Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Mythic Mind. We pursue wisdom of
Speaker 1: the past between primary secondary worlds. I'm your host, Angel Snyder,
Speaker 1: and I heartily welcome your company. As I prepare for
Speaker 1: the next podcast series, I miss all the other things
Speaker 1: that I'm doing. I'm going to provide you with one
Speaker 1: of the recent lessons from the ongoing Lord of the
Speaker 1: Ring study. And by the way, we just finished up
Speaker 1: with the Fellowship, and so if you want to join
Speaker 1: with us for the Two Towers and the Return of
Speaker 1: the King, then head over to patreon dot com slash
Speaker 1: Mythic Mind and become a Tier three patron and you
Speaker 1: can find that link in the show notes. Each of
Speaker 1: these weeks includes a short video that explores some aspect
Speaker 1: of law or philosophy and a longer video that serves
Speaker 1: as a companion for the reading, and we also have
Speaker 1: weekly live meetings. Well, today I'm going to provide you
Speaker 1: with one of the short lessons, and this takes a
Speaker 1: look at Saluron's background in motivations and you can also
Speaker 1: watch this as a video by clicking the YouTube link
Speaker 1: in the show notes, and be sure to subscribe to
Speaker 1: my YouTube channel. As I'm currently building up that platform
Speaker 1: with some fresh content, but for now onto the show.
Speaker 1: Many casual fans of Tolkien assume that Suran is the
Speaker 1: greatest villain in tolkien story, but that title actually goes
Speaker 1: to his former master, Morgoth, although, aside from brief references,
Speaker 1: more God does not appear in The Lord of the Rings. However,
Speaker 1: understanding a bit about this original villain will shed some
Speaker 1: light on the nature of evil in the character of Suran.
Speaker 1: Before he was known as Morgoth, which means something like
Speaker 1: dark enemy, he was Melchor. The Vala. The Valor are
Speaker 1: the angelic like figures that were created to serve the
Speaker 1: good designs of Eru a Lubatar, the monotheistic god of
Speaker 1: Tolkien's mythos. The original form of the material world was
Speaker 1: framed through the singing of the Valar, or perhaps the
Speaker 1: einor more broadly, who harmonize in recognition of Alluvatar's goodness.
Speaker 1: In their recognition of divine honor, beauty abounded, and all
Speaker 1: things flourished around the goodness the truth in the beauty
Speaker 1: of Eru Alluvatar. However, Melcor was not content with his station,
Speaker 1: and instead decided to introduce his own themes into the song,
Speaker 1: attempting to bend the music toward himself rather than toward
Speaker 1: a louvatar. Thus, the first disharmony in the story, the
Speaker 1: first Evil is explicitly portrayed as an attempt to seize
Speaker 1: divine honor. From that point forward, Melcor, later named Morgoth
Speaker 1: by the Elves, would continue to so disharmony in suffering
Speaker 1: throughout the otherwise good world. Sauron, or Myron, as he
Speaker 1: was originally named, belongs to a class of beings that
Speaker 1: Tolkien calls the Mayar, which are something like lesser angels
Speaker 1: that serve the Valar. The Mayar include count other superhuman characters,
Speaker 1: including wizards such as Gandolf and Saramon, and even the balrogs,
Speaker 1: the most famous of which pulled Gandalf off the bridge
Speaker 1: of Kazadum. Along with other creative beings. Sauron was originally good,
Speaker 1: and he served Alay, the valor most concerned with craftsmanship. This,
Speaker 1: of course, will be important when it comes time for
Speaker 1: Suron to do some crafting of his own. Early in
Speaker 1: this prehistory, Sauron was seduced into the service of Morgoth
Speaker 1: and became one of his chief lieutenants. Despite this cosmic rebellion,
Speaker 1: he was not wholly without virtue, As Tolkien tells us
Speaker 1: that in all the deeds of Melchor and Morgoth upon Arda,
Speaker 1: in his vast works, and in the deceits of his cunning,
Speaker 1: Sauron had a part, and was only less evil than
Speaker 1: his master in that for long he served another, and
Speaker 1: not himself. Serving the villainous Morgoth was not a great move,
Speaker 1: but Sauron was at least willing to humble himself beneath something,
Speaker 1: and that is better than nothing. Service always has the
Speaker 1: potential to be re ordered, but rejecting service altogether leaves
Speaker 1: you with nothing but isolation and out of harmony with
Speaker 1: the great dance of the cosmos. Furthermore, Sauron had a
Speaker 1: desire for order, which continued even after the defeat of Morgoth.
Speaker 1: Service and order are good things, but as with all
Speaker 1: good things, they become bad things when they are removed
Speaker 1: from the proper context. Without an understanding as to what
Speaker 1: makes order good. Such a desire, even if well intended,
Speaker 1: can easily turn into tyranny that at best mimics true peace.
Speaker 1: The First Age of Middle Earth came to a close
Speaker 1: when Elves men and even the Valor assembled to defeat
Speaker 1: Morgoth and cast him into the void. Saaran escaped the
Speaker 1: fate of his master, and for a time he appeared
Speaker 1: to be repentant, that the very least out of fear. However,
Speaker 1: he was too ashamed to turn himself over for judgment,
Speaker 1: and so instead he slipped back into the rebellion of
Speaker 1: his former master by isolating himself from the goodness that
Speaker 1: could have secured his redemption. Desiring freedom, he rejected the
Speaker 1: very means of gaining freedom to live in harmony with
Speaker 1: his design, which is another way of saying that he
Speaker 1: refused the hard path of virtue. Taking up Morgoth's mantle.
