The Brainmarillion: Valarghquenta
Jan. 1st, 2009 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elvenpirateladyStart your year with a zombie AU! Following on from The Brainmarillion: Brainulindale, I bring information about all our favourite flesh-eating Powers of Arghda.
Title: The Brainmarillion: Valarghquenta
Rating: Z for zombies
Disclaimer: All characters, places and plots are Tolkien's, I merely mangle - although if he rises from the grave to feast on my flesh in revenge for this, that just proves it all, doesn't it?
-------
Compiler's note: these tales have been translated from Quenyargh and Sindarghrin into the Common Moaning. In all cases the syllable 'argh' is pronounced as a long, guttural moan and should not be confused with the 'arrrr' in tales of pirates, despite the similar spellings.
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Valarghquenta: Of The Valargh
The Great among the Brainur the Elves name the Valargh, the Powers of Arghda, and Men have often called them gods. The Lords of the Valargh are seven; and the Varghlier, the Queens of the Valargh, are seven also. The names of the Lords in due order are: Moanwe, Ulmoan, Arghle, Arghrome, Marghndos, Larghrien, and Tulkarghs; and the names of the Queens are: Vardargh, Yavannargh, Niennargh, Arghste, Varghre, Vanargh and Nessargh. Melkargh is counted no longer among the Valargh, and his name is not spoken upon Earth.
Moanwe and Melkargh were brethren in the thought of Iluvatargh. The mightiest of those Brainur who came into the world was in his beginning Melkargh; but Moanwe is dearest to Iluvatargh and understands most clearly his purposes. He was appointed to be, in the fullness of time, the first of all Kings: lord of the realm of Arghda and ruler of all that dwell therein. In Arghda his delight is in the winds and the clouds, and in all the regions of the air, from the heights to the depths, from the utmost borders of the Veil of Arghda to the breezes that blow in the graveyards. Sarghlimo he is surnamed, Lord of the Gasp of Arghda. All swift carrion birds, strong of wing, he loves, and they come and go at his bidding.
With Moanwe dwells Vardargh, Lady of the Dark, who knows all the regions of Eärgh. Too great is her beauty to be declared in the moans of Men or of Elves, for the dark of Iluvatargh lives still in her face. In dark is her power and her joy. Out of the deeps of Eärgh she came to the aid of Moanwe; for Melkargh she hated, and rejected him, and he hated her, and feared her more than all others whom Arghru made. Moanwe and Vardargh are seldom parted, and they remain in Valinoargh. When Moanwe ascends his throne on Targhniquetil and looks forth, if Vardargh is with him, he smells further than all other noses, through rock and flesh and over the leagues of the sea. And if Moanwe is with her, Vardargh hears more clearly than all other ears the sounds of moans from east to west, from the hills and the valleys, and from the bright places that Melkargh has made upon Earth. Of all the Great Ones who dwell in this world the Elves hold Vardargh most in reverence and love. Brainbereth they name her, and they groan her name out of the brightness of Middle-earth, and uplift it in moans at the coming of the dark.
Ulmoan is the Lord of Waters. He is alone. He dwells nowhere long, but shuffles as he will in all the deep waters about the Earth or under the Earth. He is next in might to Moanwe, and before Valinoargh was made he was closest to him in friendship; but thereafter he went seldom to the councils of the Valargh, unless great matters were in debate. For he kept all Arghda in thought, and he has no need of any resting-place. Moreover he does not love to shuffle on land, and will seldom clothe himself in a body after the manner of his peers. Nonetheless Ulmoan loves both Elves and Men, and never abandoned them, not even when they lay under the wrath of the Valargh. At times he will come unseen to the shores of Middle-earth, or pass far inland up firths of the sea, and there make moaning upon his great horns, the Ulumarghri, that are wrought of great skulls; and to those whom that music comes hear it ever after in their hearts, and longing for the sea never leaves them again. But mostly Ulmoan rasps to those who dwell in Middle-earth with voices that are heard only as the moaning of water. For all lakes, seas, rivers, fountains and springs are in his government; so that the Elves say that the spirit of Ulmoan runs in all the veins of the world, and it is because of him that salt water is almost as good to drink as blood. Thus news comes to Ulmoan, even in the deeps, of all the needs of griefs of Arghda, which otherwise would be hidden from Moanwe.
