I feel like we’ve really been working straight toward this point for pretty much the entire month now. I think I did a good job of keeping the Morgoth talk low in the first week, but it derailed real quick last week, and well. As yesterday’s post makes evident, Sauron is not the greatest evil that Middle-earth has ever seen, and I’m bitter about the new Amazon show being set in the Second Age, and my home boy needs some love.

Because I’m predictable, all artwork you see here is by Phobs! They do my absolute favorite version of Morgoth, and I am undoubtedly going to show some of their artwork when I eventually get Morgoth & Sauron’s crowns tattooed.

He’s got a lot in common with Lucifer!

If you’ve been paying any attention at all, you know that I have a lot of sympathy for the devil in Christian mythology, and I can really relate to his struggles. The dude was cast out of heaven for asking questions and wondering if they were maybe being too harsh on the humans, of course he’s relatable. He is humankind in a nutshell. And Morgoth follows a very similar path, which isn’t at all surprising because Tolkien was very Catholic. After Melkor starts questioning Ilúvatar about his place in the universe and why they’re doing things the way they are, dad’s like LOL BYE and throws Melkor out, says he’s now to be called Morgoth, or the Black Foe of the World, and then is confused when Morgoth rebels? My dude. You need help.

He dared to be different.

But that’s why I really like Morgoth! He’s not automaton. He doesn’t just do what he’s told because his dad told him to do it, and dad’s word is law. Parents are not meant to be obeyed without question. That’s some serious toxic nonsense. Children are human beings that had no say in whether or not they were brought into the world, so wouldn’t you think you’d allow them full freedom of their own will since you already decided whether or not they should be alive in the first place? Like, damn, but that’s a serious moral conundrum, and people like me love Morgoth because he represents breaking away from that toxicity.

Y’all, he literally stole the Silmarils just to piss off his family.

For all the serious reasons that I love Morgoth, there are a lot of ridiculous reasons because this man is The Worst, and I cannot with him. The shit that he pulls just because he’s mildly inconvenience is hilarious. And the fact that he saw that his family were amazed by the Silmarils and decided to steal them is the most attention-seeking WHAT ABOUT ME behavior ever, and it sets me off. The reasons behind why he does what he does never make sense, and I love it because it’s just one massive tantrum.

Despite their differences, he wasn’t an asshole* to Ungoliant.

*Okay, yes, he was, Morgoth literally lies to her and then abandons her, but he’s not an asshole like most people are. When the rest of the world sees someone like Ungoliant, a giant ass spider that’s been so abused that her only mode of operation is to hate everyone, they all back away in fear and horror. Morgoth is like hey can I get a ride? I’ll give you some hella pretty jewels in return. He never balks from the ugliness of the world. Instead, he gives it opportunity. If he sees someone down on their luck, he welcomes them in with open arms and gives them not only purpose, but a place to live and something to fight for.

Everything is Fëanor’s fault, if we’re being honest here.

This is only a partial reason for Morgoth because it’s mostly about Fëanor, but much like Lucifer, who gets the all the bad rap, Morgoth is made out to be a bad guy when it’s really just Fëanor being an asshole to infinity and beyond. Fëanor is the root cause of all problems on Middle-earth, but because Morgoth is the one that Fëanor’s pissed off, and Morgoth has enough gumption to go toe to toe with Fëanor, Morgoth’s the one everyone hates on because Fëanor’s an elf, so he couldn’t possibly be a bad guy. I mean, did Morgoth massacre an entire side of his family? Nah, that was Fëanor.

He seduced Mairon to the dark side just to piss off his brother.

TOLKIEN USED THE WORD SEDUCE AND TRYST, FIGHT ME. But like, Morgoth seeing that Aulë had this star pupil that he was really excited about and deciding the absolute best course of action was to then whisper sweet nothings about freedom into that star pupil’s ear? I am deceased. He really just wanted to say fuck you to the brother that he loved the most and was the most hurt by when he was abandoned by his family, and he succeeded.

He lets Lúthien rescue Beren.

Don’t even come for me, you know this is true. And I will be the first person that shouts to the rooftops about how much I love Lúthien and what a badass she is, but you’re telling me that she sung Morgoth to sleep? LOL, okay. Nah, my dude, that sad motha saw the true depths of love between Lúthien & Beren, saw the hurt inside of Lúthien for the way her father had treated their love, saw that all Beren wanted in the world was peace and quiet, and he related to them so hardcore that he was like oh no this song is so pretty that I’m asleep now. Guarantee that he was peeking at them as they ran out, silently cheering them on.

Say what you will, but he’s so gay for Sauron.

There is so much evidence to back this up, and I will go down on this ship. Forever and a day ago, I saw someone say that there was a dark section of the Internet where weirdos who shipped these two morons lived, and I was like, oh my gosh?? I’m part of a dark part of the Internet now??? REALLY?! I love it. Bury me in fanart of these two.

Ancalagon the Black is a reason all on his own.

My dudes, Ancalagon the Black is single-handedly the coolest dragon of all time. I love those pictures that show the different sizes of things compared to Ancalagon, and he literally just dwarfs everything, he was such a beast. And I love the relationship that Morgoth had with Ancalagon because he so badly wanted a family that he just created one, and it’s so sweet. But also? Morgoth brought dragons to Middle-earth, and he deserves a medal for that.

He was a big fan of free will.

This circles right back up to my original reason for loving Morgoth. He was banished from Valinor for speaking up, and Angband became a place of refuge and freedom for him. He created the world that he wanted to see, and sure, he acted out of anger, and that world included a lot of death, but if you get to the root of Morgoth’s actions, he just wanted to be left alone. In the beginning, he was mostly just pushing people’s buttons to see how they would react, and, surprise surprise, it was Fëanor that really escalated things, but left to his own devices and allowed to surround himself with dragons and Sauron and balrogs, I don’t think Morgoth would have necessarily tried to destroy the entire world. He just wanted the free will to make his own decisions, and because he was punished for that, he reacted exactly the way Ilúvatar wanted him to, and that is rooted in so much sorrow and desperation that it just makes me sad.