Was Melkor Bipolar?

[Ren the Unclean]

I have always found the evil characters interesting. I like to analyze their character traits and motives.

I have always thought of Melkor as a Charismatic Sociopath. He was charming and manipulative, and almost totally lacking in empathy.

But there was more to him than that. He was impulsive, exuberant, reckless, irritable, destructive, self-confident to the point of grandiosity, and more interested in sex than most Ainur.

I recently started reading Andy Behrman’s memoir about his struggle with bipolar disorder. “Manic Depression is about … madness, moments of absolute delusion, bliss, and irrational choices made in order to heighten pleasure and excitement and to ensure a sense of control. … Most days I need to be as manic as possible to come as close as I can to destruction” And I thought, “He’s acting just like Melkor!”

A recent news article on Charlie Sheen listed some characteristic bipolar symptoms including “grandiosity (or is it delusions of grandeur?), exhilaration, hyper-energy, inappropriate and reckless behaviors, impulsiveness”. All of which sound very like Melkor.

I do realize that Melkor is a fictional character penned before Manic-Depressive/Bipolar disorder was recognized. However, so was Mr. Toad from “The Wind in the Willows”, and he definitely had the disorder. (Badger: “Toad may be brought back at any moment – on a stretcher, or between two policemen.”)

So what do you think? Bipolar Disorder doesn’t justify Melkor’s behavior, but does it help to explain it?

[Nerwen]

I'm sorry, Ren, but I don't understand how it can be valid to diagnose a fictional character with anything. At most you can say something like, "he had the symptoms of X" or "might have been diagnosed with Y if he'd been a real person".

This–

Originally Posted by Ren

I do realize that Melkor is a fictional character penned before Manic-Depressive/Bipolar disorder was recognized. However, so was Mr. Toad from “The Wind in the Willows”, and he definitely had the disorder.

–is, I'm afraid, simply begging the question.

[Nerwen]

Besides, Ren, surely you've noticed that every time some disease or other gets a somewhat positive media coverage, and a crop of "celebrity victims" many people are– for a little while– convinced they see it in themselves, their family members, historical figures, characters in Shakespeare... etc., etc. In fact, there's probably about fifty other things you could "diagnose" Melkor with just as easily.

Was he in fact, crazy? Well, I certainly wouldn't call him a paragon of mental balance, would you? But I think it's just more valid to leave it at at "generally, amorphously crazy" rather than trying to pin a medical diagnosis on a fictional character, especially one who isn't even a human being.

[Morthoron]

I wonder if one can even state a divinity or angelic being (albeit, a fictional deity) can exhibit any form of mental illness or ailments whatsoever. Being immortal, it would seem that such a being would not suffer from diminished mental capacity or the thousand natural shocks which flesh is heir to.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

I wonder if one can even state a divinity or angelic being (albeit, a fictional deity) can exhibit any form of mental illness or ailments whatsoever. Being immortal, it would seem that such a being would not suffer from diminished mental capacity or the thousand natural shocks which flesh is heir to.

All the same, I do quite like the idea of Morgoth trying to plead insanity after the War of Wrath.

[Cirdan]

And was Melkor tired, depressed and suicidal? -the other "pole"?

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Bipolar+disorder

Melkor was evil, the Satanic, fallen 'angel'.

[Galadriel]

Bipolar? I really don't think so. If he were honestly a bipolar, he'd be running around screaming, "MURDER, BLOODY MURDER!" one week and, "Let's forget the whole thing about taking over Arda...sigh," the next. Furthermore, I don't think bipolars have the capacity to be 'charming'. They're pretty darn frightening.

At least as far as I know...

[Bom Tombadillo]

As someone with a bipolar relative, whose most recent and, hopefully, last episode I got to experience the peak of, I can say that Melkor's behavior does not remind me of someone bipolar. I agree with Galadriel that bipolar people are far more frightening than charming (at least during manic periods - it's just sad when they become depressed ).

Also . . . all right, I'll bite. Where do you get the impression that he is

more interested in sex than most Ainur.

? I for one have not seen anything that would indicate that. Then again, I am just starting my second reading of the Silmarillion and lack some of the familiarity with the subject matter possessed by others here.

[Ren the Unclean]

quote
"all right, I'll bite. Where do you get the impression that he is more interested in sex than most Ainur."


Just an impression, but based on a couple of things:


1. Melkor's interest in Luthien. When Sauron saw Luthien in Tol Sirion, "he thought to make her captive and hand her over to the power of Morgoth, for his reward would be great." (The text doesn't specify, but I assumed she would be sent to his bed.)

