#meanwhile the closest quote to BECOMING canon is creation's and it is taking all of my willpower to resist their insistence that i allow it

[krysmcscience]

Saw this prompt for incorrect OC quotes and couldn't resist with a bunch of my Breach goobers. Some of them would absolutely say these things word for word in canon if I gave them half the chance to, though. XD

They're in order of when they showed up in person - Qīng, Ghost, Red, Marisol, Shio, Cam, Daruk, Tawoos, and Alondra - as well as some important honorable mentions who have only been mentioned or gotten dialogue - Star, Blake, and Creation.

Star's design is a slight spoiler, I suppose, but it doesn't reveal if they're human or impostor, so it's all good. Creation's "design" also isn't a spoiler at all, because They can look however They want, LOL. As for Shio...some of you who have seen the body horror I've done of them may be wondering why they look so normal here, but I promise there are Reasons. :3c

In other news, will I be making a liar out of Shio in an upcoming Breach canon divergence? ..........Maybe~ >:3c

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

Melkor | Morgoth and Varda

For me personally, Melkor/Morgoth and Varda’s relationship has always been one of the most interesting in Tolkien’s world. 

‘With Manwë dwells Varda, Lady of the Stars, who knows all the regions of Eä. Too great is her beauty to be declared in the words of Men or of Elves; for the light of Ilúvatar lives still in her face. In light is her power and her joy. Out of the deeps of Eä she came to the aid of Manwë; for Melkor she knew from before the making of the Music and rejected him, and he hated her, and feared her more than all others whom Eru made.’

The Silmarillion makes it quite clear that Morgoth’s greatest rival and foe was not his brother Manwë, as most stories would follow (the typical brother vs. brother rivalry), but rather Varda. It shows in their various titles, too: Morgoth is The Black Foe, The Corrupter, The Marrer, the First Dark Lord, Black Enemy of the World, and Lord of the Dark. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Varda, the Star-queen, Star-kindler, Lady of the Stars, and Queen of the Stars. Stars are the oldest form of light in Arda and one of the things that remained untouched by Morgoth’s corruption, and Varda is heavily associated with them. She created them. Thus, it’s undeniable that Morgoth and Varda are complete opposites. 

Such a relationship connotes that Melkor and Varda utterly repel each other. While this seems true on Varda’s end, I don’t think it was quite the same for Morgoth. Even if we don’t interpret the “rejected him” in a romantic way, I still believe that Morgoth desired Varda (not necessarily in a sexual manner, either), and that he still desires her, even after going into open rebellion of Eru. 

(Disclaimer: I ship Manwë and Varda, so this is not me trying to find some way to mash Morgoth and Varda together. I genuinely find their relationship interesting and wanted to analyze it. It must also be noted that this post addressed purely what is stated or implied in canon and does not take into consideration the headcanons/theories about Melkor and Varda’s relationship.) 

Despite being the Lord of the Dark, Morgoth yearns for and is attracted to light. This is plainly stated in Morgoth’s Ring: 

‘As a shadow Melkor did not then conceive himself. For in his beginning he loves and desired light, and the form that he took was exceedingly bright; and he said in his heart: 'On such brightness as I am the Children shall hardly endure to look; therefore to know of aught else or beyond or even to strain their small minds to conceive of it would not be for their good.’ But a lesser brightness that stands before the greater becomes darkness. And Melkor was jealous, therefore, of all other brightness, and wished to take all light unto himself.’

This ‘greater brightness’, I believe, refers to Eru and the Flame Imperishable. Melkor, jealous that there was a greater light that he was unable to possess, tried to gets his hands on the Flame, and that’s where he started down the “dark” path, so to speak. Thus we see that Melkor’s rebellion against Eru was out of envy of Eru’s light and the desire to have Eru’s powers of creation for himself. 

‘With Manwë dwells Varda, Lady of the Stars, who knows all the regions of Eä. Too great is her beauty to be declared in the words of Men or of Elves; for the light of Ilúvatar lives still in her face.

To return to this quote about Varda, it is said that the light of Eru shines within her face. This is not mentioned about any other Vala, presumably meaning it is a trait of Varda alone. Varda is also the Vala most heavily associated with light. And that Varda, who is the closest thing to Eru’s light and creative ability besides Eru Himself, rejected Melkor, who sought that light and creative ability more than anything, would certainly be a blow against his ego. 

So, Morgoth hates Varda, right? He wants nothing more to do with her and light, both of which rejected him, right?

Well, no. Even after being rejected by Varda and going into open rebellion, Morgoth was still attracted to the light. After he destroyed the Two Trees with Ungoliant, he also killed Finwë and stole all of his gems, including the Silmarils, infused with the light of the Two Trees. 

On the way to Angband after this, Ungoliant demands that Morgoth give her the Silmarils, and Morgoth refuses - despite the fact that even he is fearful of Ungoliant after her devouring of the Two Trees, which displays how much he coveted the Silmarils himself. After Ungoliant is driven off and Morgoth arrives in Angband, he proceeds to set the Silmarils in his crown, even though they burned his hands. Again, this is another sign of Morgoth’s immense desire for the Silmarils.

That means we can conclude that Morgoth is still quite obsessed with obtaining  light. And light is a symbol of Varda. This leads me to believe that although Morgoth might have despised Varda personally for rejecting him and for being able to negate his darkness, he was still drawn to her brilliance. Varda, meanwhile, is never implied to have any desire for the dark. 

Morgoth and Varda have a relationship that is so utterly one-sided it intrigues me. He wanted her, she was repulsed by him; in fact, she was the first person to distrust him. I think this whole narrative fits well into the themes Tolkien expressed in his works. Not only is evil self-destructive and restricts creativity, it is also detrimental to obtaining what one desires. If Melkor hadn’t been evil, would he have had a chance with Varda? Perhaps. But he chose darkness and with it came rejection from what he wanted most. 

(To the Melkor and Varda shippers: Please don’t come @ me, I don’t hate the Melkor/Varda ship either. I think it has a lot of tragedy behind it.)