Dragons | The Shaping of the Door of Night

The inconsistencies in Tolkien's texts are part of what makes his imaginings feel like myth. Real myths come from stories passed down and changed over time, having different tellings that clash with each other. We then collate these stories into the image of a myth for an entire civilisation. The Silmarillion is like a popular textbook discussing a mythos, creating the version of the myth that most people consider "canon".

Well, Eru did tell Melkor after the Music that all things have their origin in him and that anything Melkor makes only adds to the glory of His design. Perhaps the dragons on the door represent that; though born of Melkor's evil, they are ultimately still Eru's. Mayhap when the Second Music comes, even the lost and the damned, the twisted and the slaved, will be welcomed into Eru's loving embrace and counted among his Children. So glad I found this channel. Instant subscribe.

I can see the Valar explaining the Door to the Lore Masters trying to convey the terrible and mighty wards, glyphs, magiks that guard the door and much like you said, having to use the imagery of black dragons as a common reference point to beings who couldn't know how to process what they were being told. Like explaining a nuclear weapon to a 10th century farmer, the teller would have to use other imagery to make the point of its horrifying destruction. Thanks for the masterclass of thought, sir.□

I always loved that piece of John Howe artwork. The way Tolkien leaves it just adds to its ‘otherworldliness’, it’s as if we mortal men can’t comprehend it and it’s for the gods alone. Wether intentional or not, I really like the mysterious nature of the Door of Night. Great video, thanks!

When I thought I knew everything about Tolkien. There is always more

I see the doors (of night and morning) also as giant construction, I like the thought of these "doors" at the etches of the world in east and west. I find it intimidating and mysterious, imagine a freshly born elf who doesn't know that much of the stories of old, wandering to the western etch of Valinor/Aman and seeing this.

Dragons likely existed in Arda before Morgoth made them larger, smarter, fiercer. the dragons he bred are described as "fire drakes", or later, the winged fire drakes but there is earlier mention of "cold drakes", smaller wingless dragons that are unable to breathe fire. I think that they were natural creatures living in the north & east, that may have not originally been evil. but like wolves and other predatory beasts, they were brought under Morgoth's influence, becoming more powerful and intelligent over time but also more "sinful" in nature: wrathful, greedy, vain, etc. I think the dragons on the door of night represents this sort of dichotomy. The door of night in many ways representing the unknown, the dragon gargoyles represent creatures of darkness. On the one hand, they are guardians wielding this secret power, and on the other, they are slaves or captives of it. This sort of symbolism makes extra sense when you consider it as Morgoth's prison, in many ways he can be likened to a dragon himself.

Love the haunting background music.

I never thought of it as an actual door, as I always assumed that the ability to open it was in no way physical. Therefore the door itself need not be physical. For me, going through it would be something like how Saruman's spirit is described after Grima kills his physical body. Just disappearing in the wind.

A while ago, I had a conversation with GirlNextGondor regarding the Music of the Ainur. Her position, which I agreed with, was that it wasn't really music as incarnate beings such as men, dwarves, or elves know it but something beyond that such that describing it as music was the closest the Valar and Maiar could come to explaining it to the elves. I think the Door of Night is something similar; it is a portal to a different reality that operates according to different rules than those of Arda. The description us mortals have been given is simply the best the Valar could come up to try and describe it. Perhaps if we could go there it would appear something like what has been described but that could be a case of us seeing what we expect to see. What the door actually is isn't something our senses can fully grasp.

One Lore channel to rule them all..wow great video. Sometimes I feel like I dont even have an imagination when I compare it to Tolkien

This is the fourth video in my archives series, a favourite set of videos since I get to talk about topics that few others seem interested in making videos about! I have some other topics I'd like to cover - including one of my favourite stories that was left out of The Silmarillion (Melkor's early corruption of mankind). Is there any topic you think would be interesting to cover, something that changed over the course of Tolkien's writings? Feel free to share your ideas! Consider becoming a member of the channel for early access to videos and member only polls - youtube.com/channel/UCPOz2P0OxWp0ij0K4BsLsRw/join :_bookBook:

this just makes me think of Gandalf and his comment "300 lives of men I've walked this earth and now i have no time". How much more would Tolkien have written if he too had more time. He was gone mere months before I was born and yet he's had more influence on my life than my parents.

I was actually frightened by all that!

How many artists began to craft a creation only to end up with something unexpected? That is assuming the Door of Night was an actual physical object. If so, then Aulë would have had a hand in creating it. In such case, it is not unreasonable he could've been given a glimpse of things to come, possibly by Eru, and his vision could have thus been altered accordingly. That being said, if the Door of Night was something more mystical, even spiritual, in nature - then its appearance, its manifestation in the material realm, could vary through time, according to whomever approaches it.

If we accept that the Door of night was expressly made to expel Morgoth, then there's one very simple reason why the Valar might have decorated it with Dragons: to rub Morgoth's nose in his defeat one last time, and mock at him on the way out the door. It might also be a reminder of Iluvatar's words, that there was nothing Morgoth could achieve that could not be turned to his creator's purpose.

Great stuff as always. I think one of the things that gives Tolkien's works such depth is the ability to ask these questions without getting easy answers. Thanks for a thought provoking video!

I find the whole concept of the Door of Night to be pretty fascinating to me. Metaphysical cosmology of JRR Tolkien has always drawn my curiosity. I really like that drawing of the dragons on the door so I am completely fine with it. For all we know Melkor may have been inspired by those designs and perverted them for his dragons. Or they could be symbolic similar to some Bibical descriptions that go that way are when referring to something.

It's a fascinating idea. In my head I picture the walls of the world etc. from the description given as some sort of interdimensional Dyson Sphere. Outside of the walls is some sort of separate space cut off from what we would consider reality, much in the way that Eru is said to be isolated from the entire universe in his own personal space. For those of you not familiar with the concept, a Dyson Sphere is a theoretical construct built around a star allowing people to live on it and harness the stars energy for light heat and power. The description also somewhat matches up with the much later concept of the crystal spheres in Spelljammer Dungeons & Dragons. Though admittedly, that idea may have its origins in a world religion that I'm not familiar with.

Maybe it's as astronomical or astrological structure. Maybe the dragons are dust clouds obscuring the light of distant stars or illuminated nebula. Or maybe the 'dragons" are black holes, and Morgoth is in the pit of a planet in orbit around one and... oh my goodness, did I just show how the Lord of the Rings and Doctor Who are in the same universe?