Later, Melkor saw her (and Beren) in Angband. "Then Morgoth looking upon her beauty conceived in his thought an evil lust, and a design more dark than any that had yet come into his heart since he fled from Valinor. Thus he was beguiled by his own malice, for he watched her, leaving her free for awhile, and taking secret pleasure in his thought." (Again, the text never says what his dark thought was, but most likely same as above.)


2. Melkor's attempt to ravish Arien, the maia who piloted ship of the Sun. "In other writings, Morgoth wanted to claim Arien as a wife, and ravished her, upon which she abandoned her body and 'died', leaving the Sun to travel through the skies uncontrollably and burning parts of Arda."


Since Ainur don't reproduce, I tend to think of them as asexual (again, just my impression). So I find it out-of-the-ordinary that there's an an Ainu who seems to have an interest.

[Bom Tombadillo]

Hmm. I recognize the Luthien quotes, although I personally disagree with your interpretation . . . but from what source did you get the Arien quote?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Bom Tombadillo

Hmm. I recognize the Luthien quotes, although I personally disagree with your interpretation . . .

Same here. I thought that the "lust" was having a bit of entertainment by torturing the girl to insanity by some extra-special means.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Bom Tombadillo

As someone with a bipolar relative, whose most recent and, hopefully, last episode I got to experience the peak of, I can say that Melkor's behavior does not remind me of someone bipolar.

Right. Those who are bipolar are not evil. They do not perpetrate cruelty and impose domination over others; at the worst of the manic phase they can be aggressive, intolerant, or intrusive but those traits are mild in comparison to what Melkor intends. They also cannot control their own "swings" nor are they motivated by malice. In contrast, Melkor's behaviour is almost always premeditated, even when it is influenced by his own cruelty and malice. I don't think he is ever referred to as "fey", as is Feanor in "Of the Return of the Noldor."

Originally Posted by Sarumian

I don't see a crime in finding likelyhood between two things, but for me it's rather a matter of further questions about roots and reasons (poor old Smeagol ) And if I wanted to work something out of this finding, I would rather ask why Tolkien used those characteristics typical for the disorder to describe the Father of All Troubles?

I never said it was a crime to compare, but that the comparison was not fitting or appropriate. Unlike Melkor, people who are mentally ill are not held responsible, criminally responsible, for their behaviour. And also Melkor does not have, as others have said here, characteristics of bipolar behaviour.

[Durelin]

And just as a note, as far as I know, we're talking about a disorder that can be diagnosed at various degrees of severity...so someone with bipolar disorder being 'frightening' or running around screaming suggests to me great severity, other problems, or they're just messing with you. (I also am close to someone with the disorder, though not severe.)

But I agree with Ren that I considered Melkor to demonstrate his evil in many ways. I recall reading the bit about Melkor and Luthien and thinking he exhibited lust, as well. But what Melkor is all about is (as with all great evils), of course, power. He desires control over people and demonstrates his power through harm.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Durelin

And just as a note, as far as I know, we're talking about a disorder that can be diagnosed at various degrees of severity...so someone with bipolar disorder being 'frightening' or running around screaming suggests to me great severity, other problems, or they're just messing with you. (I also am close to someone with the disorder, though not severe.)

Dury, your point about degree is well taken, yet that does not change the question of whether this issue opens up the text to greater understanding if we apply the contemporary context of psychotic disorder or if it leads us astray in trying to understand Melkor's role. Is his fundamental motivation to control people and employ harm to gain power part of the current description of bipolar disorder?

Originally Posted by Durelin

But I agree with Ren that I considered Melkor to demonstrate his evil in many ways. I recall reading the bit about Melkor and Luthien and thinking he exhibited lust, as well. But what Melkor is all about is (as with all great evils), of course, power. He desires control over people and demonstrates his power through harm.

One other issue about interpretation is that the word "lust" has undergone signifcant shifts in meaning, and the Old English meanings in particular are not limited exclusivley to sexual desire. We can point to Tolkien's knowledge of Old English and consider if he was using these older meanings. And we can examine the text to see how well it supports interpretation of sexual desire.

Readers are free to make any interpretation they wish, but they should also be able to justify their interpretion or explain their theoretical perspective.

Here are some of the older meanings of the word lust.

