Towards the end of the First Age, the armies
of Morgoth had grown immensely powerful and it almost seemed inevitable that they would soon
overwhelm what was left of the Free People. Some of their greatest kingdoms such as Gondolin
and Doriath had already fallen to his forces, and the few pockets of resistance that remained
now faced a very dire situation. In this dark hour, the Valar finally decided to come
to Middle-Earth’s aid and after combining their forces with those of the Free People they managed
to overthrow Morgoth. The lands of Middle-Earth were finally free from Morgoth’s reign and tyranny
after enduring hundreds of years of conflict, though all of this raises an interesting
question. Why did it take the Valar so long to help the Free-People? And how would
things have changed if they had come earlier? So when the world of Arda was first created,
Morgoth’s power was immense and he was able to hold back the combined strength of all
the other Valar. These Valar were working tirelessly to shape and prepare the world for
the coming of the Elves, though all of their work was opposed by Morgoth, who was determined
to undo and corrupt their efforts, and in the process he ended up destroying many of the lands
that they created. The Valar were unable to stop him for they were outmatched by Morgoth, and so
they could only try their best to keep shaping and healing these lands, while they watched
helplessly as most of their work was undone. They would have to wait until the arrival of Tulkas
before the odds could shift in their favour, for he was a great and ferocious warrior and the
last of the Valar to enter the world of Arda. Morgoth was terrified of his wrath and fury, and
so he chose to abandon the world and flee to a dark corner of the universe, and so at last,
Middle-Earth would know a semblance of peace. In the years that followed, the Valar brought
order to the lands, and they built two mighty pillars in the Southern and Northern regions of
Middle-Earth that were taller than all of the mountains in the history of Arda. They then placed
two great lamps upon these pillars so that they could light up the world, and under this new light
the lands of Middle-Earth grew rich and beautiful… And yet… this newfound bliss could not last.
For Morgoth was biding his time in the outer darkness beyond the world and when he saw that
the Valar had grown tired from their works, he descended once more into the world, and he
tore down these pillars and broke their lamps. The destruction that followed was unimaginable,
for these pillars crushed the lands beneath them, and the fires of the lamps spread across the earth
and scarred the lands of Arda. As they saw their work crumble before them, the Valar fled to the
West to the continent of Aman and they raised the Pelori Mountains on its Easten borders
to fortify their new lands against Morgoth. They didn’t have the strength to face him at
this point, for they had to dedicate most of their power to restraining the turmoil of
the Earth in order to avoid utter ruin, and after they witnessed this tragic event a new
fear awoke within the Valar. Could they even risk attacking Morgoth if it meant that Middle-Earth
would have to endure more untold destruction? And could this destruction harm the Elves and
their future before they had even awoken? The risk seemed too great to take this chance, and
so the Valar decided to postpone their attack upon Morgoth, at least until the Elves had awakon.
Even though the Valar would rarely travel to Middle-Earth now, they hadn’t abandoned
it completely, for it was still a land that they cared for and loved, and some of
the Valar would try to help these lands in their own way. Orome the hunter would travel
to Middle-Earth armed with his spear and bow, and he would hunt down the fell creatures and
servants of Morgoth, while Yavanna would visit these lands to try and heal them and to undo some
of Morgoth’s corruption. Manwe would send out his eagles to gather news from these lands and even
Ulmo helped in his own way. For Ulmo’s domain lay in the outer Ocean of Arda, and through his power
life still managed to course through many secret nodes in Middle-Earth and this allowed the Earth
to survive even under the darkness of Morgoth. Now when the Elves finally awakened they were
first discovered by Morgoth who sent phantoms to scare and ensnare them, and a few years would
pass before Orome came across them. And so news of the Elves’ awakening finally reached the Valar
and they decided that they must defeat Morgoth at all costs even if it meant that Middle-Earth
would have endure a great level of destruction, for this was preferable to the Elves being
enslaved or slain by Morgoth. And so the Valar launched an attack upon Morgoth’s forces and
a great battle took place in the North-Western regions of Middle-Earth which broke those
lands. Even the Elves who lived in far off lands could feel the Earth shake and
groan beneath them as untold destruction was inflicted upon Middle-Earth, and before
long the forces of the Valar were victorious. Now even though the Valar had managed to capture
Morgoth he would slowly trick them into thinking that he was reformed and that he had abandoned
his evil ways, and this allowed him to escape into Middle-Earth, where he mustered an evil an army
