, the Dagor Dagorath, and will suffer his ultimate and final defeat to Turin Turambar who will run his black sword Gurthang, ' Iron of Death' through him.

There is a certain parallel between the stories of Morgoth and of Lucifer in Christian theology. They both tell of beings of great power created by an omnipotent deity, both being the greatest (Lucifer was regarded as being "brightest of them all"). Both stories tell of the being's fall from grace, and his subsequent war on the forces of his creator. As Tolkien was a Catholic, this parallel may well be intentional.

Appearance
Initially, Melkor could take on any form he chose. The Ainur took on forms reflective of their moods. Melkor, in his arrogance, malice and desire to be bigger and better than all his brethren, took on a form recorded as"'...a mountain that wades in the sea, and has its head above the clouds, and is clad with ice and crowned with smoke and fire, and the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that whithers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold.' (Silmarillion)"

Originally the brightest, most beautiful, most powerful Ainu, he fell through jealousy, pride and hatred of others until he became a lesser spirit, who spent himself in wasteful wrath and in effort to gain complete domination over the very substance of Arda. This fallen, diminished spirit, Morgoth, took the form of an exceedingly tall, majestic Dark Lord whose very presence invoked terror and fear. As he squandered his power in domination and the sending forth of his will to do evil deeds making him less powerful for every creature he gave some his great spirit to, this is shown by the fact that an elf was able to injure what was originally the most powerful of all the Valar, he became bound to this form. Although details are not given, it is likely his skin was black as coal, and his eyes were said to be able to daunt men into doing his will. In his duel with Fingolfin he wore black armor, a black shield with no emblem, and wielded a huge hammer called Grond. After his theft of the Silmarils, he forged for himself a crown made of iron, and placed the Silmarils in them. It must have been humbling indeed for Fingolfin, to see such a horrifying being, black as death, with three glowing jewels on the top of his crown.

There is some dispute over Morgoth's size. The Silmarillion states"'He stood over the king as a tower...and...cast a shadow over him like a storm cloud.'" This implies that Morgoth was surrealistically huge, although may also be attributed to his tremendous aura of dark majesty. When Morgoth killed Fingolfin, it is said that"'Morgoth set his foot upon his neck, and the weight of it was like a fallen hill.'" This again implies a huge size.

Alternatively, if Morgoth is too massive, then it begs the question of how Fingolfin stayed alive as long as he did, much less how he gave Morgoth seven wounds. The size of Morgoth is ultimately left up to the imagination, which, as Tolkien realized, is the most potent descriptor. In The Fellowship of the Ring film introduction, Sauron is portrayed with the description Tolkien used for Morgoth.

The Cursing of Húrin
Morgoth is also well known for the imprisonment of Húrin of the House of Hador during the Battle of Unnumbered tears. In the last hours of the battle Hurin and his kin defended Turgon, for he was the last heir to the throne of Gondolin and of Fingolfin after his brother, Fingon, fell in battle. Turgon narrowly escaped the clutches of the host of orcs due to the valor of Hurin and Huor and their men.

Unfortunately, all but Húrin fell after the onslaught of Morgoth's forces. After slaying 70 orcs, Húrin was bound by Gothmog with his flaming whip and, thus, sent him to Angband. There, after a nightmare of chained torment in Thangorodrim's chambers, Húrin still defied Morgoth Bauglir and refused to tell him where Gondolin lay. Thus, Morgoth sent Húrin to the top of Haudh-en-Nirnaeth and cast a mighty curse on Húrin and his family:

''Behold! The Shadow of my thought shall lie upon them wherever they go, and my hate shall pursue them to the ends of the world.''

Then continuing his curse, roared:

''But all whom you love my thought shall weigh as a cloud of Doom, and it shall bring them down into darkness and despair. Wherever they go, evil shall arise. Wherever they speak, their words shall bring ill counsel. Whatsoever they do shall turn against them. They shall die without hope, cursing both life and death.''

And so Húrin stayed was chained atop Thangorodrim, forever watching his homelands fall under the shadow of Morgoth until he release him. Túrin, who was valiant and powerful, nearly escaped the curse, as feared by Morgoth, but could not leave it. He and his sister perished. Thus, the curse of Morgoth on the Children of Húrin was fulfilled.

(More is said in The Children of Hurin)

Melkor and "Morgoth"
Morgoth's Ring presents an interesting metaphysical interpretation of the corruption of Melkor. It states, that, much like how Sauron placed the better part of his life force into the One Ring, so did Melkor into the very fabric of the world. His essence is diluted into the earth itself, evident in the extreme colds of the north, the Misty Mountains (originally reared by Melkor), and even Mount Doom. As he did this, his person lost power. In this sense, the name "Morgoth" describes the lesser, wasted spirit, consumed by hate, who has lost so much of his life force that he was probably weaker than Sauron with the One Ring. It also describes the element of him that remains in the earth, "The Morgoth." Of course, weak is a relative term, and compared to any of the Children of Iluvatar, this "Morgoth" was still tremendously powerful. "Melkor" is used to a) refer to the primordial being before his spirit was diminished, and b) to refer to the person himself, separate from the evil essence in the earth. "Melkor" can viewed as Lucifer the beautiful, albeit corrupt primordial being. "Morgoth" can be viewed as Satan, the eternally damned, imprisoned spirit of malice.