'Music and Magic in the World of Arda\r'

'MUSIC AND MAGIC IN THE instauration OF ARDA In Tolkien’s leg completearium, magic as it appears in contemporary sword-and-sorcery stories does non exist. Tolkien touchs it easy in essays and debates that his magic is far much(prenominal) complex than the waving of a wand, and does non follow strict, clear-cut rules. Instead, power over the laws of personality and reality lies to a enceinte extent in invite option and medicinal drug.The for the initiative-class honours degree era act of being in the â€Å"Ainulindale”, by which the foundations for Arda’s presentation were laid, was the singing of the medicament of the Ainur by Iluvatar and the divine beings beneath him. When the beings of Arda constitute rime, the result is often ‘magical’, whether in an emotional sense or if it has a tangible forcefulness upon the gentleman virtu in ally it. In both the â€Å"Ainulindale” and â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien” this is quite an evident. sing in Tolkien’s legendarium is in some slipway a magical act, in that either of the Children of Iluvatar engaged in it be reflecting the sea captain creative acts of the Ainur, sub-creating and peachyly affecting the valet around them, and that the besides limits on a being’s ability to bring about medication argon its enjoyment †whether to look out over or to seduce †and the sheer superpower of pass on it places female genitalia its magical, melodyal intent. Singing has a variety of effects indoors Tolkien’s industrial plant, exclusively the near outstanding one and only(a)s by far argon those microscopic in the â€Å"Ainulindale”.Here, singing is synonymous with creation itself. The notes of the m whatever Ainur, including Melkor, as well as those of Iluvatar, all coalesce in establish to form the basis for Arda and its history. The act of strain-making as creation is not metaphorical: the Ainu r primarily c onceive of the globe through harmony, and the voices of the Ainur are even described as â€Å" handle unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and wish well unto countless choirs with words” (Tolkien 4).Even the negate amidst Iluvatar, who seeks to prepare a human beings of beauty and freedom for its future inhabitants, and Melkor, who seeks to drop all that is, is done through their s invariablyal(prenominal) melodies. No medicine existed forwards that of the Ainur in their acts of creation, and although a heavy(p) deal of music existed afterward, none was ever as brawny or influential in mold the ball, as the passage reads â€Å"Never since sustain the Ainur do both music like to this music” (Tolkien 4) This airplane pilot music created the first adjust polarization in the midst of swell and vil †through the conflict between Iluvatar and Melkor †and initiated the creation of the military man. The fact that the medical specialty of the Ainur created the world itself is no less visible than when Iluvatar declared â€Å" behold your music! ” and the Ainur first saw the world (Tolkien 6). In fact, all later music stemmed from this music, in that the melody of the Ainur sterilize the stage for the genesis of all Children of Iluvatar and the music they would go on to produce. The effects of song are equally as visible, if not quite so dramatic, in the account of Beren & Luthien, particularly through Luthien herself.Throughout the story, many of Luthien’s actions revolve around music and song. When Beren first sees her, he is spellbound by her appearance, and it is not until she sings out loud and â€Å"flowers [spring] from the cold macrocosm where her feet had passed” that he is released from his shock enough to call out to her (Tolkien 194). Her music is in addition stringy enough to put the great animal Carcharoth, as well as Morgoth himsel f in Angband, to sleep. In addition, it aids her and Huan in combating Sauron at Tol-in-Gaurhoth.Finally, her heartfelt song of sorrow at Beren’s death at the end of the tale proves moving enough to secure restoring Beren to life, and allowing Beren and Luthien to spend their final, mortal years unitedly in peace. Indeed, it is give tongue to that â€Å"The song of Luthien before Mandos was the song most fair that ever in words was distort, and the song most sorrowful that the world shall hear” (Tolkien 221). She is not the only character who uses song to great effect, however. When King Felagund and Sauron battle in the aristocratic lands of Morgoth, they duel with words and songs of power instead than physical weapons.Felagund fights with inspirational songs, harkening up images of â€Å" desire unbroken” and â€Å"resisting”, while Sauron utilizes songs of â€Å"treachery” and â€Å" lese majesty” (Tolkien 201). Sauron proved more powerful however, and once he defeats Felagund, the other(a)s are entirely confused against him. In these particular stories, the greatest singers are either connected to the Ainur, or are Ainur themselves. This point is fairly obvious in the nerve of the â€Å"Ainulindale”, in which all participants of the Music were Iluvatar’s â€Å"Holy Ones” , but is also quite evident in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien” (Tolkien ). There, Luthien is half(prenominal)-genus Maja as the daughter of Melian, and her power is extraordinary for a Child of Iluvatar. She proves candid of roll in the haying with a travel Valar, a powerful genus Maia, and a malefic beast-servant of Morgoth through her acquirements with song. Sauron himself is also quite accomplished in the art of song as a Maia, and in a duel with a mortal he â€Å"had the command” (Tolkien 201). The reason for the magical superiority of the Ainur is quite simple: they were involved in the origin al music of the world.They were sooner formed by Iluvatar for the express purpose of creating â€Å"in consistency together a Great Music” and through it the world, and so it is far more essential to them (Tolkien 3). Although Luthien herself has no subsist with true creation, as Sauron and her mother do, she nonetheless has the family of a being that was essentially created for song, as Melian also sprang from the mind of Iluvatar for the purpose of creating the world. By no means are all great singers in Tolkien’s world Maiar however, or even those related to them, as the example of Felagund illustrates.While Felagund may not be able to best a Maia such(prenominal) as Sauron, he is tacit able to compete with a Maia for what appears to be the majority of their conflict, and it is outright stated that â€Å"the power of the King was very great” in the conflict (Tolkien 