to threaten the lives of the Free People. It would then take the Valar over 500 years before they
finally decided to come to Middle-Earth’s aid, and so we must ask once more, why did it take them
so long and what exactly were they waiting for? So after the Valar’s last war against Morgoth, the
face of the world was disfigured and the shape of Middle-Earth was changed forever, and from this
war they were able to witness the incredible destruction that could arise from their conflict
with Morgoth. The damage would be even worse now, since Morgoth had exchanged most of his angelic
and spiritual power to gain a stronger grip over the physical world, and this meant that
if the Valar wanted to fight Morgoth then they would have to mainly use physical force to defeat
him, which would inevitably cause enormous damage and ruin to the world. This damage might even
be so severe that it could leave the whole of Arda in chaos, which would make it uninhabitable
for the Elves and for Men. And so, the Valar were faced with quite a horrible dilemma… what if the
only way for them to defeat Morgoth was through physical battle, even if the probable result of
such a war was the irreversible ruin of Arda? Now Manwe was the king of the Valar and the wisest
being in all of Arda and he could see clearly, how good would constantly emerge out of
the evils of Arda and that this could be used to combat it. In fact we see how Morgoth’s
evil actions created one of his worst enemies, for he had influenced the Noldor Elves
to rebel against the rule of the Valar, and after Morgoth stole the three Silmarils,
many of the Noldor Elves decided to pursue him, and they crossed the great sea into Middle-Earth
where they constantly waged war against him until he was finally defeated at the end of the First
Age. These Noldor Elves were the perfect weapon to keep Morgoth at bay, for they were strong
enough to keep him occupied in the North Western regions of Middle-Earth which allowed many
of the other lands to be neglected by Morgoth and spared from his evil. They were also not
strong enough to completely threaten his defeat, for this might have provoked him into a frenzy
of nihilistic destruction, in which he would be hell-bent to utterly destroy as many people and
lands as he could. This also allowed the Valar to buy enough time for the awakening of Men,
and it allowed Men to meet the Noldor Elves, a people that had actually seen and lived
in the blessed Realm of Valinor, and so, they could shake off the shadow of Morgoth. Their
alliance with the Elves would also raise these Men to their fullest achievable stature, and some of
the greatest lines of Men would come about from the marriages between these two races. Morgoth
would also grow weaker in power, prestige and mind from his wars against the Noldor, and Tolkien
wrote that “He had become absorbed in 'kingship', and though a tyrant of ogre-size and monstrous
power, this was a vast fall even from his former wickedness of hate, and his terrible nihilism.
He had fallen to being like a tyrant-king with conquered slaves, and vast obedient armies.”
And so when we consider all of this we can see that the Valar’s final assault upon Morgoth was
timed with precision, and it shouldn’t be seen as reluctance or a delay. For their attack came
at the precise moment to prevent the total annihilation of the Free-People, and by then,
Morgoth’s power was so weakened that they managed to limit the destruction of this war to the small
region of Beleriand which sank beneath the waves, and the other lands of Middle-Earth
were spared from this destruction. Just to be clear all of this is from a direct
quote from Tolkien and it’s not our speculation, and if you’d like to see the quotes we’ll
be leaving them in the video description. Now there is one thing that might have
influenced the Valar’s war strategy and it was the original music of
Arda. For according to Eru Iluvatar, the one true god of Ea: “No theme may
be played that hath not it uttermost source in me and nor can any alter the music
in my despite. For he who attempt this shall prove mine instrument in the devising of things
more wonderful which he himself not imagined”. This means that everything that happened in
Arda was ultimately part of Iluvatar’s plan, and this might have actually made the Valar wary
of interfering too much, for only Iluvatar could change the ‘Music’. This would actually prove
to be a mistake on the Valar’s part, for Tolkien wrote that Iluvatar made it clear to the Valar
that they should have fought earlier against Morgoth’s dominion over Middle-Earth. He says
that their reluctance showed a lack of faith, for they should have trusted that in a legitimate
War, Iluvatar wouldn’t have allowed Morgoth to inflict so much damage upon Arda that it
would stop the Elves and Men from awakening and inhabiting these lands, for after
all this was a crucial part in the Music. So this wraps up today’s episode and we
hope you enjoyed it. What do you think would have happened to Middle-Earth and to
the Free People if the Valar had attacked earlier? And do you think that it was a smart
move on their part to postpone their attack? As always we'd like to give a quick shout out
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