Prologue The Silmarillion Part I

                            AINULINDALË
The Music of the Ainur
There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy
Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was
made.
And he spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music; and they sang before him,
and he was glad. But for a long while they sang only each alone, or but few together, while the
rest hearkened; for each comprehended only that part of me mind of Ilúvatar from which he
came, and in the understanding of their brethren they grew but slowly. Yet ever as they listened
they came to deeper understanding, and increased in unison and harmony.
And it came to pass that Ilúvatar called together all the Ainur and declared to them a
mighty theme, unfolding to them things greater and more wonderful than he had yet revealed;
and the glory of its beginning and the splendour of its end amazed the Ainur, so that they bowed
before Ilúvatar and were silent.
Then Ilúvatar said to them: 'Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye
make in harmony together a Great Music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame
Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own
thoughts and devices, if he will. But I win sit and hearken, and be glad that through you great
beauty has been wakened into song.'
Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and
viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs singing with words, began to fashion the theme
of Ilúvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in
harmony that passed beyond hearing into the depths and into the heights, and the places of the
dwelling of Ilúvatar were filled to overflowing, and the music and the echo of the music went out
into the Void, and it was not void. Never since have the Ainur made any music like to this music,
though it has been said that a greater still shall be made before Ilúvatar by the choirs of the Ainur and the Children of Ilúvatar after the end of days. Then the themes of Ilúvatar shall be played
aright, and take Being in the moment of their utterance, for all shall then understand fully his
intent in their part, and each shall know the comprehension of each, and Ilúvatar shall give to
their thoughts the secret fire, being well pleased.
But now Ilúvatar sat and hearkened, and for a great while it seemed good to him, for in
the music there were no flaws. But as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to
interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Ilúvatar, for
he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself. To Melkor
among the Ainur had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a share
in all the gifts of his brethren. He had gone often alone into the void places seeking the
Imperishable Flame; for desire grew hot within him to bring into Being things of his own, and it
seemed to him that Ilúvatar took no thought for the Void, and he was impatient of its emptiness.
Yet he found not the Fire, for it is with Ilúvatar. But being alone he had begun to conceive
thoughts of his own unlike those of his brethren.
Some of these thoughts he now wove into his music, and straightway discord arose
about him, and many that sang nigh him grew despondent, and their thought was disturbed and
their music faltered; but some began to attune their music to his rather than to the thought which
they had at first. Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been
heard before foundered in a sea of turbulent sound. But Ilúvatar sat and hearkened until it
seemed that about his throne there was a raging storm, as of dark waters that made war one
upon another in an endless wrath that would not be assuaged.
Then Ilúvatar arose, and the Ainur perceived that he smiled; and he lifted up his left
hand, and a new theme began amid the storm, like and yet unlike to the former theme, and it
gathered power and had new beauty. But the discord of Melkor rose in uproar and contended
with it, and again there was a war of sound more violent than before, until many of the Ainur
were ismayed and sang no longer, and Melkor had the mastery. Then again Ilúvatar arose, and
the Ainur perceived that his countenance was stern; and he lifted up his right hand, and behold!
a third theme grew amid the confusion, and it was unlike the others. For it seemed at first soft
and sweet, a mere rippling of gentle sounds in delicate melodies; but it could not be quenched,
and it took to itself power and profundity. And it seemed at last that there were two musics
progressing at one time before the seat of Ilúvatar, and they were utterly at variance. The one was
deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow, from which
its beauty chiefly came. The other had now achieved a unity of its own; but it was loud, and vain,
and endlessly repeated; and it had little harmony, but rather a clamorous unison as of many
trumpets braying upon a few notes. And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of
its voice, but it seemed that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its
own solemn pattern.
In the midst of this strife, whereat the halls of Ilúvatar shook and a tremor ran out into
the silences yet unmoved, Ilúvatar arose a third time, and his face was terrible to behold. Then he
raised up both his hands, and in one chord, deeper than the Abyss, higher than the Firmament,
piercing as the light of the eye of Ilúvatar, the Music ceased.
Then Ilúvatar spoke, and he said: 'Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor;
but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Ilúvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will
show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme
may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite.
For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more
wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.'
Then the Ainur were afraid, and they did not yet comprehend the words that were said
to them; and Melkor was filled with shame, of which came secret anger. But Ilúvatar arose in
splendour, and he went forth from the fair regions that he had made for the Ainur; and the Ainur
followed him.
 But when they were come into the Void, Ilúvatar said to them: 'Behold your Music!' And
he showed to them a vision, giving to them sight where before was only hearing; arid they saw a
new World made visible before them, and it was globed amid the Void, and it was sustained
therein, but was not of it. And as they looked and wondered this World began to unfold its
history, and it seemed to them that it lived and grew. And when the Ainur had gazed for a while
and were silent, Ilúvatar said again: 'Behold your Music! This is your minstrelsy; and each of you
shall find contained herein, amid the design that I set before you, all those things which it may
seem that he himself devised or added. And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of
thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory.'