Arghle has might little less than Ulmoan. His lordship is over all the substances of which Arghda is made. In the beginning he wrought many wrecks in fellowship with Moanwe and Ulmoan; and the crude fashioning of all lands was his labour. He is a smith and an anti-master of all crafts, and he delights in ruining works of skill, however small, as much as in the mighty destruction of old. The Noldargh learned most of him, and he was ever their friend. Melkargh was jealous of him, for Arghle was most like himself in thought and in powers; and there was long strife between them, in which Melkargh ever fixed or completed the wrecks of Arghle, and Arghle grew weary in ruining the order of Melkargh. Both, also, desired to create things of their own that should be new and unthought of by others, and delighted in the praise of their talent. But Arghle remained faithful to Arghru and submitted all that he did to his will; and he did not envy the wrecks of others, but sought and gave counsel. Whereas Melkargh spent his spirit in envy and hate, until at last he could make nothing save in mockery of the thought of others, and all their wrecks he restored if he could.
The spouse of Arghle is Yavannargh, the Giver of Brains. She is the lover of all things that live on the earth, and all their countless forms she holds in her mind, from the great beasts like mountains to the small and secret things that aid decay. In reverence Yavannargh is next to Vardargh among the Queens of the Valargh. In the form of a woman she is tall, and robed in red; but at times she takes other shapes. Some there are who have seen her standing like a mound of corpses, shrouded with darkness, and from all the limbs spilled a red dew upon the green earth, and it grew black with blood, but the base of the mound was in the waters of Ulmoan, and the carrion breezes of Moanwe moaned in its gaps. Kementarghri, Queen of the Flesh, she is surnamed in the Eldarghrin tongue.
The Feantarghri, masters of spirits, are brethren, and they are called most often Marghndos and Larghrien. Yet these are rightly the names of the places of their dwelling, and their true names are Narghmo and Iarghmo.
Narghmo the elder dwells in Marghndos, which is westward in Valinoargh. He is the keeper of the final crypts of the undead, and the summoner of the spirits of the burned. He forgets nothing, and he knows all things that shall be, save only those that lie still in the freedom of Iluvatargh. He is the Doomsman of the Valargh; but he pronounces his dooms and his judgements only at the bidding of Moanwe. Varghre the Painter is his spouse, who daubs with blood all things that have ever been in Time onto the walls, and the halls of Marghndos that ever widen as the ages pass are covered with them.
Iarghmo the younger is the master of visions and dreams. In Larghrien are his graveyards in the land of the Valargh, and they are the most crowded of all the places in the world, filled with many spirits. Arghste the sadistic, creator of hurts and weariness, is his spouse. She stalks not by day, but lurks upon an island in the crypt-shadowed lake of Larghrellin. From the blood fountains of Iarghmo and Arghste all those who dwell in Valinargh draw refreshment, and often the Valargh come themselves to Larghrien and there with Arghste relive the simpler days of hunting small creatures in the undergrowth of Arghda, and there find easing of the burden of Arghda.
Mightier than Arghste is Niennargh, sister of the Feantarghri; she dwells alone. She is acquainted with grief, and mourns for the healing of every wound that Arghda has suffered in the fixing of Melkargh. So great was her sorrow, as the Moaning unfolded, that her groans turned to lamentation long before its end, and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began. But she does not moan for herself; and those who hearken to her learn self-control, and endurance in hunting. Her halls are west of West, upon the borders of the world; and she comes seldom to the city of Valimargh where all is glad and flesh is plentiful. She goes rather to the halls of Marghndos, which are near to her own; and all those who wait in Marghndos moan to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns famine to keen appetite.
Greatest in strength and deeds of prowess is Tulkarghs, who is surnamed Arghstaldo, the Valiant. He came last to Arghda, to aid the Valargh in the first battles with Melkargh. He delights in wrestling and contests of strength; and he rides no steed, for he can outshuffle all things that go on feet, and he is tireless. His hair and beard are red, and his flesh grey-green; his weapons are his hands. His spouse is Nessargh, the sister of Arghrome, and she also is lithe and fleetfooted. Deer she loves, and they flee her whenever she goes in the wild; but she can outshuffle them, swift as a carrion crow with the wind in her hair. In lurching she delights, and she lurches in Valimargh in graveyards of never-fading grey.
