Ainulindale

The Music of the Ainur and the Coming of the Valar

These are the words that Rumil spake to /Elfwine con­cerning the beginning of the World.'

There was Iluvatar, the All-father, and he made first the Ainur, the holy ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before Time. And he spoke to them, pro-Pounding to them themes of music, and they sang before him, and he was glad. But for a long while they sang only each alone, or but few together, while the rest hearkened; for each comprehended only that part of the mind of Iluvatar from which he came, and in the understanding of their brethren they grew but slowly. Yet ever as they listened they came to deeper understanding, and grew in unison and harmony.

And it came to pass that Iluvatar called together all the Ainur, and declared to diem a mighty theme, unfolding to them greater and more wonderful man he had yet revealed; and 1 glory of its beginning and the splendour of its end amazed i Amur, so that they bowed before Iluvatar and were silent

Then said Iluvatar. 'Of the theme mat I have declared j you, but only incomplete and unadorned, I desire now ye make in harmony together a great music. And since I kindled you with the Fire, ye shall exercise your powers! adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and dev But I will sit and hearken and be glad that through you; beauty has been wakened into song.'

Then the voices of. the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, i pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto < choirs singing with words, began to fashion the theme of Mvi to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchang melodies, woven in harmonies, mat passed beyond bom in the depths and in the heights, and the places of i dwelling of Iluvatar were filled to overflowing, and the i and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was j void. Never was mere before, nor has there since been, a i so immeasurable, though it has been said that a greater still s be made before Iluvatar by the choirs of the Ainur and the ( dren of Iluvatar after the end of days.²Then shall the Iluvatar be played aright, and take being in the moment oft playing, for all shall men understand his intent in their part, l shall know the comprehension each of each, and Iluvatar! give to their thoughts the secret Rre, being well pleased.

But now the All-father sat and hearkened, and for a while it seemed good to him, for the flaws in the music' few. But as the theme progressed, it came into the Melko to interweave matters of his own imagining mat' not in accord with the theme of Iluvatar, for he sought I to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to I To Melko among the Ainur had been given the greatest power and knowledge, and he had a share in all the gifts of I brethren; and he had gone often alone into the void ph seeking the secret Fire that gives life. For desire grew; within him to bring into being things of his own, and it! to him that Iluvatar took no thought for the Void, and he impatient of its emptiness. Yet he found not the Fire, for i

with Iluvatar, and he knew it not But being alone he had begun to conceive thoughts of his own unlike those of his brethren.

Some of these he now wove into his music, and straightway discord arose about him, and many that sang nigh him grew despondent and their thought was disturbed and their music faltered; but some began to attune their music to his rather than to the thought which they had at first And me discord of Melko spread ever wider and the music darkened, for the thought of Melko came from the outer dark whither Iluvatar had not yet turned the light of his face. But Iluvatar sat and hearkened, until all mat could be heard was like unto a storm, and a form­less wrath mat made war upon itself in endless night-Then Iluvatar was grieved, but he smiled, and he lifted up his left hand, and anew theme began amid the storm, like and yet unlike the former theme, and it gathered power and had new sweetness. But the discord of Melko arose in uproar against it and there was again a war of sound in which music was lost Then Iluvatar smiled no longer, but wept and he raised his right hand; and behold, a third theme grew amid the confusion, and it was unlike the others, and more powerful than all. And it seemed at last mat there were two musics pro­gressing at one time before the seat of Iluvatar, and they were utterly at variance. One was deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with unquenchable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came. The other had grown now to a unity and system, yet an imperfect one, save in so far as it derived still from the eldest theme of Iluvatar; but it was loud, and vain, and endlessly repeated, and it had little harmony, but rather a clam­orous unison as of many trumpets braying upon one note. And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but it seemed ever that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its pattern.

In the midst of this strife, whereat the halls of Iluvatar shook and a tremor ran through the dark places, Iluvatar raised up both his hands, and in one chord, deeper than the abyss, higher than the firmament more glorious than the sun, piercing as the light of the eye of Iluvatar, the music ceased.

