- "It is he whose name is not now spoken; for the Valar have deceived you concerning him, putting forward the name of Eru, a phantom devised in the folly of their hearts, seeking to enchain Men in servitude to themselves. For they are the oracle of this Eru, which speaks only what they will. But he that is their master shall yet prevail, and he will deliver you from this phantom; and his name is Melkor, Lord of All, Giver of Freedom, and he shall make you stronger than they."
- —Sauron in The Silmarillion, "Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor"
The Temple for Morgoth,[1] or simply the Temple, was a huge and imposing structure that was built in Armenelos at the behest of Sauron for the worship of Melkor in Númenor.[2]
History[]
Prelude[]
During the First Age, Sauron was the lieutenant and greatest servant of Morgoth. However, when his master was defeated at the end of the First Age, Sauron went into hiding. After spending approximately the first 500 years of the Second Age in hiding, Sauron returned to Middle-earth and began establishing his power.
The Temple destroyed in the Downfall of Númenor, by John Howe
In SA 3261, Ar-Pharazôn, the twenty-fifth King of Númenor, wished to challenge Sauron for the mastery of Middle-earth. So he travelled to Mordor with an army so great it frightened Sauron's servants, who fled. Therefore, Sauron humbled himself before Ar-Pharazôn, and was brought to Númenor as a prisoner in SA 3262. Three years later, he soon used "the cunning of his mind" to become the primary councillor of Ar-Pharazôn and corrupted and deceived the minds of most of his people, so that they turned to the worship of the Darkness and Melkor its Lord. Unable for the time being to claim personal divine status anew, Sauron preached deliverance from death and then lied by promising the power through an unseen object of worship: his old master, Melkor.[3] After the Númenóreans fully embraced the adoration of the Darkness, Sauron commanded for a mighty Temple to be built on a hill in the middle of Armenelos.[2]
The Temple was a "wonderful, but terrible" structure with a circular foundation, and was constructed mainly of marble, gold, glass, and steel.[1] Its walls were five-hundred feet high and fifty-feet thick; it was five-hundred feet across from the center of the base. Beneath the Temple were prisons and chambers of torture.[1] The Temple was roofed by a mighty silver dome which could be seen at a distance due to how it glittered when it was struck by sunlight. However, the dome was soon blackened from the smoke of rituals, as the structure's innermost sanctum contained an altar of fire in its center. There was a louver at the uttermost top of the dome that let out a great smoke regularly. The first sacrifice made on the altar of fire was the chopped-up wood of Nimloth. For seven days afterwards, the city was covered in a rising cloud of smoke that withered any flowers and grass that it touched,[1] before it dispersed and passed away toward the west, though the reek of the burning was admired by many Númenóreans.[2]
Portrayal of a sacrifice held by Sauron in the dome of the Temple, by EKukanova
Soon afterwards, the King's Men began making human sacrifices and bloody offerings upon the altar. They hoped that Morgoth would release them from the Doom of Men and be granted immortality, but they could not escape the fate Ilúvatar gave them and were unaware that they had been lied to and deceived by Sauron. Many of these sacrificed victims were among the Faithful, though they were never captured and sentenced openly based on their rejection of Morgoth alone. Because of the worship of Morgoth, the skies above Númenor became increasingly engulfed by thunderclouds shaped like Eagles, which often brought death. Sauron laughed when he heard these storms. During one such storm, "a fiery bolt smote the dome of the Temple and shore it asunder", causing it to catch fire. The Temple, however, was itself unaffected, since Sauron stood atop the dome, defying the lightning and remaining unharmed. As a result, the King's Men believed him to be a god and obeyed him without question.[2]
As Ar-Pharazôn's Great Armament departed for war, after being deceived by Sauron into believing that the Undying Lands granted immortality, Sauron remained in the innermost circle of the Temple, laughing at the fleet's trumpets of war before demanding more victims for sacrifices. He often surveyed the land and people from the Temple, dwelling there until Melkor returned, or so he claimed.[1] Sometime afterwards, some soldiers of Sauron went to Rómenna to drag Elendil himself to the Temple; he avoided them before setting sail for Middle-earth.[2]
In SA 3319,[4] nine-hundred-and-thirteen days after the Great Armament set sail, "fire burst from the Meneltarma" and even while Sauron laughed at finally having gotten rid of the Edain, the black seat he was sitting in and even the Temple itself were cast into the abyss that Eru had made; thus, the Dark Lord's physical form was caught in the ruins, but his spirit survived and escaped, to return to Mordor and take back up the One Ring in Barad-dûr.[2]
In other versions[]
In an earlier version of the legendarium, the Temple for Morgoth was built merely for future use atop the summit of Meneltarma after all the trees upon it were felled.[1]
Inspiration[]
It is possible J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired by the Radcliffe Camera,[5] which is described in The Notion Club Papers using similar terms as the Temple for Morgoth:[6]
It was a cool clear night after a windy day. It was starry in the west, but the moon was already climbing. At B.N.C. gate Lowdham turned. The Camera looked vast and dark against the moonlit sky. Wisps of long white cloud were passing on an easterly breeze. For a moment one of them seemed to take the shape of a plume of smoke issuing from the lantern of the dome.
