'Balance' --for the prompt "Bequeath"

[huinare]

Title: Balance
Author: Huinárë
Characters/Pairing: Manwë, Melkor
Rating: G
Warnings: N/A
Book/Source: The Silmarillion, Morgoth’s Ring
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Tolkien.  No profit reaped by myself, aside from a wealth of intellectual giddiness.

Summary: Concerning Manwë and Melkor in the beginnings of Arda.  Answering the prompt “Bequeath.”

Comments

[someplacetobe]

I wish I could actually witness this conversation.

[huinare]

Thanks for commenting, SPTB! =)

[engarian]

This is wonderful. I've had a beast of a time with this prompt, but you figured out the perfect scene.

- Erulisse (one L)

[huinare]

Thanks, Erulisse!

I reckon an idea may come to you when you least expect it, as is sometimes the way of such things. =)

[lindahoyland]

What a great drabble!

[huinare]

Thank you, Linda!

[hhimring]

Melkor seems to be getting the last word or the best lines in most of these...Are you trying to redress a balance?
And reality can be a dangerous concept; it seems to me it might be even more so for Valar.

[huinare]

I'd not actually noticed, but I guess he has been getting the last word in most of them (though I didn't find his response to Nienna convincing). I suppose it's because he's the central figure of this series...I'm not sure if 'protagonist' is too strong a word. As to balance, it's so titled because Melkor believes his work brings balance to the world. I myself am probably trying to balance the notion of Melkor as sheer primeval wickedness, with some kind of portrayal of him as a person in his own right. Not to justify his deeds, certainly, but to show them in a different light.

[dwimordene_2011]

Mm, reverse paternalism that doesn't admit to being what it is - love it! Melkor may be rebelling against the specific things other Valar and perhaps Eru desire, but he's fundamentally still in the same mode of dealing with the children. His answer shows both that he latently believes he knows best what's good for the Children (something he shares in the end with the other Valar), but also that he isn't really moved by the Children to answer, so much as he's concerned to answer in such a way as to put Manwë on the defensive. This isn't really about the Children for him, it's about Melkor and Manwë.

[huinare]

His answer shows both that he latently believes he knows best what's good for the Children (something he shares in the end with the other Valar),

Ah yes, that's one of my typical notions of Melkor v. Rest-of-the-Valar--neither side really has the humility to take the other seriously.

This isn't really about the Children for him, it's about Melkor and Manwë.

Good point! I'd not gotten so far as analysing his motive for that particular speech myself, but I do believe, although he has some philosophical grounds for wanting 'balance,' you're right that his grudge with Manwë concerns him more.