Then said Iluvatar. 'Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melko; but that he may know, and all the Ainur,

mat I am Iluvatar, those things mat ye have sung and j I have caused to be. Not in the musics mat ye make in the I enly regions, as ajoy to me and a play unto yourselves, but i to have shape and reality, even as have ye Amur. And 1 shall love these things mat are come of my song even as I j the Ainur who are of my thought And thou, Melko, that no theme may be played that has not its uttermost! me, nor can any alter the musk in my despite. For he^ attempts mis shall but aid me in devising things yet more derfuL which he himself has not imagined. Through Melko I terror as fire, and sorrow like dark waters, wrath like thun and evil as far from my light as me uttermost depths ofthe i places come into the design. In the confusion of sound made pain and cruelty, devouring flame and cold without i and death without hope. Yet he shall see that in the end.jj redounds only to the glory of die world, and this world: called of all the deeds of Iluvatar the mightiest and most I

Then the Ainur were afraid, and understood not fully' was said; and Melko was filled with shame and with die i of shame. But Iluvatar arose in splendour and went form i the fair regions mat he had made for the Ainur and camel the dark places; and the Ainur followed him.

But when they came into the midmost Void they befa sight of surpassing beauty, where before had been emp And Iluvatar said: 'Behold your musk! For of my will ifcf taken shape, and even now the history of the world is I ning. Each will find contained within the design that is i the adornments mat he himself devised; and Melko will i cover there those things which he thought to bring out i from his own heart, and will see diem to be but a part < whole, and tributary to its glory. But I have given being i all.' And lo! the secret Fire burned in the heart ofthe Wo

Then the Ainur marvelled seeing the world globed i Void, and it was sustained therein, but not of it. And lo upon light they were joyful, and seeing many colours their ( were filled with delight; but because of the roaring of I they felt a great unquiet. And they observed the air and' and the matters whereof the middle-earth was made, of j and stone and silver and gold and many substances: but these water they most greatly praised. And it is said that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in the world, and many ofthe Children of Duvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the sea, and yet know not for what they listen.

Now of water had that Ainu whom we call Ulmo mostly thought, and of all most deeply was he instructed by Duvatar in music. But of the airs and winds Manwe most had pondered, who was the noblest of the Ainur. Of the fabric of earth had Aule thought, to whom Duvatar had given skill and knowledge scarce less than to Melko; but the delight and pride of Aule was in the process of making, and in the dung made, and not in pos­session nor in himself, wherefore he was a maker and teacher and not a master, and none have called him lord.¹⁰

Now Iluvatar spake to Ulmo and said* 'Seest thou not how Melko has made war upon thy realm? He has bethought him of biting cold without moderation, and has not destroyed the beauty of thy fountains, nor of thy clear pools. Behold the snow, and the cunning work of frost! Behold the towers and mansions of ice! Melko has devised heats and fire without restraint and has not dried up thy desire, nor utterly quelled the music of the sea. Behold rather the height and glory of the clouds, and the everchanging mists and vapours, and listen to the fall of rain upon the earth. And in these clouds thou art drawn yet nearer to thy brother Manwe whom thou lovest.'

Then Ulmo answered: 'Yea, truly, water is become now fairer than my heart imagined neither had my secret thought conceived the snow-flake, nor in all my musk was contained the falling of the rain. Lo! I will seek Manwe, mat he and I may make melodies for ever and ever to thy delight!' And Manwe and Ulmo have from the beginning been allied and in all things served most faithfully the purpose of Duvatar.

And een as Duvatar spake to Ulmo, the Ainur beheld the unfolding of the world and the beginning of that history which Iluvatar had propounded to them as a theme of song. Because of their memory of the speech of Duvatar and the knowledge that each has of the music which he played the Ainur know much of what is to come, and few things are unforeseen by them. Yet some things there are mat they cannot see, neither alone nor

taking counsel together. But even as they gazed, many I enamoured of the beauty of the world, and engrossed in the 1 tory which came there to being, and there was unrest them. Thus it came to pass that some abode still with Iltiva beyond the world, and those were such as had been conti their playing with the thought of the All-father's design, < only to set it forth as they had received it But others, and г them were many of the wisest and fairest of the Amur, crav leave of Duvatar to enter into the world ancfdwell there, and on the form and raiment of Time. For they said: 'We desiri have the guidance of the fair things of our dreams, which I might has made to have a life apart, and we would instruct I Elves and Men in their wonder and uses, when the times for thy Children to appear upon earth.' And Melko feigned f he desired to control the violence and turmoils, of heat and cold, that he had caused within the world, but he intended i to usurp the realms of all the Amur and subdue to his will 1 Elves and Men; for he was jealous of the gifts with which Iluvatar purposed to endow them.

