What Gandalf Saw Beneath Moria | Tolkien’s Nameless Things

Comments · 591

• TH

  @TheOldLibrarian-j1w · 2 months ago · pinned

  If Sauron was only the shadow… what was casting it?<br>I just released a new essay on Tolkien’s darkest idea: that Morgoth did not simply lose the war — he poured himself into Arda itself. The Ring was destroyed. Sauron fell. But the deeper corruption may never have left.<br>Watch it here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8KIBxSKmEo">https://youtu.be/Q8KIBxSKmEo</a>

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• SA

  @Sagume-ido · 4 months ago

  imagine if the Balrog and Gandalf fighting these things together, thats more than enough to make you understand how screwed they are in their presence

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• FL

  @FlossedUp · 4 months ago

  Some things equivalent to H.P Lovecraft&apos;s Eldritch beings. Your mind can&apos;t comprehend what you are looking at. Tolkien and Lovecraft were around the same time.

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• DE

  @Dehtrim · 4 months ago

  Starting to wonder if the nameless things are what Gandalf was referring to when he said &quot;We now have but one choice. We must face the long darkness of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.&quot;

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• VO

  @Voidseeker2136 · 4 months ago

  Imagine Sauron trying to command one of these things. &nbsp;It just looks at him.... Tilts it head. &nbsp;Then eats him.

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• PE

  @PEPLeatherLab · 4 months ago

  Important to remember that when the Song began, and Arda was assembled in the void there were dark things absorbed into it&apos;s creation. &nbsp;This is how Ungoliant came to be. &nbsp;So it&apos;s not surprising that dark things reside in the depths of Arda.

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• GO

  @gooflydo · 4 months ago

  Tolkien read some of HP Lovecraft and was like, &quot;Yeah, let me put that in my world, too.&quot; He did and just left it at that.

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• DA

  @darklordojeda · 4 months ago

  The real question is, did Tom Bombadil know?

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• TH

  @TheTruthwithin096 · 4 months ago (edited)

  In the books when Gandalf says that the Balrog was his hope of escape is just thrilling<br>I also think that the Balrog was running for his life in the tunnels because he was afraid of these Things thats why Gandalf said he was glutching at the Balrog&apos;s heel because it was running and Gandalf had to hurry to not be stuck forever there, because he stated to Gimli that the Balrog knew his way around but he did not. And i think these beings were created as a direct result of Melkor&apos;s corruption in the Music of the Ainur in creating the world. And even if Sauron knew about them he dosen&apos;t have the same powerfull spirit influence over the world as Morgoth to control them (Also why he wouldnt have been able to convert even the Balrog) , and i think they literaly kill anyone in their path Men, Elves, dwarfs even Orcs etc.

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• GL

  @glishev · 4 months ago (edited)

  Even after death and resurrection, an angel marching to war didn&apos;t want to speak about these things with no origin. They must have been terrifying indeed. <br><br>(And I adore the art of the video.)

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• DE

  @DemonicAdj · 4 months ago

  They were just chilling down there before a beast of Shadow and Flame and a Maiar came splashing down into their lake.<br>Needless to say, they might have been pretty spooked.

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• ME

  @metrozeegle4985 · 4 months ago

  I think this perfectly represents the different philosophies of Tolkien and Lovecraft when it comes to cosmic horror: Gandalf faced beings that cannot be understood or even named, let alone fought, and this indescribable evil is literally gnawing at the world, slowly, steadily, inevitably... A rot that threatens to consume the entire world, even if it must take the age of the creation to do it. The inexorable march of entropy. Facing such beings would&apos;ve mentally destroyed any of Lovecraft&apos;s characters, this revelation gnawing at their psyche the same way those things gnaw at the world, yet despite his (probable) initial shock, Gandalf carries on and pursue his initial goal. He doesn&apos;t fall into despair and his refusal to even properly acknowledge those things reveals Tolkien&apos;s answer to Lovecraft&apos;s anguish: It is pointless to fret over what which we have no control over, and in no way must the anguish caused by those things get in the way of the things we do have control over, and the tasks we have to do.<br>Where Lovecraft saw terror and despair, Tolkien saw pointless and painful distractions that are best avoided entirely.<br>At least, that&apos;s my interpretation of Tolkien&apos;s take on this, but a morale about picking your battles and knowing what is deserving of your worries and what is better left forgotten seems pretty in-character for the man...

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