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Tolkien's Pythagorean 'Dissonance' in the Ainulindalë of the Silmarillion

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Tolkien's Pythagorean 'Dissonance' in the Ainulindalë of the Silmarillion 2020-3667-AJHIS 1 Tolkien’s Pythagorean ‘Dissonance’ in the Ainulindalë 2 of the Silmarillion 3 4 5 This article examines a notable yet perhaps overlooked feature of J.R.R. 6 Tolkien’s cosmogony in the Ainulindalë, the song of the Ainur, at the 7 beginning of the Silmarillion, with particular regard to the Pythagorean 8 elements that the author has elected to include. It will consider some relevant 9 passages of the text itself and then move onto some of the known or suspected 10 influences, their links with Christian thinking, Neo-Platonism and 11 Pythagoreanism, principally considering the impact of several ancient and 12 medieval sources. The question is scarcely one of whether or not Tolkien was 13 influenced by, and deliberately incorporated, Pythagorean elements into his 14 Silmarillion but by what epistemological routes these elements found their way 15 into his thinking, why he chose to utilised them and whether or not one crucial 16 aspect of Pythagorean musical theory, the role of dissonance, was self- 17 consciously adopted by the author or not. Was Tolkien intentionally borrowing 18 a fundamental feature of ancient musical theory or is his extensive 19 incorporation of it a by-product of the early Christian adaptation of 20 Pythagorean ideas? Or was it perhaps even an intuitive ‘discovery’, derived in 21 part from his education and background? Let us consider the evidence. 22 In the creation story at the beginning of the Silmarillion, the divine beings, 23 the Ainur, are summoned before their creator, Ehru Illúvatar (referred to also as 24 ‘the One’), to sing a song composed by that deity and from which, in a likeness 25 of it, the world, Arda, would be created. Immediately, one can detect a 26 parallelism with Plato’s Theory of Forms in Tolkien’s cosmogenic narrative. 27 This is a double creation myth that is both like and unlike others with which 28 Tolkien would have already been familiar. In fact it appears to have much in 29 common with the Hesiodic cosmogony in contrast to the creation in Genesis. 30 This can be observed in the process of order being formed out of chaos (the 31 Void), with the agency of the divine will of Illúvatar infusing every creation, 32 which is strikingly similar with the Stoic and Neo-Platonic concept of logos.1 It 33 is also very like Plato’s Theory Forms, where the song of the Ainur is the 34 pattern/Form/Idea of the world, which comes first, and then the actual, physical 35 creation comes next and ‘partakes’ of that pattern. I should add too that time is 36 a relative concept here as all events transpiring amongst the Ainur prior to the 37 creation of Arda occur in ‘eternity’ and therefore normal temporal referentials 38 do not strictly apply. Within the song being performed, one of the most 39 powerful of the Ainur, Melkor, introduces a sour note, so to speak: “it came 1K. R. Hensler, “God and Ilúvatar: Tolkien’s Use of Biblical Parallels and Tropes in His Cosmogony” in Mythmoot II: Back Again, Proceedings of the 2nd Mythgard Institute Mythmoot Conference Center at the Maritime Institute, Linthicum, Maryland, December 13- 15, 2013, 2-5. 1 2020-3667-AJHIS 1 into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining that were 2 not in accord with the theme of Illúvatar”.2 3 There are multiple references to the “discord” of Melkor, with Tolkien 4 adding that “the melodies that had been heard before foundered in a sea of 5 turbulent sound”.3 Three times Illúvatar rose from his throne, with stern visage, 6 to intervene when Melkor’s discord seems to overwhelm the harmony. 7 Melkor’s dissonant additions are described as “loud and vain, and endlessly 8 repeated”. But even though Melkor appears to be rebelling against the divine 9 will, Illúvatar declares: 10 11 Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may 12 know, and all the Ainur, that I am Illúvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will 13 show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see 14 that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any 15 alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine 16 instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not 17 imagined.4 18 19 Ehru Illúvatar, whose will is paramount, mingles the dissonance of Melkor 20 into the triple harmony, folding that discordant melody into the “theme” of the 21 song which is the pattern of the world. And this will result in considerable 22 strife playing out in world itself, which will be the subject of Tolien’s other, 23 more well-known books. Whether ‘evil’ therefore was there all along in 24 Illúvatar’s plan or came about as a consequence of the free will with which 25 Melkor had been imbued, is a subject of much debate amongst scholars.5 It 26 opens up a range of possible discussions about free-will and whether or not it 27 resides with the creator alone or in the created subjects or, in some sense, both. 28 That is not the principal subject of this inquiry; although, it figures prominently 29 into it, given Tolkien’s religious and philosophical influences. 