For Elves and Men were devised by Iluvatar alone, nor, i they comprehended not fully that part of the theme when it t propounded to them, did any of the Ainur dare in their music add anything to their fashion; and for that reason these i are called the Children of Huvatar, and the Ainur are their elders and their chieftains than their masters. Wherefi in their meddling with Elves and Men the Ainur have poured at times to force them, when they would not be guid but seldom to good result, were it of good or evil intent, dealings of the Ainur have been mostly with the Elves, for ] vatar made the Elves most like in nature to the Ainur, the less in might and stature; but to Men he gave strange gifts.

Knowing these things and seeing their hearts, Iluva granted the desire of the Ainur, and it is not said that he'd grieved. Then those that wished descended, and entered i the world. But this condition Duvatar made, or it is the ne sity of their own love (I know not which), that their should thenceforth be contained and bounded by the wc and fail with it; and his purpose with them afterward Duva has not revealed.

Thus the Ainur came into the world, whom we call the Valar, or the Powers, and they dwelt in many places: in the fir­mament, or in the deeps of the sea, or upon earth, or in Valinor upon the borders of earth. And the four greatest were Melko and Manwe and Ulmo and Aule.

Melko for along white walked alone, and he wielded both fire and frost, from the Walls of the World to the deepest furnaces that are under it, and whatsoever is violent or immoderate, sudden or cruel, is laid to his charge, and for the most part justly. Few of the divine race went with him, and of the Children of Iluvatar none have followed him since, save as slaves, and his companions were of his own making: the Ores and demons mat long troubled the earth, tormenting Men and Fives.

Ulmo has dwelt ever imthe Outee Ocean, and governed the flowing of all waters, and the courses of all rivers, the replenishment of springs and the distiDing of rain and dew throughout the world. In the deep places he gives thought to music great and terrible; and the echo thereof runs through all the veins of the world, and its joy is as the joy of a fountain in the sun whose wells are the weUs of unfathomed sorrow at the foundations of the world. The Teleri learned much of him, and for this reason their music has both sadness and enchant­ment. Salmar came with him, who made the conches of Ulmo;¹and Osse and Uinen, to whom he gave control of waves and of the inner seas; and many other spirits beside.

Aule dwelt in Valinor, in the making of which he had most part, and he wroughtmany things bom openly and in secret Of him comes the love and the knowledge of the substances of earth, both tillage and husbandry, and the crafts of weaving and of beating metals and of shaping wood. Of him comes the sci­ence of earth and its fabric and the lore of its elements, their blending and mutation. Of him the Noldor learned much in after days, and they are the wisest and most skilled of the Elves. But they added much to his teaching and delighted much in tongues and alphabets and in the figures of broidery, of drawing and carving. For art was the especial gift of the Children of Iluvatar. And the Noldor achieved the invention of gems, which were not in the world before them; and the fairest of gems were the Silmarils, and they are lost

After the departure of the Valar there was silence for an age,, and Duvatar sat alone in thought. Then Duvatar spake, and he said: 'Behold I love the world, and it is a mansion for Elves and Men. But the Elves shall be the fairest of earthly creatures, and they shall have and shall conceive more beauty than all my children, and they shall have greater bliss in this world. But to Men I will give a new gift.

Therefore he wilted that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and find no rest therein; but they should have a virtue to fashion their life, amid the powers and chances of the world, beyond the Music of the Amur, which is as fate to all things else. And of their operation everything should be, in shape and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last and smallest Lo! even we, Elves, have found to our sorrow that Men have a strange power for good or ill, and for turning things aside from the purpose of Valar or of Elves; so that it is said among us that Fate is not master of the children of Men; yet are they blind, and their joy is small, which should be great

But Iluvatar knew that Men, being set amid the turmoils of the powers of the world, would stray often, and would not use their gift in harmony; and he said: These too, in their time, shall find that all they do redounds at the end only to the glory of my work.' Yet the Elves say that Men are often a grief even unto Manwe, who knows most of the mind of Iluvatar. For Men resemble Melko most of all the Ainur, and yet have ever feared and hated him.It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and yet are not bound to it nor shall perish utterly for ever. Whereas the EMar remain until the end of days, and their love of the world is deeper, therefore, and more sorrowful. But they die not till the world dies, unless they are slain or waste in grief-4or to both these seeming deaths are they subject—nor does age subdue their strength, unless one grow weary of ten thousand centuries; and dying they are garnered in the halls of Mandos in Valinor, whence often they return and are reborn in their children. But the sons of Men die indeed. Yet it is said that they will join in the Second Music of the Ainur, whereas Du­vatar has not revealed what he purposes for Elves and Valar after the world's end; and Melko has not discovered it.