Title: Stories of the Past, Reflecting on Experiences
Author: Endaewen
Rating: G
Fandom: The Silmarillion
Disclaimer: All the characters and settings belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and the Tolkien Estates.
Prompt: #22. Melkor
Story Number: 22
Wordcount: 520
Character: Lúthien Tinuviel
Summary: Written for the Arda100 LiveJournal community, the Doom'n'Gloom prompt set. Beren's reflections on both Morgoth and Lúthien, and his own life.
Note: Quotes (in 'bold') are from Of Beren and Lúthien from The Silmarillion.
Morgoth. Lúthien has been telling me tales of who he was and is, along with what she knows about the Silmarils. Once known as Melkor, she tells me he was intended to be the greatest of the powers of the world. She tells me he used his powers only for destruction and suggests that he no longer has the power he once did. If this is true, and I have no reason to disbelieve it – Lúthien has not once led me astray so far – than he must have once been powerful almost beyond belief! His power is still incredible even in this apparently diminished state.
I've only ever known of him as "Morgoth", the name which, Lúthien says, was given to him by Fëanor after he stole the Silmarils from him. Sometimes I wonder if what name he's known by makes any difference at all – Melkor or Morgoth, he's still a terrible enemy, and one whom I've promised to face in an attempt to take a Silmaril as my oath to Thingol says.
Melkor or Morgoth. Morgoth or Melkor, his wars with the Eldar have shaped my entire life, along with the lives of my fathers and their fathers before them for generations now. To hear Lúthien's tales, it sounds as though Morgoth has been plotting against Men from the time we first awoke, and the same for the Eldar. They, however, had more defences against him it seems. Others among the Powers helped them she has said. Of any of the Eldar, she would know. Many of Lúthien's tales were of things her father had told her about from the Elves great migration westward, things he had experienced first-hand. They had had help that the Men had not had in their own westward migration.
Unlike Lúthien, I don't have many tales of our distant past. Little is known about our awakening and the early years of our westward journey. Whether that is because we tended to die before the tales could be passed on to our sons and daughters in any detail, or if the events were such that we didn't want to remember them ourselves, I don't know. My thought is that either, or even both, are likely answers. I know that I've experienced things I will never speak about, and don't even want to think about again, and this quest will probably bring about more of those.
I wish I had more tales I could tell Lúthien in return for the tales she tells me though. Tales of things other than the battles my father and I have fought, other than tales of betrayal or tales of loneliness. For all that such things make up many of the tales my Tinúviel has told me, she has also told me of many wonders that she herself has seen, such as the first moonrise and sunrise or things that Melian or Thingol told to her, describing things of beauty that have never existed here in Middle-Earth, and likely never will.
Maybe there will come a day… For now though, everything comes back to Morgoth in one way or another.