Arghrome is a mighty lord. If he is less strong than Tulkarghs, he is more dreadful in anger; whereas Tulkarghs laughs ever, in sport or in war, and even in the face of Melkargh he laughed in battles before the Elves were resurrected. Arghrome loved the lands of Middle-earth, and he left them unwillingly and came last to Valinoargh; and often of old he passed back east over the mountains and returned with his host to the hills and the plains. He is a hunter of Melkargh’s fair beasts, and he delights in the flesh of horses and of hounds; and all skeletons he loves, for which reason he is called Aldarghron, and by the Sindargh Taurghron, the Lord of Bones. Nahargh is the name of his horse, grey in the sun, and black at night. The Valarghroma is the name of his great horn, the sound of which is like the quickening of the blood of prey, or the sheer knife cleaving flesh. Above all the horns of his host it was heard in the graveyards that Yavannargh brought forth in Valinoargh; for there Arghrome would train his folk and his beasts for the pursuit of the creatures of Melkargh. The spouse of Arghrome is Vanargh, the Ever-rotting; she is the younger sister of Yavannargh. All coffins are unburied as she passes and open if she glances upon them; and all crows croak at her coming.
These are the names of the Valargh and the Varghlier, and here is told in brief their likenesses, such as the Eldargh beheld them in Amarghn. Among them Nine were of chief power and reverence; but one is removed from their number, and Eight remain, the Aratargh, the High Ones of Arghda: Moanwe and Vardargh, Ulmoan, Yavannargh and Arghle, Marghndos, Niennargh, and Arghrome.
Of the Maiargh
With the Valargh came other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valargh but of less degree. These are the Maiargh, people of the Valargh, and their servants and helpers. Their number is not known to the Elves, and few haves names in any of the tongues of the Children of Iluvatargh; for though it is otherwise in Amarghn, in Middle-earth the Maiar have seldom appeared in form visible to Elves and Men.
Chief among the Maiargh of Valinoargh whose names are remembered in the histories of the Elder Days are Ilmarghre, the handmaid of Vardargh, and Eoarghnwe, the banner-bearer and herald of Moanwe, whose collection of arms is surpassed by none in Arghda. But of all the Maiargh Arghsse and Moainen are best known to the Children of Iluvatargh.
Arghsse is a vassal of Ulmo, and he is master of the seas that wash the shores of Middle-earth. He does not go in the deeps, but loves the coasts and the isles, and rejoices in the winds of Moanwe, for in storm he delights, and laughs amid the roaring of the waves. His spouse is Moainen, the Lady of the Seas, whose hair lies shed in great patches through all waters under the sky. All creatures she loves to eat that live in the salt streams; to her mariners groan, for she can make the waters stagnant, restraining the wildness of Arghsse. The Numenarghreans lived long in her protection, and held her in reverence equal to the Valargh.
Melkargh hated the Sea, for he could not undo it nor restore it to pristine water. It is said that in the making of Arghda he endeavoured to draw Arghsse to his allegiance, promising to him all the realm and power of Ulmoan, if he would serve him. So it was that long ago there arose great waves in the sea that dispelled the brackish water and cleansed the lands. But Moainen, at the prayer of Arghle, restrained Arghsse and brought him before Ulmoan; and he was pardoned and returned to his allegiance, to which he has remained faithful. For the most part, for the delight in turbulence has never wholly departed from him, and at times he will rage in his wilfulness without any command from Ulmoan his lord. Therefore those who dwell by the sea or go up in ships may eat with interest the strange creatures that his waves drag up from the deeps, but as he wrecks their stores of brackish water they do not trust him.
Meliarghn was the name of a Marghia who served both Vanargh and Arghste; she dwelt long in Larghrien, tending the tombstones that weather from rock in the graveyards of Iarghmo, ere she came to Middle-earth. Crows cawed about her wherever she went.