—"Night 63" of The Notion Club Papers
In adaptations[]
In The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game[]
In the Temple of the Deceived adventure pack for Fantasy Flight Games's The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, the heroes are led by Corsairs into the ruins of a grand temple heavily implied to be the Temple for Morgoth. The temple was guarded by the undead Temple Guardian.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Tempel vir Morgoth |
| Albanian | Tempulli në emër të Morgoth |
| Amharic | መቅደስ ለ ሞርጎት |
| Arabic | معبد لمورجوت |
| Armenian | Տաճար Մորգոթի համար |
| Azerbaijani | Morgothın Məbəd |
| Basque | Morgothentzako tenplua |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Храм для Моргота |
| Bosnian | Hram za Morgoth |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Храм за Моргот |
| Catalan | Temple per Morgoth |
| Chinese | 魔苟斯神庙 |
| Czech | Chrám pro Morgotha |
| Dutch | Tempel voor Morgoth |
| Esperanto | Templo por Morgoth |
| Estonian | Morgothi tempel |
| Filipino | Templo para sa Morgoth |
| Finnish | Morgothin temppeli |
| French | Temple pour Morgoth |
| Galician | Templo para Morgoth |
| Georgian | ტაძარი მორგოთისთვის |
| German | Melkors Tempel |
| Hebrew | המקדש למורגוט |
| Danish | Morgoths Tempel |
| Icelandic | Musteri handa Morgoth |
| Indonesian | Kuil untuk Morgoth |
| Irish Gaelic | Teampall ar son Morgoth |
| Japanese | モルゴスの神殿 |
| Kannada | ಮೊರ್ಗೋತ್ ದೇವಾಲಯ |
| Kazakh | Морготқа арналған ғибадатхана (Cyrillic) Morgotqa arnalğan ğïbadatxana (Latin) |
| Korean | 모르고스의 사원 |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Моргот үчүн ийбадаткана |
| Latvian | Morgothas templis |
| Lithuanian | Morgotho šventykla |
| Luxembourgish | Tempel fir Morgoth |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Храм за Моргот |
| Malayalam | മോർഗോത്തിനായുള്ള ക്ഷേത്രം |
| Malaysian | Kuil untuk Morgoth |
| Maltese | Tempju għall Morgoth |
| Marathi | मॉर्गोथसाठी मंदिर |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Морготод зориулсан ариун сүм |
| Nepalese | मोर्गोथको लागि मन्दिर |
| Norwegian | Morgoths Tempel |
| Occitan | Temple per Morgoth |
| Persian | نیایشگاه مورگوت |
| Polish | Świątynia Melkora |
| Portuguese | Templo para Morgoth |
| Punjabi | ਮੋਰਗੋਥ ਲਈ ਮੰਦਰ |
| Romanian | Templu căci Morgoth |
| Sardinian | Tèmpiu pro Morgoth |
| Serbian | Храм за Моргота (Cyrillic) Hram za Morgota (Latin) |
| Sicilian | Tempiu pi Morgoth |
| Sinhalese | මෝර්ගොත් සඳහා පන්සල |
| Slovak | Chrám pre Morgotha |
| Slovenian | Tempelj za Morgoth |
| Spanish | Templo para que Morgoth |
| Swahili | Hekalu kwa ajili ya Morgoth |
| Swedish | Morgoths Tempel |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Маъбад барои Моргот |
| Tamil | மோர்கோத் கோயில் |
| Tatar | Моргот өчен гыйбадәтханә |
| Telugu | మోర్గోత్ కోసం ఆలయం |
| Thai | วิหารสําหรับมอร์กอธ |
| Turkish | Morgoth'un Tapınak |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Храм для Морґота |
| Urdu | مورگوت کے لئے مندر |
| Uzbek | Морготҳ Учун маъбад (Cyrillic) Morgoth Uchun maʼbad (Latin) |
| Venetian | Tempio par Morgoth |
| Vietnamese | Đền thờ cho Morgoth |
| Welsh | Templ ar gyfer Morgoth |
| Yiddish | המקדש פֿאַר מאָרגאָטה |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, III. The Lost Road, (ii): "The Númenórean chapters"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The Silmarillion, Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth's Ring, "Notes on motives in the Silmarillion"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Second Age"
- ↑ Images of Radcliffe Camera
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IX: Sauron Defeated, Part II: The Notion Club Papers, "The Notion Club Papers Part Two", Night 63