# Questions about Morgoth and Human Sacrifices



## John (Aug 15, 2021)

When Sauron sacrificed people in Numenor to Morgoth did Morgoth Realise From The Void what was going on? did He realise That He was Being Offered Human Sacrifices? And Did He accept them Happily? Also If He Did Accept them Happily Did He Even show it? And Could Have those Sacrifices Given Him Strength To Escape The Void? Please Explain All This in Detail


Regards John


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## m4r35n357 (Aug 15, 2021)

IMO the human sacrifices were a horror show to subdue and entertain the public, together with the fear of becoming part of the entertainment.

There is no evidence that any "deity" receives "manna" (I'm thinking of the old computer game Populous here!) from "religious" activities (and there is pretty much no worship in the whole legendarium) on Ea.


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## Ealdwyn (Aug 15, 2021)

m4r35n357 said:


> (I'm thinking of the old computer game Populous here!)


There's a blast from the past. I loved Populous! 😂


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## Olorgando (Aug 15, 2021)

John said:


> When Sauron sacrificed people in Numenor to Morgoth ...


Sauron had his own very "personal" agenda in Númenor, an axe to grind, so to speak. Having witnessed Morgoth's utter defeat in the War of Wrath ending the First Age - and having listened to (perhaps participated in) the Music of the Ainur before the creation of Eä - I doubt he had any illusions about the "effectiveness" (rather lack of it) of such practices. They may have been an echo of what he had introduced in the east, where he had spent considerable time in the Second and Third Ages.
That the name of Morgoth was more or less dimly remembered in Númenor as the horrifically powerful superhuman foe of the ancestors of the Númenóreans (and the Elves - that fact was probably remembered far more dimly, if at all) made it easier for him to slowly establish those abominable practices. But his "personal" agenda was to corrupt these highest of Men to do something totally idiotic. I'm certain he expected them to be destroyed in some way - he just never expected it to be the world-shattering response by Eru himself; meaning he certainly missed (or misunderstood) some critical parts of the Ainulindalë.


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## Alcuin (Aug 17, 2021)

“Please explain in detail.” Sounds like an essay question on a blue-book final exam. 

Morgoth encouraged human sacrifice from his earliest encounters with the Second Kindred, with Men. In _Morgoth’s Ring_, in “Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth” (“The Debate of Finrod and Andreth”), at the end there is a short essay, “The ‘Tale of Adanel’”. Adanel was a Wise-woman of the Third House who married Belemir of the First House (the Folk of Bëor), a kinsman of Andreth’s. Andreth was herself a Wise-woman, and Adanel taught her what she had learned as a member of the Third House. 

According to Adanel, Eru spoke to the first Men as a “Voice”, encouraging them to learn on their own. But Morgoth came “in our own form visible, but greater and more beautiful; and … said … he had come out of pity.” He showed Men how to obtain various riches but gainsaid the Voice, accusing it of being the Darkness. Later he demanded Men build him “a house upon a high place,” a temple, and demanded they bow before him as their Lord. No one dared not bow, and the Voice came only once more, warning them that they had taken a false god as their lord, but they would soon come to the Voice and learn the truth of who was their real master. Morgoth (as their Lord) showed “favour to the strongest and cruellest, … [giving] gifts to them, and knowledge that they kept secret; and they became powerful and proud, and they enslaved us, so that we had no rest … amidst our afflictions.” When some finally spoke against Morgoth in their despair, the rest in fear killed them, though some fled; those that were caught were burned to death, which “pleased [Morgoth] greatly.” 

“Akallabêth” in _Silmarillion_ says that Sauron began his sacrifices in Númenor by burning the White Tree of Armenelos. Then he had the King’s Men sacrifice Faithful Númenóreans under the pretence that they rebels to the king; and the King’s Men also built temples in Middle-earth, where they sacrificed Men of Middle-earth whom they captured. 

It is noteworthy that “the shadow” began to descend upon Númenor soon after the Númenóreans came to the succour of Gil-galad and the Eldar of Middle-earth during the War of the Elves and Sauron (Appendix A, _RotK_); and not long after that, the Nazgûl first appeared. I think it is notable that three of the Nazgûl were believed to be lords from among the Númenóreans: “the shadow” and the subsequent rebellion against the Valar by Tar-Ancalimon and his successors is almost certainly a result of the seed of wickedness these three planted in the hearts and minds of their kinsmen. 

I also think it likely that Sauron and his followers continued these practices of human sacrifice in the Third Age when they could. Places like Angmar, Khand, Far Harad, and far Rhûn east of Mordor are suspect; and of course in Mordor itself after Sauron declared himself openly. 

There is as m4r35n357 says “no evidence that [Morgoth or Sauron] receive[d] ‘manna’” from these sacrifices. Rather they are deliberate insults to Eru and degradations of their worshippers, instilling terror into the populace that anyone of them might also be publicly murdered in some particularly gruesome, humiliating way. That reduced the proclivity of more sensible people to rebel against the wickedness of their rulers, and enhanced the perceived power and authority of those folk.


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## m4r35n357 (Aug 17, 2021)

There is one more effect to add; the future loyalty of anyone complicit in these acts is pretty much guaranteed. They have "burned their boats" (sic!) along with everything else.


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