Morgoth's Iron Crown~The One Ring?

[Laitoste]

I'm reading the Silmarillion again, and, after reading this passage about Morgoth's iron crown, started to draw connections with the One Ring:

That crown he never took from his head, though its weight became a deadly weariness

It reminded me of when Frodo was carrying the One Ring and it became very heavy, particularly around/in Mordor. Is this connection completely unfounded? Or can there be actual connections between the One Ring and the Iron Crown with Silmarils?

(I did look this up, but if this has been discussed, I sincerely apologize.)

[Gorwingel]

Well I guess you could look at it as being like the Ring for Morgoth. But I have very little knowledge in matters like this. Because I am currently only on my second reading of the Sil. I guess we would have to ask the questions of... Did Morgoth put part of his power into the crown? and If someone else wore it would Morgoth lose some of his power? But I have never heard anything that would lead to this being true.

[Lobelia]

Was it the crown or the Silmarils? I vaguely recall that there was something about the Silmarils that made them burn naughty people who tired to hold them and still he just had to have them. Perhaps that was what the reference meant?

[Lobelia]

Whoops, that's "tried", not "tired"! :-)

[davem]

Tolkien himself stated that the whole of Arda was Morgoth's 'Ring'. As Sauron did with the One Ring, Morgoth poured his power & evil will into the stuff of Arda, in order to control it. This in effect restricted what the Valar could do to combat him. To destroy Morgoth would be to inflict terrible damage on Arda. It also meant that Sauron had an easier task in coming to power, as the evil of Morgoth had deeply infected the whole of Middle Earth.

If his Crown somehow symbolised the 'weight' of Middle Earth, then you have a point. The crown is Iron, the stuff of the earth. Does it somehow symbolise his claim to it - he wears Middle earth, symbolically, as a 'decoration', but at the same time he is crushed by its weight, & the Silmarils burn symbolically in the matter of Middle Earth which surrounds his head (his mind).

There is, I suppose, a question of whether the power of the Silmarils in some way restricted his evil, held it in check. He certainly becomes more isolated, dwelling deeper & deeper within the earth, & as his evil goes out into Arda he becomes weaker.

There is a similarity between the Silmarils blazing in the heart of the Earth, & some of the Grail legends, where the Grail is a stone from the crown of Lucifer which, as he falls, embeds itself within the earth. The story of Beren & Luthien is basically a Grail Quest, after all. The Silmarils are stones from Paradise, stolen & hidden within the Earth, & the Quest is about liberating the Light from within the Darkness of the Earth, &, incidentally, about liberating Luthien from the 'darkness' of the world - in the end she leaves the circles of the World with Beren. She is no longer bound to the Elves fate of endless serial longevity, & passes to a place where there is 'more than memory', which is, ultimately, all the Elves will be left with. being bound to Arda till the end.

[symestreem]

I believe the Silmarils were in the crown.

[Kransha]

There are a lot of generic parallels one can make, but it seems to be merely a power metaphor. Every major villain/tyrant must have a source of power, and that power is sometimes a weakness. Sauron had the Ring, Morgoth had the Silmarils borne aloft in his iron crown. It doesn't seem to be purposefully distinct as much as it is showing how "weighty" the silmarils are.

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

Eh, I may be wrong, but I felt thet parallel is more towards stolen power. The Silmarilli were not corruptible when Morgoth stole them, which is why I think he fixed them onto his Iron crown instead of breaking them up and twisting them into something else. (No evidence that he tried to break them but why should Satan love Holy stuff?) Similarly, Sauron manufactured his One Ring which he hoped to steal the power of all the other rings. But the Three Rings which had not been touched by him could not be controlled i.e. because the Elves just won't let him.

Morgoth stole power, but used it only for decoration and to gloat at his foes. There HAD been evidence that the Silmarilli can strengthen evil too:

Of all the terrors that came ever into Beleriand ere Angband's fall the madness of Carcharoth was the most dreadful; for the power of the Silmaril was hidden within him.

But there was no evidence of Morgoth actually using the power of the Silmarilli for his evil deeds. Sauron, on the other hand could use the power of his One Ring to enslave everyone. But still, he could not control the three rings because they were hidden from him. Nonetheless, the power of the One Ring is to steal the power from the three while they are in use. Yet both Morgoth and Sauron gained nothing from the power that they had stolen.

Did Morgoth actually had a source of Power? Yes! Himself! He got dissipated into the Earth as weeds, into the water as poison, into the air as fumes. But did the Silmaril helped him to do all this? I doubt that the Silmaril can directly aid him in corrupting Arda while still remaining beautiful, not unless... He ate them? :D Yet, the power of the One Ring was Sauron's own, though he used it to steal power from all the other rings. So Prof T said when he wrote that Morgoth's Ring was the entire world while Sauron's Ring is a small jewel.

How can people wield a ring anyway?

[symestreem]

Then swiftly all his inwards were filled with a flame of anguish, and the Silmaril seared his accursed flesh. Howling he fled before them, and the walls of the valley of the Gate echoed with the clamour of his torment. So terrible did he become in his madness that all the creatures of Morgoth that abode in that valley, or were upon any of the roads that led thither, fled far away; for he slew all living things that stood in his path, and burst from the North with ruin upon the world. Of all the terrors that came ever into Beleriend ere Angband's fall the madness of Carcharoth was the most dreadful; for the power of the Silmaril was hidden within him.

Carcharoth was so dangerous becuase he was driven mad by the Silmaril. It did not strengthen his evil.

P.S. Does Tolkien's use of "inwards" instead of "innards" strike anyone else as odd?

[Legolas]

"innards" is slang for "inwards." It's very informal and in light of Tolkien's background, it would be truly odd had he used "innards" instead of "inwards."

I do not think the original post is saying that the Iron Crown was Morgoth's Ring as the One Ring was Sauron's - it's simply making an observation. The principle of weighing down their bearers is very similar. The bearers take on the heavy burden of these beautiful/powerful objects despite their weights because of a selfish, unhealthy obsession.