And many other things Ilúvatar spoke to the Ainur at that time, and because of their
memory of his words, and the knowledge that each has of the music that he himself made, the
Ainur know much of what was, and is, and is to come, and few things are unseen by them. Yet
some things there are that they cannot see, neither alone nor taking counsel together; for to none
but himself has Ilúvatar revealed all that he has in store, and in every age there come forth things
that are new and have no foretelling, for they do not proceed from the past. And so it was that as
this vision of the World was played before them, the Ainur saw that it contained things which
they had not thought. And they saw with amazement the coming of the Children of Ilúvatar, and
the habitation that was prepared for them; and they perceived that they themselves in the labour
of their music had been busy with the preparation of this dwelling, and yet knew not that it had
any purpose beyond its own beauty. For the Children of Ilúvatar were conceived by him alone;
and they came with the third theme, and were not in the theme which Ilúvatar propounded at the
beginning, and none of the Ainur had part in their making. Therefore when they beheld them,
the more did they love them, being things other than themselves, strange and free, wherein they
saw the mind of Ilúvatar reflected anew, and learned yet a little more of his wisdom, which
otherwise had been hidden even from the Ainur.
Now the Children of Ilúvatar are Elves and Men, the Firstborn and the Followers. And
amid all the splendours of the World, its vast halls and spaces, and its wheeling fires, Ilúvatar
chose a place for their habitation in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the innumerable stars.
And this habitation might seem a little thing to those who consider only the majesty of the Ainur,
and not their terrible sharpness; as who should take the whole field of Arda for the foundation of
a pillar and so raise it until the cone of its summit were more bitter than a needle; or who
consider only the immeasurable vastness of the World, which still the Ainur are shaping, and not
the minute precision to which they shape all things therein. But when the Ainur had beheld this
habitation in a vision and had seen the Children of Ilúvatar arise therein, then many of the most
mighty among them bent all their thought and their desire towards that place. And of these
Melkor was the chief, even as he was in the beginning the greatest of the Ainur who took part in
the Music. And he feigned, even to himself at first, that he desired to go thither and order all
things for the good of the Children of Ilúvatar, controlling the turmoils of the heat and the cold
that had come to pass through him. But he desired rather to subdue to his will both Elves and
Men, envying the gifts with which Ilúvatar promised to endow them; and he wished himself to
have subject and servants, and to be called Lord, and to be a master over other wills.
But the other Ainur looked upon this habitation set within the vast spaces of the World,
which the Elves call Arda, the Earth; and their hearts rejoiced in light, and their eyes beholding
many colours were filled with gladness; but because of the roaring of the sea they felt a great
unquiet. And they observed the winds and the air, and the matters of which Arda was made, of
iron and stone and silver and gold and many substances: but of all these water they most greatly
praised. And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur
more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar earken
still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.
Now to water had that Ainu whom the Elves can Ulmo turned his thought, and of all
most deeply was he instructed by Ilúvatar in music. But of the airs and winds Manwë most had
pondered, who is the noblest of the Ainur. Of the fabric of Earth had Aulë thought, to whom Ilúvatar had given skin and knowledge scarce less than to Melkor; but the delight and pride of
Aulë is in the deed of making, and in the thing made, and neither m possession nor in his own
mastery; wherefore he gives and hoards not, and is free from care, passing ever on to some new
work. And Ilúvatar spoke to Ulmo, and said: 'Seest thou not how here in this little realm in the
Deeps of Time Melkor hath made war upon thy province? He hath bethought him of bitter cold
immoderate, and yet hath not destroyed the beauty of thy fountains, nor of my clear pools.
Behold the snow, and the cunning work of frost! Melkor hath devised heats and fire without
restraint, and hath not dried up thy desire nor utterly quelled the music of the sea. Behold rather
the height and glory of the clouds, and the everchanging mists; and listen to the fall of rain upon
the Earth! And in these clouds thou art drawn nearer to Manwë, thy friend, whom thou lovest.'
Then Ulmo answered: 'Truly, Water is become now fairer than my heart imagined,
neither had my secret thought conceived the snowflake, nor in all my music was contained the
falling of the rain. I will seek Manwë, that he and I may make melodies for ever to my delight!'
And Manwë and Ulmo have from the beginning been allied, and in all things have served most
faithfully the purpose of Ilúvatar.
But even as Ulmo spoke, and while the Ainur were yet gazing upon this vision, it was
taken away and hidden from their sight; and it seemed to them that in that moment they
rerceived a new thing, Darkness, which they had not known before except in thought. But they
had become enamoured of the beauty of the vision and engrossed in the unfolding of the World
which came there to being, and their minds were filled with it; for the history was incomplete
and the circles of time not full-wrought when the vision was taken away. And some have said
that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn;
wherefore, though the Music is over all, the Valar have not seen as with sight the Later Ages or
the ending of the World.
Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Ilúvatar called to them, and said: 'I know
the desire of your minds that what ye have seen should verily be, not only in your thought, but
even as ye yourselves are, and yet other. Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be! And I will send
forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the
World shall Be; and those of you that will may go down into it. And suddenly the Ainur saw afar
off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame; and they knew that this was no vision
only, but that Ilúvatar had made a new thing: Eä, the World that Is.
Thus it came to pass that of the Ainur some abode still with Ilúvatar beyond the confines
of the World; but others, and among them many of the greatest and most fair, took the leave of
Ilúvatar and descended into it. But this condition Ilúvatar made, or it is the necessity of their love,
that their power should thenceforward be contained and bounded in the World, to be within it
for ever, until it is complete, so that they are its life and it is theirs. And therefore they are named
the Valar, the Powers of the World.
But when the Valar entered into Eä they were at first astounded and at a loss, for it was
as if naught was yet made which they had seen in vision, and all was but on point to begin and
yet unshaped, and it was dark. For the Great Music had been but the growth and flowering of
thought in the Tuneless Halls, and the Vision only a foreshowing; but
now they had entered in at the beginning of Time, and the Valar perceived that the World had
been but foreshadowed and foresung, and they must achieve it. So began their great labours in
wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, until in the Deeps of
Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Eä there came to be that hour and that place where was
made the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar. And in this work the chief part was taken by
Manwë and Aulë and Ulmo; but Melkor too was there from the first, and he meddled in all that
was done, turning it if he might to his own desires and purposes; and he kindled great fires.
When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to the other
Valar: 'This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!'

-newline"> But Manwë was the brother of Melkor in the mind of Ilúvatar, and he was the chief
instrument of the second theme that Ilúvatar had raised up against the discord of Melkor; and he
called unto himself many spirits both greater and less, and they came down into the fields of
Arda and aided Manwë, lest Melkor should hinder the fulfilment of their labour for ever, and
Earth should wither ere it flowered. And Manwë said unto Melkor: 'This kingdom thou shalt not
take for thine own, wrongfully, for many others have laboured here do less than thou.' And there
was strife between Melkor and the other Valar; and for that time Melkor withdrew and departed
to other regions and did there what he would; but he did not put the desire of the Kingdom of
Arda from his heart.
Now the Valar took to themselves shape and hue; and because they were drawn into the
World by love of the Children of Ilúvatar, for whom they hoped, they took shape after that
manner which they had beheld in the Vision of Ilúvatar, save only in majesty and splendour.
Moreover their shape comes of their knowledge of the visible World, rather than of the World
itself; and they need it not, save only as we use raiment, and yet we may be naked and suffer no
loss of our being. Therefore the Valar may walk, if they will, unclad, and then even the Eldar
cannot clearly perceive them, though they be present. But when they desire to clothe themselves
the Valar take upon them forms some as of male and some as of female; for that difference of
temper they had even from their beginning, and it is but bodied forth in the choice of each, not
made by the choice, even as with us male and female may be shown by the raiment but is not
made thereby. But the shapes wherein the Great Ones array themselves are not at all times like to
the shapes of the kings and queens of the Children of Ilúvatar; for at times they may clothe
themselves in their own thought, made visible in forms of majesty and dread.
And the Valar drew unto them many companions, some less, some well nigh as great as
themselves, and they laboured together in the ordering of the Earth and the curbing of its
tumults. Then Melkor saw what was done, and that the Valar walked on Earth as powers visible,
clad in the raiment of the World, and were lovely and glorious to see, and blissful, and that the
Earth was becoming as a garden for their delight, for its turmoils were subdued. His envy grew
then the greater within him; and he also took visible form, but because of his mood and the
malice that burned in him that form was dark and terrible. And he descended upon Arda in
power and majesty greater than any other of the Valar, 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.
Thus began the first battle of the Valar with Melkor for the dominion of Arda; and of
those tumults the Elves know but little. For what has here been declared is come from the Valar
themselves, with whom the Eldalië spoke in the land of Valinor, and by whom they were
instructed; but little would the Valar ever tell of the wars before the coming of the Elves. Yet it is
told among the Eldar that the Valar endeavoured ever, in despite of Melkor, to rule the Earth and
to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn; and they built lands and Melkor destroyed them;
valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor threw them
down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them; and naught might have peace or come to
lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it.
And yet their labour was not all in vain; and though nowhere and in no work was their will and
purpose wholly fulfilled, and all things were in hue and shape other than the Valar had at first
intended, slowly nonetheless the Earth was fashioned and made firm. And thus was the
habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar established at the last in the Deeps of Time and amidst the
innumerable stars.