The Singing Battle that Created the Universe

Formally known as Ainulindale: The Music of the Ainur

In the beginning there was the One, who the Elves have called Iluvatar. It was he who made the Ainur, the angelic spirits, and they were with him before all else was made. And he spoke to them, teaching them music, and when they sang before him he was glad. For a long while each of them sang alone, but as they listened to the music of their siblings, they began to understand one another and grow in harmony.

One day, if you could call it a day since time hadn't been invented yet, Iluvatar called together the Ainur and declared that they were going to sing together and afterwards, he was going to show them something. "You will all be a part of a great Music," he said, "and while everyone should harmonize, each of you can add their own ideas as you see fit. I will listen, and be glad that through you, a great beauty has been awakened into song."

Then the voices of the Ainur rose up in song, and the harmony of their music filled the void. Never afterwards has music such as this been made. However, it is said that the best is yet to come when the choirs of the Ainur and the Elves and Men join together after the end of days. So at least we have that to look forward to.

But for the present, if you could call it the present since time still hadn't been invented yet, Iluvatar listened and was glad. But as the music went on and the Ainur each added their own ideas, the thoughts of one of them, Melkor, began to stray from those of the others. Of all the Ainur, Melkor had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, yet he still sought to increase his own part in the music, since he had as much temperance as the average billionaire.

Melkor began to add some of these thoughts to the music, and right away, discord rose around him. Many of the Ainur near him got distracted and their music faltered, and others began to join in his theme rather than Iluvatar's. Soon the original melody was kind of ruined.

Then Iluvatar stood, and those around him saw that he smiled. He raised his hand and began a new theme, similar to and just as beautiful as the first. But Melkor, not getting the point, started meddling again, and soon this new theme was also filled with discord. Many of the Ainur were so dismayed that they stopped singing. But Iluvatar stood up again with a stern expression and began a new theme, which was unlike the others. The new theme fought against the discord: it was deep and wide and filled with a sorrowful beauty, and Melkor's, while strong, was loud and vain and repetitive. Melkor tried to drown out the new theme, but it seemed that all his song's best parts ended up woven into the solemn melody of Iluvatar's.

Finally, Iluvatar decided that enough was enough. He rose for a third time and the music ceased.

Then Iluvatar spoke, saying, "Thank you all for the lovely concert. As for what I was going to show you, I'm going to turn what you were singing about into a world." The Ainur looked around in stunned silence. "And Melkor, I should let you know that no matter how much you try to ruin my works, they will still end up being beautiful and wondrous, just as I'd planned."

Then Melkor was embarrassed, and immediately began thinking of the next thing he could ruin. Meanwhile, Iluvatar took all of them deep into the void and said, "Behold your Music!"

Suddenly, he showed them a vision of a world. It was quite astounding for the Ainur, seeing as anything aside from void was new to them and highly interesting. "Behold your Music," Iluvatar said again. "Whatever each of you added, you will find within this new world. Even you, Melkor, will find your contributions in here, and you will see that they are but a part of the whole and contribute to its glory."

Iluvatar then told them many things about the future of the world, so the Ainur knew much of what would come to pass, but he did not tell them everything. He also told them that he'd made the world as a dwelling place for the Elves and Men, which he himself had created during the third theme of music. The Ainur, who had previously thought that the world was just there to look pretty, were even happier to know that it would be populated. And since they had had no part in the creation of the Elves and Men, the Ainur also thought that they seemed new and exciting. They began to love these strange and free creatures, different from themselves yet still from the mind of Iluvatar.

When the Ainur saw the vision of the world and the Elves and Men, many of them wanted to go into the new world. Melkor wished to go more than anyone else, and he lied, even to himself at first, that he wanted to do good and fix the issues he'd caused with his awful singing. Obviously, his actual plan was to enslave the Elves and Men and take over the world.

But the rest of the Ainur weren't on the verge of becoming villains and thought the world was really swell. They loved everything in it: the light, the air, the metals and stones, and especially the water. Indeed, it is said by the Elves that the echos of the original Music can still be heard within the water, and many Elves and Men still long to hear the voice of the Sea, though they know not for what they listen.

Let us now turn our attention to a few of the particular angelic spirits. They don't know it yet, but they're about to become very important, so let's get these introductions out of the way. The first Ainu of importance is Ulmo, who at that moment was developing a fondness for water. The next is Manwe, who was thinking about air. Last, there is Aule, who was more attuned to the element of earth and whose hobbies included making things. Unlike some people (i.e. Melkor), he liked making things for the sake of making them, and not because he wanted to hoard a pile of neat stuff.

Breaking the digression, Iluvatar went over to Ulmo, who was looking upset. "Dad, it really sucks that Melkor ruined all that water I just invented by making some of it cold and some of it really hot. He is kind of a jerk," complained Ulmo.

"Well, actually, he didn't ruin it," Iluvatar replied. "By making it cold, he turned it into snow and frost, and by making it hot, he created clouds and mist. He hasn't ruined your water, but rather given you more ideas for what can be done with it."

"You're right, that makes water even better than I'd initially imagined it could be!" exclaimed Ulmo. He pointed out some of the clouds to Manwe, as they were drifting in the air that Manwe had made, and the two of them became fast friends.

Suddenly, however, the vision of the world disappeared. Many of the Ainur, who had been watching it with fascination, were a bit disappointed because the vision had stopped before they could see how the world ended. One can hope that they were thinking less along the lines of 'darn I wanted to see the apocalypse' and more along the lines of 'this is a really cool movie and I want to see the end of it'.

Iluvatar called to the Ainur and said, "I can see how much you all liked that world, so I'm going to make it real." There was a poof, and suddenly a patch of the void became physical space. Some of the Ainur got out the popcorn and sat with Iluvatar to watch history play out, but a number of the Ainur, including many of the fairest and most powerful, decided they wanted to live in the new world. They went into it on one condition from Iluvatar: that their power would henceforth be bound to the world and they must be within it until the end, so they are its life and it is theirs. The greatest of these folks were called the Valar, the Powers of the world.

However, upon entering the world, the Valar were dismayed to see that it was empty. They had come in at the beginning of time, and none of the things that they'd seen in Iluvatar's vision existed yet. As the world didn't seem too keen on shaping itself, the Valar decided to get to work.

Unfortunately, Melkor took this moment to step forward and say to the rest of the Valar, "Just staking my claim here, folks, but this is my world now."

Manwe, realizing that it would be a terrible idea to have Melkor in charge, replied, "We all worked hard to make this world, so you can't take it for yourself." The rest of the Valar and a great deal of lesser Ainur spirits that had come with them all stood against Melkor and made him stop bothering them. He left them alone for the moment, but did not give up his desire for the world.

Since the Valar are spirits, they created bodies for themselves so they could physically interact with the world. And since they loved the Elves and Men, they typically made themselves look like people, only more beautiful and majestic. They don't need their bodies, however, and can take them off like we take off clothing. Whether or not they consider this indecent is never discussed.

So the Valar and the other spirits got to work, and began to make the world habitable. Melkor saw them walking about in their fair physical forms and he saw them making the world all pretty, and he became even more envious. He promptly made a physical form that was as terrible as his mood, and proceeded to begin smashing everything he could. The Valar fought against him, and in spite of his efforts to meddle with things, they eventually made the world habitable. The world didn't look quite as good as they'd originally intended, but it was good enough.

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