Tolkien’s Philosophy of Creativity

How a dark lord demonstrates the first and foremost rule of art

Sauron may be the biggest and baddest villain in Middle Earth during the events of The Lord of the Rings, but as any self-respecting nerd knows, Sauron was once only lieutenant to the greatest evil in Tolkien’s legendarium; Morgoth; most powerful of any immortal angel; the sole source of all darkness in the universe.

That caliber of importance makes it natural for one to wonder, though — what is it that really even makes Morgoth and his minions evil?

“Fingolfin’s Challenge to Morgoth” by John Howe, concept artist for both Peter Jackson trilogies

Well, to quickly rewind to the beginning of the world, Eru Ilúvatar (basically the Catholic God, reflecting Tolkien’s own beliefs) created his angels and together with them sang all of creation into being; Eru setting the melody and his angels contributing in perfect harmony with his designs. This, named for said angels, was called the Music of the Ainur, and it continued for some time until Melkor, most powerful of the Ainur, introduced a discordant tone.

All his peers protested, but Melkor ignored them, introducing all those things in the world discordant with the will of Eru — except without the Flame Imperishable, safe in Eru’s possession, from which all beings first emerged. He thus had to resort to distorting those beings already made and set free to…