201). He lacks the experience and inborn purpose for song that any Maia would possess as a being originally born to create Arda, but he remains a force to be reckoned with, and he is unquestionably more powerful through his learning with song than most other characters in the tale.It is clear, then, that force of lead and drive drive out †to an extent †mitigate the difference in natural ability between a Child of Iluvatar and an Ainu. Luthien’s exemplary skill with song in the latter half of the tale may have therefrom been influenced by her drive to help Beren and the â€Å" charge of horror” that her love caused her to feel at the possibility of his death (Tolkien 202). The act of song-making in the â€Å"Ainulindale” is, at its core, an act of creation.What is present throughout â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien” however †and, for that matter, all other stories circuit in Middle-Earth during the First through fourth part Ages †is sub-creation. Just as Iluvatar created the Ainur originally for the purpose of creation, t he Children of Arda and those that Iluvatar would †humans, elves, hobbits, and dwarves †were made to sub-create. In other words, they were meant to create even further, through art, literature, and above all, song. By attempting to emulate the song of creation, the Children would make the world even more vibrant, rich, and pleasant than the Valar had originally managed.Tolkien states in his letter to Milton Waldman prefacing â€Å"The Silmarillion” that for the Elves, magic is â€Å"Art, delivered from many of its human limitations…” and â€Å"Art not power, sub-creation not mastery and tyrannous re-forming of creation” (Tolkien xvi-xvii). The effect of song in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien” was somewhat different. If songs made by the Valar were what originally brought about and shape the world, then songs made by the Children could do the same, beyond merely in price of producing music for pleasure’s sake.As exemplified by Felagund , a sufficiently strong, minute will could sub-create in a way that reflect creation itself, and shape the world notwithstanding lacking the natural affinity for song that an Ainu possesses. What this evidence points to is a notion that at first may seem silly: that the magical song-making of the Ainur and the Children are fundamentally just the same. The ability of several of the Children in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien” to contend with Ainur in contests of power through song already lends credence to this idea, suggesting that the music created by the Ainur is the same, only greater.It would appear that the difference between the use of songs by the Ainur and the Children merely results from the ingrainedly greater willpower of the Ainur. As beings that are not only older but are also â€Å"the offspring of [Iluvatar’s] plan”, their wills are considerably more refined and honed than those of the Children (Tolkien 3). Theoretically however, any elf, man, ho bbit, or dwarf with sufficient mental discipline and/or training could make music as great as that of an Ainu.Thus, the closeness to the natural world and ‘magic’ of the elves is simply a consequence of their having spent more time amongst the Valar and within the world than the other Children, gaining more competence with song and closeness to the tuneful skill of the Ainur as a result. In addition, the ability of Melkor to overpower the songs of the other Ainur in the â€Å"Ainulindale” resulted from him having â€Å"been given the greatest gifts of power and acquaintance” and resulting musical affinity, and that greater force of will alone was that set him apart (Tolkien 4).The ii sections being discussed point to one other significant notion: that there is an inherent difference between the music produced by the Children and level-headed Ainur, and the music produced by the deplorable Powers of Morgoth. The â€Å"Ainulindale” indicates that the Music of the Ainur was initially harmonious, with â€Å"endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony” (Tolkien 4). It was only once Melkor, desiring to overpower and control the course of the Music, unflinching to interfere, that the Music became disjointed and violent.Eventually, Iluvatar himself steps in, at which point it is clear that the melodies of Iluvatar and Melkor are diametrically opposed, and that only Melkor’s music â€Å"hath not its uttermost initiation in [Iluvatar]” (Tolkien 6). The music of the other Ainur, which was harmonious with that of Iluvatar, was gentle, melodious, and pleasant. Melkor’s music was violent and aggressive. To an extent, the musical conflict between Felagund and Sauron in â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien” mirrors this, though in that case Sauron’s aggressive, spiteful song proves triumphal due to his superior will.While the songs produced by the forces of skinny and evil are somewhat similar, the ir introductory character and purpose †to create, and to dominate, respectively †are polar opposites, and the dominative genius of evil is the source of the violence and cacophonous nature of the songs. Indeed, Tolkien’s statement of the Elves’s magic as â€Å"Art not Power, sub-creation not domination…” in contrast with that of Melkor and Sauron, supports the notion that the nature of their magic †and this applies to all other forces of good as well †is irreconcilable with that of Melkor and his minions (Tolkien xvi-xvii).In the â€Å"Ainulindale”, as well as â€Å"Of Beren and Luthien”, Tolkien reveals the true nature of magic and song: in his world, they are synonymous. While there may be major differences in the fundamental nature of the songs used by good and evil, only force of will and purpose make the song of an Ainu such as Morgoth any greater than that of a half-Maia such as Luthien, or a mere elf-king such as Felagund. Keeping these conclusions in mind, one may reach a single, overarching description of magic in Tolkien’s works: an act of musical creation or sub-creation with enough force of will behind it to tangibly affect the world.There is no quest to understand the mechanics of music in the legendarium, only that any being is capable of it and that it is the source of all magical acts. Truly, the importee of song in Tolkien’s work, specially for the purpose of understanding the magic of the world and the nature of the conflict that spans the entire legendarium, cannot be overstated. WORKS CITED Tolkien, J. R. R. , and Christopher Tolkien. The Silmarillion. 2nd Ed. Del Rey Books, 2001. Print.\r\n'