Wisest of the Maiargh was Olarghrin. He too dwelt in Larghrien, but his shuffles took him often to the house of Niennargh, and of her he learned self-control and endurance.
Of Meliarghn much is told in the Quentargh Brainmarillion. But of Olarghrin that tale does not moan; for though he loved the Elves, he shuffled among them unseen, or in form as one of them, and they did not know whence came the delicious visions or promptings of cunning that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Iluvatargh, and took pity on their sorrows; and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of light.
Of the Enemies
Last of all is set the name of Melkargh, He who arises in Might. But that name he has forfeited; and the Noldargh, who among the Elves suffered most from his malice, will not rasp it, and they name him Marghgoth, the Bright Enemy of the World. Great might was given to him by Iluvatargh, and he was coeval with Moanwe. In the powers and knowledge of all the other Valargh he had part, but he turned them to evil purposes, and squandered his strength in violence and tyranny. For he coveted Arghda and all that was in it, desiring the kingship of Moanwe and dominion over the realms of his peers.
From splendour he fell through arrogance to contempt for all things save those like himself, a spirit wasteful and pitiless. Understanding he turned to subtlety in perverting to his own will and that he would use, until he became a liar without shame. He began with the desire of Dark, but when he could not possess it for himself alone, he ascended through fire and wrath into a great burning, into Light. And light he used most in his evil works in Arghda, and filled it with fear for all undead things.
Yet so great was the power of his uprising that in ages forgotten he contended with Moanwe and all the Valargh, and through long years in Arghda held dominion over most of the lands of the Earth. But he was not alone. For of the Maiargh many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance into his brightness, and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukargh, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Barghlrogs, demons of terror.
Among those of his servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar call Saurghron, or Goarghthaur the Gentle. In his beginning he was of the Maiargh of Arghle, and he remained mighty in the lore of that people. In all the deeds of Melkargh the Marghgoth upon Arghda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Saurghron had a part, and was only less effective than his master in that for long he served another and not himself. But in after years he rose like another Marghgoth and a ghost of his malice towards the Children of Iluvatargh, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the Void.
HERE ENDS THE VALARGHQUENTA
Title: The Brainmarillion: Valarghquenta
Rating: Z for zombies
Disclaimer: All characters, places and plots are Tolkien's, I merely mangle - although if he rises from the grave to feast on my flesh in revenge for this, that just proves it all, doesn't it?
-------
Compiler's note: these tales have been translated from Quenyargh and Sindarghrin into the Common Moaning. In all cases the syllable 'argh' is pronounced as a long, guttural moan and should not be confused with the 'arrrr' in tales of pirates, despite the similar spellings.
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Valarghquenta: Of The Valargh
The Great among the Brainur the Elves name the Valargh, the Powers of Arghda, and Men have often called them gods. The Lords of the Valargh are seven; and the Varghlier, the Queens of the Valargh, are seven also. The names of the Lords in due order are: Moanwe, Ulmoan, Arghle, Arghrome, Marghndos, Larghrien, and Tulkarghs; and the names of the Queens are: Vardargh, Yavannargh, Niennargh, Arghste, Varghre, Vanargh and Nessargh. Melkargh is counted no longer among the Valargh, and his name is not spoken upon Earth.
Moanwe and Melkargh were brethren in the thought of Iluvatargh. The mightiest of those Brainur who came into the world was in his beginning Melkargh; but Moanwe is dearest to Iluvatargh and understands most clearly his purposes. He was appointed to be, in the fullness of time, the first of all Kings: lord of the realm of Arghda and ruler of all that dwell therein. In Arghda his delight is in the winds and the clouds, and in all the regions of the air, from the heights to the depths, from the utmost borders of the Veil of Arghda to the breezes that blow in the graveyards. Sarghlimo he is surnamed, Lord of the Gasp of Arghda. All swift carrion birds, strong of wing, he loves, and they come and go at his bidding.