Originally Posted by OED

a. Pleasure, delight. Const. in, to, unto. (Sometimes coupled with liking.) Obs.
c888 Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xxiv. §3 Þa sæde he [Epicurus]  se lust wære  hehste good.
c1275 Luue Ron 93 in Old Eng. Misc. 96 He [Jesus] is feyr and bryht on heowe‥Of lufsum lost of truste treowe.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 92 Of zuyche blisse and of zuyche loste no liknesse‥ne may by yuounde‥ine lostes of þe wordle.
c1380 Eng. Wycliffite Serm. in Sel. Wks. I. 2 Sone, have mynde how þou haddist lust in this lyfe, and Lazar peyne.
a1470 Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 810 Alas! my swete sonnys,‥for youre sakys I shall fyrste lose my lykynge and luste.
a1529 J. Skelton Elynour Rummyng (?1545) 222 Whan we kys and play, In lust and in lykyng.
c1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David xxii. v, Let God save hym in whom was all his lust.
1594 Shakespeare Lucrece sig. K2, Gazing vppon the Greekes with little lust.
a1616 Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iv. iii. 486.

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†b. pl. Pleasures. Obs.
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) viii. 14 Þa ðe‥of carum‥& of lustum þiss lifes synt for-þrysmede.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 72 Þer hy habbeþ‥hire solas, hire blisse, and hire confort, and alle hire lostes.
c1369 Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 581 My lyf, my lustes be me lothe.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) 2 Tim. iii. 4 Loueris of lustis [Vulg. voluptatum amatores] more than of God.
c1420 Anturs of Arth. 213 This es it to luffe paramoures, and lustis [v.r. listes] and litys.
c1540 Destr. Troy 3317 All your ledys‥[shal] lyue in þis lond with lustes at ease.

c1000—c1540(Hide quotations)

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c. quasi-concr. A source of pleasure or delight; †an attraction, charm (obs.). poet.
1390 J. Gower Confessio I. 46 O Venus,‥Thou lif, thou lust, thou mannes hele.
1390 J. Gower Confessio II. 46 In kertles and in Copes riche Thei weren clothed‥With alle lustes that eche knew Thei were enbrouded overal.
1423 Kingis Quair lxv, Our lyf, oure lust, oure gouernoure, oure quene.
1549–62 T. Sternhold & J. Hopkins Whole Bk. Psalms lxii. 7 God is my glory and my health, my soules desire and lust.

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†d. Liking, friendly inclination to a person. Obs.
c1430 Freemasonry 506 For they were werkemen of the beste, The emperour hade to them gret luste.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Num. xiv. A, Yf the Lorde haue lust vnto vs [1611 If the Lord delight in vs].

c1430—1535(Hide quotations)

†2.

a. Desire, appetite, relish or inclination for something. Const. of; to (with n. or inf.). Sometimes joined with leisure (cf. list n.4 2). Obs.Now merged in the stronger use 5 (influenced by 4).
a900 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (1890) v. xiii. [xii.] 436 Mid unges~wencedlice luste heofonlicra gode.
c1000 Ælfric Homilies I. 86 Him wæs metes micel lust.
?c1225 (1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C. 6) (1972) 96 Oðer hwile þe lust is hat towart an sunne.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 253 Þe oþer stape is þet me zette mesure ine þe loste and mid þe likinge of þe wille.
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) xxviii. 285, I hadde no lust to go to tho parties.
a1470 Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 253 The wedir was hote aboute noone, and sir Launcelot had grete luste to slepe.
15.. Frere & Boye 56 in J. Ritson Pieces Anc. Pop. Poetry (1833) 37 Hys dyner forth he drough: Whan he sawe it was but bad, Ful lytell lust thereto he had.
1528 Tyndale Obedience Christen Man To Rdr. f. iiijv, Yf we thurst, his [sc. God's] trueth shall fulfill oure luste.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 580/2, I have nothing so good luste to my worke as I had yesterdaye.
1570 J. Foxe Serm. 2 Cor. v, Ep. Ded. sig. A iiij, Men wholy geuen ouer to worldly studyes haue litle leysure, and lesse lust, either to heare Sermons or to read bookes.
1613 F. Beaumont Knight of Burning Pestle i. sig. C3v, If you would consider your state, you would haue little lust to sing, I-wisse.
1627 W. Sclater Briefe Expos. 2 Thess. (1629) 276, I have neither lust nor leasure to enter the question.

a900—1627(Hide quotations)


†b. with indefinite article. Obs.
1426 Lydgate tr. G. de Guileville Pilgr. Lyf Man 23360, I had a lust‥for to holden my passage.
1528 T. Paynell tr. Regimen Sanitatis Salerni (1535) 11 b, No man ought to eate but after he hath a luste.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 616/1, I have a luste to gyve you a blowe on the cheke.
1549–62 T. Sternhold & J. Hopkins Whole Bk. Psalms lxxi. (1566) 167 From my youth I had a lust Stil to depend on thee.
1641 J. Jackson True Evang. Temper ii. 161 Such as did seeke the Glory of Martyrs‥out of a lust of dying.

