Magic by Melkor, No Returns Accepted - Page 7
© Michael Martinez
Not that all practitioners of magic would have to be evil. The Numenoreans of Cardolan, at least, had the means to make enchanted swords. The barrow-blades Tom Bombadil gave to the Hobbits were "wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor". Faramir told Frodo and Sam that even in Gondor some of his people continued to make elixirs in their desperate search for longer life, and some men continued to consort with the Elves. And in a letter to a reader, Tolkien said that Beorn was a Man, "though a skin-changer and a bit of a magician". Such men would not have sought to commune with the Elvish spirits, the Unbodied, or with Sauron and the Nazgul. They would have sought a less tainted lore.
And since Melkor's power was disseminated through the physical world there would be plenty of material to work with. One did not need to enchant material which was already enchanted. Gold made a poor source for weaponry but it could be traced upon the blades of iron swords (as the barrow-blades were so traced). The barrow-blades were also decorated with gems, and made of a strange metal the Hobbits did not recognize. And Denethor knew at once that Pippin's sword had been made by Dunedain of the north. Did he recognize the weapons by their design, their materials, or by something else?
The Numenoreans also constructed the vast tower of Orthanc, which was so smooth and so strong its stone could not be broken by the Ents. Was there magic involved there? Was the dark stone with which the Numenoreans worked filled with an unusually large amount of Melkor's essence, or was there simply enough that they could sing or chant their thought into it so that the tower became nearly impregnable? And what was the black stone of Erech made of? Why was it so important to the Dead Men of Dunharrow? Isildur had placed it there, and their king had sworn an oath upon it. Was the stone perhaps a repository of a greater portion of the Morgoth-element than, say, other stones of similar size and shape?
But then, would Isildur still be able to make use of the Morgoth-element to curse the Men of Dunharrow for breaking their oath? As a Man he lacked the power to confine an entire tribe's spirits to Middle-earth for thousands of years. Even the mightiest of sorcerors among Men don't seem to have achieved anything comparable. Hence, Isildur's curse must have been powered by something greater, something more pure. Even the Valar did not have the authority to keep Men in the Halls of Ea forever. It would be an act of defiance and rebellion for Namo to keep a Mannish spirit very long at all. So the will and authority to enforce Isildur's curse must have come from a greater power, and that could only be Iluvatar himself.
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