With Moanwe dwells Vardargh, Lady of the Dark, who knows all the regions of Eärgh. Too great is her beauty to be declared in the moans of Men or of Elves, for the dark of Iluvatargh lives still in her face. In dark is her power and her joy. Out of the deeps of Eärgh she came to the aid of Moanwe; for Melkargh she hated, and rejected him, and he hated her, and feared her more than all others whom Arghru made. Moanwe and Vardargh are seldom parted, and they remain in Valinoargh. When Moanwe ascends his throne on Targhniquetil and looks forth, if Vardargh is with him, he smells further than all other noses, through rock and flesh and over the leagues of the sea. And if Moanwe is with her, Vardargh hears more clearly than all other ears the sounds of moans from east to west, from the hills and the valleys, and from the bright places that Melkargh has made upon Earth. Of all the Great Ones who dwell in this world the Elves hold Vardargh most in reverence and love. Brainbereth they name her, and they groan her name out of the brightness of Middle-earth, and uplift it in moans at the coming of the dark.
Ulmoan is the Lord of Waters. He is alone. He dwells nowhere long, but shuffles as he will in all the deep waters about the Earth or under the Earth. He is next in might to Moanwe, and before Valinoargh was made he was closest to him in friendship; but thereafter he went seldom to the councils of the Valargh, unless great matters were in debate. For he kept all Arghda in thought, and he has no need of any resting-place. Moreover he does not love to shuffle on land, and will seldom clothe himself in a body after the manner of his peers. Nonetheless Ulmoan loves both Elves and Men, and never abandoned them, not even when they lay under the wrath of the Valargh. At times he will come unseen to the shores of Middle-earth, or pass far inland up firths of the sea, and there make moaning upon his great horns, the Ulumarghri, that are wrought of great skulls; and to those whom that music comes hear it ever after in their hearts, and longing for the sea never leaves them again. But mostly Ulmoan rasps to those who dwell in Middle-earth with voices that are heard only as the moaning of water. For all lakes, seas, rivers, fountains and springs are in his government; so that the Elves say that the spirit of Ulmoan runs in all the veins of the world, and it is because of him that salt water is almost as good to drink as blood. Thus news comes to Ulmoan, even in the deeps, of all the needs of griefs of Arghda, which otherwise would be hidden from Moanwe.
Arghle has might little less than Ulmoan. His lordship is over all the substances of which Arghda is made. In the beginning he wrought many wrecks in fellowship with Moanwe and Ulmoan; and the crude fashioning of all lands was his labour. He is a smith and an anti-master of all crafts, and he delights in ruining works of skill, however small, as much as in the mighty destruction of old. The Noldargh learned most of him, and he was ever their friend. Melkargh was jealous of him, for Arghle was most like himself in thought and in powers; and there was long strife between them, in which Melkargh ever fixed or completed the wrecks of Arghle, and Arghle grew weary in ruining the order of Melkargh. Both, also, desired to create things of their own that should be new and unthought of by others, and delighted in the praise of their talent. But Arghle remained faithful to Arghru and submitted all that he did to his will; and he did not envy the wrecks of others, but sought and gave counsel. Whereas Melkargh spent his spirit in envy and hate, until at last he could make nothing save in mockery of the thought of others, and all their wrecks he restored if he could.
The spouse of Arghle is Yavannargh, the Giver of Brains. She is the lover of all things that live on the earth, and all their countless forms she holds in her mind, from the great beasts like mountains to the small and secret things that aid decay. In reverence Yavannargh is next to Vardargh among the Queens of the Valargh. In the form of a woman she is tall, and robed in red; but at times she takes other shapes. Some there are who have seen her standing like a mound of corpses, shrouded with darkness, and from all the limbs spilled a red dew upon the green earth, and it grew black with blood, but the base of the mound was in the waters of Ulmoan, and the carrion breezes of Moanwe moaned in its gaps. Kementarghri, Queen of the Flesh, she is surnamed in the Eldarghrin tongue.
The Feantarghri, masters of spirits, are brethren, and they are called most often Marghndos and Larghrien. Yet these are rightly the names of the places of their dwelling, and their true names are Narghmo and Iarghmo.