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†c. (One's) desire or wish; (one's) good pleasure. Phr. at (after) one's lust . Obs.
c950 Lindisf. Gosp. John i. 13 Ðaðe ne of blodum ne of uillo vel of lust lichomæs ne from uillo vel lust [weres] ah Gode gecened sint.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 2899 Sua ferr your lust yee foln noght, Þat yee for-gete him þat yow wroght.
c1405 (1385) Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 1620 Weep now namoore, I wol thy lust fulfille.
a1500 (1450) Merlin (1899) xvi. 268 Whan he was all to-brosed and hym diffouled at her lust saf thei haue hym not slain.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xci. 11 Myne eye also shal se his lust of myne enemies.
c1540 Destr. Troy 8852 All the pepull to pyne put and dethe at oure lust?
1576 A. Fleming tr. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 18 If by the law of your lust, you account me a craftie‥felow.
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 14v, Will thy father‥giue thee libertie to lyue after thyne owne lust?
1609 Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. v. 132 When I am hence, Ile answer to my lust.
1677 C. Sedley Antony & Cleopatra i. 5 The Valiant cannot board, nor Coward fly, But at the lust of the unconstant Sky.

c950—1677(Hide quotations)

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†d. = longing n.1 2. Obs.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 241/2 Luste as women with chylde have.

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3. spec. in Biblical and Theological use: Sensuous appetite or desire, considered as sinful or leading to sin. Often pl. esp. in the lusts of the flesh , fleshly lusts.
OE Cynewulf Juliana 409 Him sylfum selle þynceð leahtras to fremman ofer lof godes, lices lustas.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 29 Ðre þing beð þat mankin heuieð. On is þe selue lust, oðer is iuel lehtres. Ðe þridde flesliche lustes.
c1230 Hali Meid. 3 Pricunges of fleschliche fulðen to licomliche lustes.
a1400 Cursor M. 28749 (Cott. Galba) , Fasting and gude bisines gers a man fle lustes of fless.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) 1 John ii. 16 All that is in the worlde (as the lust of the flesshe, the lust of the eyes, and the pryde of gooddes).
a1616 Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. iii. 331 Wee haue reason to coole our raging motions, our carnall stings, our vnbitted lusts.
1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. i. 2 Which set a man at liberty from his lusts and passions.
1857 F. D. Maurice Epist. St. John viii. 130 These sensual pleasures, these gods of our creation, these lusts which we are feeding.
1900 J. Watson in Expositor Sept. 193 This world with its pride and its riches and its lust and its glitter must pass away.

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4. Sexual appetite or desire. Chiefly and now exclusively implying intense moral reprobation: Libidinous desire, degrading animal passion. (The chief current use.)
c1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 358 Weres wylla to gefremmanne nime bares geallan & smyre mid þone teors & þa hærþan þonne hafað he mycelne lust.
a1100 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 524/34 Ueneris, lustes.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 26254 Man þat menges him wit best for his flexs lust to ful-fill.
c1315 Shoreham Poems i. 1981 Ne stren may nou encressy Wyþ-oute flesches loste.
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) iv. 27 The grete lust that he had to hire.
c1412 T. Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1563 Thou deemest luste and love convertible.
1593 Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Fv, Loue comforteth like sun-shine after raine, But lusts effect is tempest after sunne.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Fovre-footed Beastes 105 In the time of their lust (commonly called cat-wralling) they [sc. cats] are wilde and fierce, especially the males.
1641 Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia sig. A3, He never spared man in his Anger, nor woman in his Lust.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost ix. 1015 In Lust they burne: Till Adam thus 'gan Eve to dalliance move.
1697 Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 90 Wine urg'd to lawless Lust the Centaurs Train.
a1704 T. Brown Satire against Woman in Wks. (1707) I. i. 84 We need not rake the Brothel and the Stews, To see what various Scenes of Lust they use.
1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful i. §10. 17 The passion which belongs to generation, merely as such, is lust only.
1855 Tennyson Maud xxii. ii, in Maud & Other Poems 75 The feeble vassals of wine and anger and lust.