Dark Lord

"The dark lords of middle-earth" by simonmoberg

"Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him"

—Haldir, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Lothlórien"

Dark Lord, or Dark Power, was the title held by the two most powerful tyrants of Arda, each of whom worked to subjugate Middle-earth and destroy or enslave the Free Peoples.

History

The first Dark Lord was the rebel Vala Melkor, later known as Morgoth. In the beginning, Melkor desired "the kingship of Manwë" over Arda and to create beings with independent wills as Ilúvatar did. Denied both demiurgic power and dominion, Morgoth eventually descended into nihilistic madness: he sought to mar Arda and to destroy both Elves and Men.

The second Dark Lord was Morgoth's successor, the subversive Maia Sauron, originally named Mairon. Believing that "the Valar (including Melkor)" had failed, Sauron initially sought to bring order and heal the desolate lands of Middle-earth. But he began to lust for the "Complete Power", that was Ilúvatar's, and sought to dominate all life and rule over the world as a "God-king".

Melkor-Morgoth and Sauron, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Both fallen Ainur were very influential in the history of Middle-earth, waging numerous wars against the Valar and the Free Peoples. Their actions had a permanent negative impact on the world, as both Dark Powers destroyed many beautiful things and places, and caused untold anguish and grief. Eventually both Dark Powers were overthrown and defeated; Morgoth was banished to the Void at the end of the First Age by his brethren, and Sauron was permanently weakened at the end of the Third Age by Frodo Baggins with the aid of Samwise Gamgee and Gollum, when they cast the One Ring into Mount Doom and so robbed Sauron of most of his power.

No one was left to gather and command any remaining forces of Darkness in Sauron's absence: his duplicitous servant, Saruman, was the only one that could have conceivably claimed the title, and even "cheated [his] new master" in attempt to usurp him. But he was defeated and lost his physical body after the Battle of Bywater, at the end of the War of the Ring.

Background & influence

In The Silmarillion, it is revealed that Sauron was the second Dark Lord and that the first was Morgoth with Sauron actually having been his vassal. Unwilling to accept his status as a mere sub-creator, Morgoth resolved to mar all creation and destroy the Free Peoples. When Morgoth fell, Sauron escaped the judgment of the Valar and arose as his successor, or "Morgoth returned", seeking to establish his own dominion over Middle-earth, and even Númenor.

"Dark Lords" became a common trope in fantasy and science fiction following the success of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings with the Dark Lord Sauron. A prominent example which closely mirrors the Morgoth and Sauron relationship is Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise who like Sauron is the more well-known pupil of earlier "dark lord", Emperor Palpatine. Vader's reluctant service to the Emperor in the Star Wars series also mirrors Saruman's, whose true goal is to betray his new master to become the "dark lord". This similarity was noted by the producers of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, who intentionally built Saruman up as "Darth Vader to Sauron's Emperor".

Later, Lord Voldemort, the primary antagonist of the Harry Potter series, is frequently referred to as the "Dark Lord" by both his followers and his enemies.

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Donker Heer
Albanian	Zoti Errët
Amharic	ደማቅ ጌታ
Arabic	سيد الظلام
Armenian	Խավարի Տիրակալ
Azerbaijani	Qaranlıq Hökmdar
Basque	Ilun Jauna
Belarusian Cyrillic	цёмны Лорд
Bengali	ডার্ক লর্ড
Bosnian	Gospodar Tame
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Тъмен лорд
Cambodian	ព្រះអម្ចាស់ងងឹត
Catalan	Senyor Fosc
Cebuano	Mangitngit nga Ginoo
Chinese	黑暗领主
Cornish	Arlodh Tewal
Croatian	Mračni Gospodar
Czech	Temný pán
Danish	Mørk Herre
Dari	استاد تاریک
Dutch	Donkere Heer
Esperanto	Malluma Sinjoro
Estonian	Tume Isand
Faroese	Myrkt Harra
Fijian	Turaga ni butobuto
Filipino	Madilim Panginoon
Finnish	Musta Ruhtinas
French	Seigneur des Ténèbres
Frisian	Tsjustere Hear (Western)
Galician	Lorde Escuro
Georgian	ბნელი ბატონი
German	Dunkler Herrscher
Greek	Σκοτεινός Άρχοντας
Gujarati	ડાર્ક ભગવાન
Haitian Creole	Fènwa Seyè a
Hebrew	אדון האופל
Hindi	अंधेरे प्रभु
Hmong	Tsaus Tswv
Hungarian	Sötét Nagyúr
Icelandic	Myrkur Lávarður
Indonesian	Penguasa kegelapan
Irish Gaelic	Tiarna Dorcha
Italian	Signore Oscuro
Japanese	ダークロード
Kannada	ಡಾರ್ಕ್ ಲಾರ್ಡ್
Kapampangan	Matuling a Ginu
Kazakh	қараңғы Лорд (Cyrillic) Qarañğı lord (Latin)
Korean	다크로드
Kurdish	Tarî Xudan (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Кара Лорд
Latin	Dominus tenebrarum
Latvian	Tumsas pavēlnieks
Lithuanian	Tamsos Valdovas
Luxembourgish	Donkel Här
Macedonian Cyrillic	Темен Господар
Malayalam	ഇരുണ്ട രക്ഷിതാവ്
Manx	Hiarn Dorraghey
Marathi	गडद स्वामी
Mongolian Cyrillic	Харанхуй Эзэн
Nepalese	गाढा प्रभु
Northern Sami	Seavdnjat Isit
Norwegian	Mørk Herre
Old English	Deorc Hlāford
Pashto	تياره رب
Persian	ارباب تاریک
Polish	Czarny Pan
Portuguese	Senhor das Trevas
Punjabi	ਹਨੇਰੇ ਨੂੰ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ
Romanian	Lordul Întunecat (Seniorul Întunecimii)
Romansh	Stgir Dumagnar ?
Russian	Тёмный Властелин
Samoan	Pogisa Alii
Sanskrit	डेरिका नाथ ?
Scottish Gaelic	Dorcha Thighearn
Serbian	Тамни владар (Cyrillic) Gospodar tame (Latin)
Sesotho	Morena Lefifi
Sindhi	اونداهي پالڻھار
Sinhalese	අඳුරේ අධිපතියා
Slovak	Temný pán
Slovenian	Temni gospodar
Somali	Mugdi ah Rabbiga
Spanish	Señor Oscuro
Sundanese	Poék Gusti
Swahili	Giza Bwana
Swedish	Mörk Herre
Tajik Cyrillic	торик Худованд
Tamil	இருண்ட இறைவன்
Telugu	డార్క్ లార్డ్
Thai	เจ้าแห่งศาสตร์มืด
Turkish	Karanlık Efendi
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Темний лорд
Urdu	اندھیرے کے رب
Uzbek	Қоронғи ҳазратлари (Cyrillic) Qorong'i hazratlari (Latin)
Vietnamese	Chúa tể bóng tối
Welsh	Arglwydd y Tywyllwch
Xhosa	Ebumnyameni Nkosi
Yiddish	דאַרק האר
Yoruba	Dudu Oluwa
Zulu	Nkosi webumnyama

See also

• Angband
• Barad-dûr
• Darkness
• Mordor
• Thangorodrim

External links

• Dark lord at Wikipedia