Narghmo the elder dwells in Marghndos, which is westward in Valinoargh. He is the keeper of the final crypts of the undead, and the summoner of the spirits of the burned. He forgets nothing, and he knows all things that shall be, save only those that lie still in the freedom of Iluvatargh. He is the Doomsman of the Valargh; but he pronounces his dooms and his judgements only at the bidding of Moanwe. Varghre the Painter is his spouse, who daubs with blood all things that have ever been in Time onto the walls, and the halls of Marghndos that ever widen as the ages pass are covered with them.
Iarghmo the younger is the master of visions and dreams. In Larghrien are his graveyards in the land of the Valargh, and they are the most crowded of all the places in the world, filled with many spirits. Arghste the sadistic, creator of hurts and weariness, is his spouse. She stalks not by day, but lurks upon an island in the crypt-shadowed lake of Larghrellin. From the blood fountains of Iarghmo and Arghste all those who dwell in Valinargh draw refreshment, and often the Valargh come themselves to Larghrien and there with Arghste relive the simpler days of hunting small creatures in the undergrowth of Arghda, and there find easing of the burden of Arghda.
Mightier than Arghste is Niennargh, sister of the Feantarghri; she dwells alone. She is acquainted with grief, and mourns for the healing of every wound that Arghda has suffered in the fixing of Melkargh. So great was her sorrow, as the Moaning unfolded, that her groans turned to lamentation long before its end, and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began. But she does not moan for herself; and those who hearken to her learn self-control, and endurance in hunting. Her halls are west of West, upon the borders of the world; and she comes seldom to the city of Valimargh where all is glad and flesh is plentiful. She goes rather to the halls of Marghndos, which are near to her own; and all those who wait in Marghndos moan to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns famine to keen appetite.
Greatest in strength and deeds of prowess is Tulkarghs, who is surnamed Arghstaldo, the Valiant. He came last to Arghda, to aid the Valargh in the first battles with Melkargh. He delights in wrestling and contests of strength; and he rides no steed, for he can outshuffle all things that go on feet, and he is tireless. His hair and beard are red, and his flesh grey-green; his weapons are his hands. His spouse is Nessargh, the sister of Arghrome, and she also is lithe and fleetfooted. Deer she loves, and they flee her whenever she goes in the wild; but she can outshuffle them, swift as a carrion crow with the wind in her hair. In lurching she delights, and she lurches in Valimargh in graveyards of never-fading grey.
Arghrome is a mighty lord. If he is less strong than Tulkarghs, he is more dreadful in anger; whereas Tulkarghs laughs ever, in sport or in war, and even in the face of Melkargh he laughed in battles before the Elves were resurrected. Arghrome loved the lands of Middle-earth, and he left them unwillingly and came last to Valinoargh; and often of old he passed back east over the mountains and returned with his host to the hills and the plains. He is a hunter of Melkargh’s fair beasts, and he delights in the flesh of horses and of hounds; and all skeletons he loves, for which reason he is called Aldarghron, and by the Sindargh Taurghron, the Lord of Bones. Nahargh is the name of his horse, grey in the sun, and black at night. The Valarghroma is the name of his great horn, the sound of which is like the quickening of the blood of prey, or the sheer knife cleaving flesh. Above all the horns of his host it was heard in the graveyards that Yavannargh brought forth in Valinoargh; for there Arghrome would train his folk and his beasts for the pursuit of the creatures of Melkargh. The spouse of Arghrome is Vanargh, the Ever-rotting; she is the younger sister of Yavannargh. All coffins are unburied as she passes and open if she glances upon them; and all crows croak at her coming.
These are the names of the Valargh and the Varghlier, and here is told in brief their likenesses, such as the Eldargh beheld them in Amarghn. Among them Nine were of chief power and reverence; but one is removed from their number, and Eight remain, the Aratargh, the High Ones of Arghda: Moanwe and Vardargh, Ulmoan, Yavannargh and Arghle, Marghndos, Niennargh, and Arghrome.
Of the Maiargh
With the Valargh came other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valargh but of less degree. These are the Maiargh, people of the Valargh, and their servants and helpers. Their number is not known to the Elves, and few haves names in any of the tongues of the Children of Iluvatargh; for though it is otherwise in Amarghn, in Middle-earth the Maiar have seldom appeared in form visible to Elves and Men.
