Morgoth - Appearance and Characteristics

Appearance and Characteristics

The Ainu Melkor could initially take any shape, but his first recorded form was "...as a mountain that wades in the sea and has its head above the clouds and is clad in ice and crowned with smoke and fire; and the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that withers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold." At the time he destroyed the Two Trees and stole the Silmarils, he took to himself the shape of a great "Dark Lord, tall and terrible". The diminution of his power in this time and his own desire for lordship destroyed his ability to freely change shape, and he became bound to this one terrible form. His hands were burned by the theft of the Silmarils, which never healed and he evermore carried the burden of the burning pain. In his fight with High King Fingolfin, he suffered several wounds; his foot was hewn by Fingolfin's Sword of Ice Crystal, Ringil. At the end of this battle, Thorondor, the great Eagle, swooped down and scarred Morgoth's face with his talons, a wound that also never healed. In battle he wore black armour and wielded Grond, the Hammer of the Underworld. The great battering ram of Mordor was named for this weapon. He also wielded a black spear, and in early texts a poison sword.

Melkor's powers were originally immense – greater than those of any other single Ainu. He shared a part of the powers of every other Vala, but unlike them used it for domination of the whole of Arda. To accomplish this Morgoth dispersed his being throughout Arda, tainting its very fabric; and only Aman was free of it. His person thus became ever more diminished and restricted.

Pity was beyond Morgoth’s understanding, as was courage. As he alone of the Valar bound himself to a physical (and therefore vulnerable) body, he alone of the Valar knew fear.