Morgoth

Morgoth Bauglir ([ˈmɔrɡɔθ ˈbau̯ɡlir]; originally Melkor [ˈmɛlkor]) is the primary antagonist of Tolkien's legendarium, the mythic epic by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien and published in parts as The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin. He is briefly mentioned in The Lord of the Rings. Melkor is the most powerful of the godlike Valar, but he turns to darkness and is renamed Morgoth, meaning 'Black foe', by the elf Fëanor. Until the end of the First Age, he remained the primary antagonist of Arda. All evil in the world of Middle-earth stems from him, ultimately a result of the discord he introduced into the music of creation, the Ainulindalë. One of the Maiar, previously an assistant of the Vala Aulë, was corrupted by Melkor, becoming his highest-ranking lieutenant and eventually his successor, Sauron. Melkor has often been interpreted as analogous to Satan, once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer, but fallen through pride and rebelling against his creator. Morgoth has likewise been likened to John Milton's characterization of Satan as a fallen angel in Paradise Lost. Tom Shippey has written that The Silmarillion maps the Book of Genesis with its creation and its fall, even Melkor having begun with good intentions. Marjorie Burns has commented that Tolkien used the Norse god Odin to create aspects of several characters, the wizard Gandalf getting some of his good characteristics, while Morgoth gets his destructiveness, malevolence, and deceit. Verlyn Flieger writes that the central temptation is the desire to possess, something that ironically afflicts two of the greatest figures in the legendarium, Melkor and Fëanor.