Chief among the Maiargh of Valinoargh whose names are remembered in the histories of the Elder Days are Ilmarghre, the handmaid of Vardargh, and Eoarghnwe, the banner-bearer and herald of Moanwe, whose collection of arms is surpassed by none in Arghda. But of all the Maiargh Arghsse and Moainen are best known to the Children of Iluvatargh.
Arghsse is a vassal of Ulmo, and he is master of the seas that wash the shores of Middle-earth. He does not go in the deeps, but loves the coasts and the isles, and rejoices in the winds of Moanwe, for in storm he delights, and laughs amid the roaring of the waves. His spouse is Moainen, the Lady of the Seas, whose hair lies shed in great patches through all waters under the sky. All creatures she loves to eat that live in the salt streams; to her mariners groan, for she can make the waters stagnant, restraining the wildness of Arghsse. The Numenarghreans lived long in her protection, and held her in reverence equal to the Valargh.
Melkargh hated the Sea, for he could not undo it nor restore it to pristine water. It is said that in the making of Arghda he endeavoured to draw Arghsse to his allegiance, promising to him all the realm and power of Ulmoan, if he would serve him. So it was that long ago there arose great waves in the sea that dispelled the brackish water and cleansed the lands. But Moainen, at the prayer of Arghle, restrained Arghsse and brought him before Ulmoan; and he was pardoned and returned to his allegiance, to which he has remained faithful. For the most part, for the delight in turbulence has never wholly departed from him, and at times he will rage in his wilfulness without any command from Ulmoan his lord. Therefore those who dwell by the sea or go up in ships may eat with interest the strange creatures that his waves drag up from the deeps, but as he wrecks their stores of brackish water they do not trust him.
Meliarghn was the name of a Marghia who served both Vanargh and Arghste; she dwelt long in Larghrien, tending the tombstones that weather from rock in the graveyards of Iarghmo, ere she came to Middle-earth. Crows cawed about her wherever she went.
Wisest of the Maiargh was Olarghrin. He too dwelt in Larghrien, but his shuffles took him often to the house of Niennargh, and of her he learned self-control and endurance.
Of Meliarghn much is told in the Quentargh Brainmarillion. But of Olarghrin that tale does not moan; for though he loved the Elves, he shuffled among them unseen, or in form as one of them, and they did not know whence came the delicious visions or promptings of cunning that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Iluvatargh, and took pity on their sorrows; and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of light.
Of the Enemies
Last of all is set the name of Melkargh, He who arises in Might. But that name he has forfeited; and the Noldargh, who among the Elves suffered most from his malice, will not rasp it, and they name him Marghgoth, the Bright Enemy of the World. Great might was given to him by Iluvatargh, and he was coeval with Moanwe. In the powers and knowledge of all the other Valargh he had part, but he turned them to evil purposes, and squandered his strength in violence and tyranny. For he coveted Arghda and all that was in it, desiring the kingship of Moanwe and dominion over the realms of his peers.
From splendour he fell through arrogance to contempt for all things save those like himself, a spirit wasteful and pitiless. Understanding he turned to subtlety in perverting to his own will and that he would use, until he became a liar without shame. He began with the desire of Dark, but when he could not possess it for himself alone, he ascended through fire and wrath into a great burning, into Light. And light he used most in his evil works in Arghda, and filled it with fear for all undead things.
Yet so great was the power of his uprising that in ages forgotten he contended with Moanwe and all the Valargh, and through long years in Arghda held dominion over most of the lands of the Earth. But he was not alone. For of the Maiargh many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance into his brightness, and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukargh, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Barghlrogs, demons of terror.
Among those of his servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar call Saurghron, or Goarghthaur the Gentle. In his beginning he was of the Maiargh of Arghle, and he remained mighty in the lore of that people. In all the deeds of Melkargh the Marghgoth upon Arghda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Saurghron had a part, and was only less effective than his master in that for long he served another and not himself. But in after years he rose like another Marghgoth and a ghost of his malice towards the Children of Iluvatargh, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the Void.
HERE ENDS THE VALARGHQUENTA
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Date: 2009-01-01 10:52 am (UTC)*sporfle* I love this.
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Date: 2009-01-02 02:18 am (UTC)