Will Morgoth and "evil" Maiar partake in the Second Music?

Question

I haven't finished the Silmarillion but I've been doing some reading on here. Sometime after the Last Battle, there will be another Great Music sung by the Ainur with Iluvatar. I read that Men, Dwarves (and Elves?) will partake in singing of the Second Music as well. I would imagine this would also include the Maiar.

Turin slays Morgoth in the Last Battle. That being said, will Morgoth and other "evil" Maiar partake in the singing of the Second Music with the rest or are they permanently destroyed forever in the Last Battle?

Ozymandias · Accepted Answer

You likely citing the Second Prophecy of Mandos (Dagor Dagorath) as to where this question came from, but Christopher Tolkien (as editor and now presumably head of LotR canon) has removed the prophecy from The Silmarillion. He did this because the prophecy contradicted the rest of the published Silmarillion on several occasions. So to be honest, while Morgoth may return in some form or fashion (likely non-corporeal by my interpretation of such things), there isn't likely to be a Last Battle as you're defining it.
A little bit of light information can be found on The One Wiki to Rule Them All.
And here is a good article that attempts to explain why is was removed: Why Did Tolkien Leave Out the Second Prophecy of Mandos? by  Michael Martinez (Middle-earth & J.R.R. Tolkien Blog, 19 March 2013).

user8719 · Answer

The text of the Second Prophecy, as given in the 1937 Silmarillion, indicates that Morgoth will not participate:

...and the black sword of Turin shall deal unto Morgoth his death and final end...

Use of the phrase "final end" here tells us that Morgoth will cease to exist, and since this was to happen before the Second Music, it's not possible for Morgoth to participate.

This passage was unchanged in the 1950s revisions, so it represents the latest concept of the Dagor Dagorath.

Removal of the Second Prophecy of Mandos from the published Silmarillion was made on the basis of the closing lines of the Valaquenta, which CT re-purposed as his closing lines for the Quenta Silmarillion:

Here ends The Valaquenta. If it has passed from the high and beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwe and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.

(My emphasis, sourced from the Valaquenta text in HoME 10.)

As CT notes, this means that:

The Second Prophecy of Mandos has now therefore definitively disappeared.

...obviously, because if an Unmarring is "not declared in the dooms of Mandos" there can be no Second Prophecy.

There's nothing I'm aware of to indicate the ultimate fate of any of the other evil beings.

Will Morgoth and "evil" Maiar partake in the Second Music?

2 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question