Speaker 1: Sauron would become the great villain from this point until
Speaker 1: the conclusion of the Lord of the Rings. During the
Speaker 1: Second Age, Sauron was moved by the desolation of the
Speaker 1: world that had taken place in the Great War against Morgoth.
Speaker 1: So his desire for order again moved him to action,
Speaker 1: as he developed a plan to bring Middle Earth into
Speaker 1: harmony with himself at the center. Disguising himself as the
Speaker 1: good natured Anotar, the Lord of Gifts, he worked with
Speaker 1: the Elve to create and distribute great rings of power
Speaker 1: that he would distribute to people of significance throughout Middle Earth.
Speaker 1: These rings had various effects on those who wore them.
Speaker 1: The three rings for the elves provided the power to
Speaker 1: preserve nature. The seven rings for the dwarf stoked their
Speaker 1: desire for wealth. The nine rings for men provided power
Speaker 1: and visibility and a version of immortality. The one ring
Speaker 1: for Souron was meant to control all the other. Now
Speaker 1: is worth noting that Sauran as the ring lord is
Speaker 1: surely based on the old Germanic tradition of lords giving
Speaker 1: rings their nobles as a means of securing their loyalty.
Speaker 1: By uniting the great forces of the world within his will,
Speaker 1: Sauron believed that he could finally bring order and healing
Speaker 1: to the fractured Middle Earth. Fortunately, things did not go
Speaker 1: quite as he planned. When Sauran forged his ruling ring,
Speaker 1: the elves felt his presence and hid their own rings.
Speaker 1: At the end of the Second Age, a host of
Speaker 1: elves and men allied in a calm desire to purge
Speaker 1: Middle Earth of his counterfeit order by meeting Sauron in
Speaker 1: battle with great sacrifice, including of Alendel Ankle Galad, the
Speaker 1: free peoples gained victory as a sill door cut the
Speaker 1: ring bearing finger from Sauran's hand and brought it back
Speaker 1: as a trophy for his people. With this artifact of
Speaker 1: power removed, Sauron was defeated, but his will still whispered
Speaker 1: through the ring. The silver story will be told another time,
Speaker 1: But of course he did not choose to destroy the ring,
Speaker 1: which allowed Saron's evil to continue brooding until it again
Speaker 1: haunted Middle Earth in a more tangible form in the
Speaker 1: Third Age. But with his defeat and the loss of
Speaker 1: his ring by the hand of a sil door, Saron
Speaker 1: was reduced to the shadow that he had in fact
Speaker 1: already been for quite some time. By abandoning virtue in
Speaker 1: the broader context of reality beyond himself, he lost something
Speaker 1: of his personhood. He was reduced to an obscured image
Speaker 1: of what he was meant to be, an agent of
Speaker 1: glory that reflected divine honour above him. Augustine states this
Speaker 1: well in his City of God, by aiming at more,
Speaker 1: a man is diminished when he elects to be self
Speaker 1: sufficient and defects from the one who is really sufficient
Speaker 1: for him. This, then, is the original evil man. Regards
Speaker 1: himself as his own light, and turns away from that
Speaker 1: light which would make man himself a light if he
Speaker 1: has set his heart on it. This evil came first
Speaker 1: in secret, and the result was the other evil which
Speaker 1: was committed in the opening. In his secret evil, Saron
Speaker 1: turned away from the light of God that gives life
Speaker 1: to the soul, and, desiring to be his own life,
Speaker 1: he became a mere shadow, alongside Morgat before him. With
Speaker 1: the loss of his ring, Sauron's inner reality was exposed.
Speaker 1: Throughout the story of the Lord of the Rings, the
Speaker 1: once great and powerful Sauron is reduced to a whisper.
Speaker 1: By nature, he was greater than any of his would
Speaker 1: be servants, but by consequence of his lust for self sufficiency,
Speaker 1: he became nearly nothing. He has an influence, he plots,
Speaker 1: and he wages war, but he does not make a
Speaker 1: physical appearance in the third age, at the very least
Speaker 1: in the actual narrative of the story, even if there
Speaker 1: are rumors that such an appearance was beginning to take place.
Speaker 1: The shadow may have been growing, but it could only
Speaker 1: ever become but so strong as long as it attempted
Speaker 1: to hold on to its own strength. Real strength comes
Speaker 1: through the humble path of virtue that surrenders power only
Speaker 1: to receive it anew in the right way. This is
Speaker 1: something that Sauron can no longer understand, and this is
Speaker 1: something that would bring his final doom as lowly hobbits
Speaker 1: of the shire escape the vision of his great eye.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, and thank you to all my patrons,
Speaker 1: and by name, I would like to thank all Tier
Speaker 1: three patrons and higher and so many thanks to Mark
Speaker 1: by Aaron, Jamie, Mariah, Paul Tyler, Ann William And if
Speaker 1: you would like to support my work, you can go
Speaker 1: to patreon dot com slash Mythicmind. Any amount of support helps,
Speaker 1: but be sure to sign on at Tier three if
Speaker 1: you would like to join the Lord of the Ring study.
Speaker 1: But that's it for now, until next time, God speak
Speaker 1: on the co The poll is an