Lesson 1. Breakdown: what matters and what's interesting

“Ainulindalë” (Quenya for “the Music of the Ainur”) is the cosmogonic myth that opens “The Silmarillion.” It is not a chapter about heroes but an account of the creation of the world. There is the One, Eru, who is called Ilúvatar (“Father of All”). First he makes the Ainur, “the Holy Ones,” mighty spirits born of his thought. He gives them musical themes, and they sing before him. One of the Ainur, Melkor, weaves his own motifs into the common Music, wishing to magnify his own part. Discord arises, the first disharmony in the world. Three times Ilúvatar raises a new theme, and at last he shows the Ainur the Vision, an image of the World (Eä) that is to come. Then with the word “Eä!” (“Let it be!”) he gives the world true being, and some of the Ainur descend into it to make real what they have seen.

— Eru, “the One”; Ilúvatar, “Father of All” (ilúvë “all” + atar “father”). This is the monotheistic summit of Tolkien's world: everything comes from the One. — Ainur, “the Holy Ones” (sing. Ainu). They are angelic spirits; those of them who entered the world will become the Valar and Maiar. — Eä, Quenya for “It is / Let it be”; this is the name of the created World itself. — Music as the foundation of being is the key image: the world is literally “sung.” So every event in history is part of a single theme. The main theological idea: even Melkor's rebellion does not destroy the design. Ilúvatar says that every theme has its source in him and that no one can change the Music to spite him: every attempt at evil ends up serving a still greater beauty that its author could never have imagined. This is Tolkien's version of the idea that evil is not independent and is ultimately subject to a good design.

— Light and darkness, harmony and discord are set here as the main axis of all of “The Silmarillion”: the history of the world is the struggle of the original Music against the distortions Melkor brought into it. — The theme of the “Marring of Arda”: the corruption Melkor put into the Music itself runs through the very matter of the world, hence sickness, decay, and death in their evil forms. — The parallel with the biblical motif of the fallen angel is obvious, but Tolkien deliberately does not make evil a power equal to God: Melkor is a creature, not a rival of Eru. — Even in “The Lord of the Rings” this idea echoes in the thought that the enemy, too, unwittingly serves the good: Gollum and the very evil of the Ring are all woven into a theme whose outcome leads to good.