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1.27.18
455,612 [in dream] (“Orcs Must Die!”)
Therefrom (of Endar) sailed they cavernous upon a seabark, hollowed, over the Great Deep in Darkness, yet to live awhile again upon some other world by lesser and greater ones governed; Eru they knew, and Melkor also; he being branded a liar, was not unknown to Finwë’s House; yet to all others, that telling was concealed, for their minds were darkened, and to it Eru’s word-in-hand spoke not; neither would Melkor reveal himself until oaths – as to Finwë’s Son single and heir eventual, realized thereupon – had they given, him and to one another pronounced, of service without question, sudden to see in their eyes burned upon his skull, in white pure flame, that brand of Eru’s Handiwork, stamped without veil; And now these oath- takers knew, being deceived, entirely, deceiving themselves, and others also, for long years lying in opportune measures, but mostly forthright, by necessity; for Finwë was not easily deceived, nor Feanor accepting of lies before his face unrolled;
Every soul making this oath under delusion and by self and Melkor deceived, was by him sent into the Void, there to abide as sentries to everlasting assault – as later Gondor was to fail upon watch of Mordor arising – so they two parties, guards and garrison outposted awatch and awaiting word to defile all there encamped upon any world near, and by Melko deemed rebel-hearted; thus fail did they evil to discern in witness of good’s magic, to be and yet not by evil eyes be foreseen, afore or after passing; so many were by Eru brought through these doors, in passage, of his Realm Victorious, out into the Outer Dark, as to rest away, awaiting.
But not so in Eru-mind, was rest found, for though emptying all his own sentry and guards most valiant, vacated in a night, and thus appearing naked to assault by Melkor-host awander, these he sought to invite in, and to supplant their own garrison and guard with his people; Bound to Melkor in mind, heart, or by oath-everlasting, unbreaking, these castaways of Melkor’s spite discerned asudden gathered before their own overwatched places, a host of swords aflame in white purity, burning to sting the eyes of their souls, and to draw forth weeping, to cool;
And in having wept a force was of lies purged away, vomited out as it were in the eyes blinded, minds no longer darkened, but lighted by the flames the Eru-host bore, each:
Do you today renounce your oaths?
Evil-taken, known to yourselves to whom made,
Or otherwise, Eru cares not –
For he promises in our work to bring about
Release from bonds evil-set to crookeding
Thy souls corrupt. If yea, then we
Shall attend to thy release, and bond’s
Unchaining, by breaking;
If nay, then here Thou remain, until summoned, by one
Whose voice thou knowest, neither denied
In the command’s taking up, may you be;
To it, you come, when he calls. And we
Remain, ever seeking thy chain’s breaking,
Or thy soul’s unmaking, misery being a blight
Here spread out, contagious among thy masters,
Melkor most.
Some few relieved of chains, abided with Eru-host, seeking to convince by persuasion the recalcitrant, who would not; until all who remained enchained – as nails driven into a board, only to stand in witness, a testimony of the hammer’s pounding them in – stayed, and from them the host vanished, out of thought, recall, or wished for future-thought; nowhere in these darkened minds resides any residual presence of that Eru-host’s light; and in their parting, it was as if the Void alone was left to their present, whole, immutable, absolute; and these their master did call, when a new Arda was built, to soil its matter, in their breathing, by their looking out upon, by their memory, even; for death carried they, always, their lone desire, to not be, never were, nor ever it, and as worms these nothing-thoughts wormed burrows into Arda’s time, causing many to stumble in mind, when contemplating her life (the Music!).
Cantankerous Glamhothu, decreed Melkor here to join our song, and by hammering away, drive out harmony, bring His tune to naught, never to be bent again to a good course taken;
These your enemies, House Broken, resident between those pillars upon which is raised roof and beam between set; in unbelief of Eru stay they here, though not of their own minds – for rightly said, of mind they are dispossessed – Whose mind where unbelief rots beam’s placing, and the roof upheld, totters and declines, groaning? Thine.
So unbelief Eru wills begone, and as he wills, shall be, EA! Yet how so? By those from evil-oaths freed, happied, and joyous in labor on his behalf: there shall all see, in enemies once despised, and hunted, in fear avoided – in their transition to belief, and the light’s release. How so to bring release? In death of hroa, hroa being bound only, in Melkor’s devising: for Spirit is, and though may be bound to flesh of some Power’s design, or bred thereto a-shackle for spirit unclean, never may spirit Be, if bound be it, to other than it-is, being itself ensnared self, eternal, whole, encircled. Thus as a chain maybe set to link a free loop, so spirit may be linked, good or evil taking on; yet that looped being is not thereby altered to good or evil; Being un-unmake-able, yet also desiring, encounters unlike its own encircled being (or “soul”); some to evil pursued their desires, others to good. What is good, then, and what evil?
These things (sayings, of a sort here given) cannot be answered, if being asked.
Good is, and Evil is not nothing, but a seeming opens where Evil be conducted; and in asking, and our perhaps unwise answering here, may seem, and not entirely Be; as all lore, words, and minds corrupt, unbelief wedging away heart therefrom, and through heartsore feeling, sadness disturbs mind, to wandering whence joy speaks beyond refutation;
Those orcs (as the “nails” became) maybe of bodies bereft, and yet too late we elf-kin learned, in bodies we ought to have kept them, preserved, enchained; for released of Melko’s, or Thu’s handiwork (or even Saruman wise, who those fleshes blended to one), the orc sought out any void to shelter in, grieved by What Is, and longing to Not-be, never was, ever is; so they came to reside in haunts of unbelief, and there Men propounded doctrines;
They are not – the orc – but a seeming remains, as a trace of their emptying out; and here alone may Eru heal, out of seeming resemblance, EA!
By mutual conversing, Finwë’s House upon that bark came to such understanding, and though returning to seek those castaway in Melkor’s service, none remained for them to recover, and give place on that lighted raft amid the Eternal Night; yet in returning thither, a trail came they upon, as of bread crumb’s lighted upon a dark forest lain, in ambition of return from some foolish foray thereto; following these, castaway came they instead honored, invited guests, landed to stay awhile – according to their desires, so be it – upon Eru-place’s shores.
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