Where did he come from? Who is he and who was Morgoth?

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Morgoth is one of the ainur and also the most powerful (at least in the beginning) of the valar. but he became evil and wanted to rule elves and men
and the arda. that was why he was fought by the other valar.

Sauron is one of the maiar of the people of aule. thats why he knows much about the forging of magic rings. he was the most powerful servant of morgoth in the first age and afterwards became his own master.

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><>Son of God, brother of Jesus. I've got the best family I could have imagined! Saved by his mercy and love. What else could I wish for?<><

Do tell more!

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Morgoth, as Eruhin said, was the greatest of the Ainur, but he became greedy and desired glory and power for himself, and sought to rule Arda and form it to the way he wanted, instead of the way it was supposed to be. Eventually, the other Valar (the greatest of the Ainur) completed the Shaping of Arda despite his attempts to stop them, though. He corrupted many of the Maiar (the lesser Ainur) to his service, among them being Sauron and the Valaraukar (Balrogs).

When the Elves first awoke, Melkor (Morgoth's original name) had a fortress in Middle-earth where he spread his evil from in secret. He knew of the Elves before the Valar did, and captured some of them, torturing and mutilating them "with slow, cruel arts" until at last they were shaped into the evil race of Orcs. So that's how Orcs and Elves are related.

Skipping most of The Silmarillion, after many years of war with the Elves, the Edain (those first groups of men who fought for the Elves instead of for Morgoth), and the Valar, Morgoth was defeated, chained, and cast beyond the Doors of Night, from which he will eventually return for Dagor Dagorlath, the last battle. However, I haven't read much about that, so someone who has, such as Lord of All, might be able to tell you more.

After Morgoth's defeat, Sauron (also named Gorthaur) was left on his own, and basically became a weaker version of Morgoth, though he didn't have Balrogs and stuff under his command.

Obviously, there's a lot more stuff to be learned about both of them, but what I wrote answers the basic question. Everything else would take a long time to write up.

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where can i read about dagor dagorath and the world in and after the fourth age?

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><>Son of God, brother of Jesus. I've got the best family I could have imagined! Saved by his mercy and love. What else could I wish for?<><

It's in one of the books of The History of Middle-earth. I haven't read it. What I know about Dagor Dagorath comes from The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales 1&2, and what Lord of All has told me.

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What else did Tokien write about the history of middle-earth and where do you get hold of such books?

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<center><font size="0">'Before you came along we bagginses were <i>very</i> well thought of...never had any adventures or did anything unexpected!''</font></br><a href="http://www.frodoforever.com/"><img src="http://www.hufflepuffpride.com/frodo/claim2.gif" border="0" width="200" height="120"></a>

I would go to a local bookstore (if there's one around you) and look for them, and if it's not there, I would order them online, at Half.com, or Amazon.com or something.

But I think The History of Middle-earth series, The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, and the tiny bit that is mentioned in The Lord of the Rings is all he wrote about the history of Middle-earth.

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i read all the ones you named aerandir nut i dont know much about it... maybe i should ask lord of all

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><>Son of God, brother of Jesus. I've got the best family I could have imagined! Saved by his mercy and love. What else could I wish for?<><

hmm...well that's interesting. If you read all of those books surley you can pick up lots of things but perhaps not

So Tolkien also wrote all of those books or were they what was left to his grandchildren or someone to continue for him with the given info provided by Tolkien

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well. the books of the "history of middle-earth" are mainly earlier versions of the silmarillion and tLotR but it's quite interesting and detailed so if you are really interested in it it's worth it but i found them not easy to read.

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><>Son of God, brother of Jesus. I've got the best family I could have imagined! Saved by his mercy and love. What else could I wish for?<><

To see what is in each volume of HoME and when each part was written, go to this link. They were all written by Tolkien in various times, and have been gathered and compiled (and annotated) by his son Christopher. Other bits and pieces of JRRT's writings, like an essay on Elvish telepathy and the names of the rivers and beacon-hills of Gondor, and what was behind the Door of the Dead, have been published in Tolkienian linguistic journals.

Tolkien's Letters also contain a wealth of information, and so do the Bodleian library (notoriously difficult to get into) and the archives at Marquette University, which host several unpublished manuscripts, letters, drafts, linguistic stuff, etc.

I'm so going to get my hands on them all sometime. I will.

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Thanks everyone!

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No problemo, FG.

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