30 Melkor differs markedly from the other gods (the Ainur or Valar, as those 31 that would go into Arda would be called) in the Silmarillion. And he aptly 32 illustrates Pythagorean elements, with conspicuously Christian overtones, 33 incorporated into the narrative. Melkor is the greatest in power amongst the 34 other created divinities and, like Milton’s fictionalised archangel Lucifer he has 35 his own plans which he seems to think are at variance with those of the 36 Supreme Being. Akin to Milton’s Lucifer, Tolkien writes, “To Melkor among 37 the Ainur had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge”.6 He is 38 described in comparison to the other divine beings as follows: 2J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. by C. Tolkien The Silmarillion. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977, 16-17. 3Ibid. 4Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 17. 5See for example C. Agan, “Hearkening to the Other: A Certeauvian Reading of the Ainulindale”, in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature, 34.1 (10), 2015, Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol34/ iss1/10 (accessed 17/04/20) and below. 6Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 16. 2 2020-3667-AJHIS 1 …of these Melkor was the chief…and he meddled in all that was done, turning it 2 if he might to his own desires and purposes; and he kindled great fires. When 3 therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to 4 the other Valar: “This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!”7 5 6 Clearly, in the first instance, Melkor is meant to recollect the Christian 7 Devil, in both biblical traditions and in fiction. And we can pin down Tolkien’s 8 narratological links with the Bible virtually to chapter and verse. 9 When, for example, Illúvatar summons the Ainur before him to sing his 10 song, it reflects Job 1:6 (KJV): “Now there was a day when the sons of God 11 came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among 12 them.” The descent of Melkor into Arda to work his mischief following the 13 creation too recalls Isaiah 14:12 (KJV): “How art thou fallen from heaven, O 14 Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst 15 weaken the nations!” Melkor will stir up serious strife amongst the elves firstly 16 and then amongst men and other creations, stealing the Silmarills (gems of 17 power made from the magic of creation from the Two Trees, Telperion and 18 Lorien) and destroying the Two Trees themselves which were the only source 19 of light in the world before the sun and moon were made, causing wars and 20 other violent upheavals. He will eventually be cast into the Nameless Void (not 21 unlike the pit of Hell), though his evil would live on through his protégé, the 22 lesser deity known as Sauron. What is more, like Milton’s Lucifer, Melkor 23 adopts an uglier, darker aspect when he goes into Arda to work his evil: 24 “Lucifer [i.e. Satan] was so illuminated that he far surpassed the brightness of 25 the sun, and all the stars…this brightness was dimmed after Satan’s fall.”8 And 26 Melkor too dwells in darkness, obsessed with the Void even before being cast 27 into it, and concealing his deeds through a cloak of shadows cast by one of his 28 monstrous servants, the giant spider Ungoliant. 29 The parallels are too many to be coincidence; more could certainly be 30 enumerated but will be omitted for want of space here. Indeed, we have 31 Tolkien’s own words on the matter which attest his own position with relative 32 clarity: 33 34 In the cosmogony there is a fall: a fall of Angels we should say. Though quite 35 different in form, of course, to that of Christian myth. These tales are ‘new’, they 36 are not directly derived from other myths and legends, but they must inevitably 37 contain a large measure of ancient wide-spread motives or elements.
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