The size of Morgoth and Sauron - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Vultur · 08-04-2010, 01:14 AM

How big do you imagine Morgoth's form (when he became locked into one shape, 'a dark lord, tall and terrible') was? I always imagined him absolutely towering over Fingolfin, three or four times his height; the description of his fight with Fingolfin suggests immense size, 'the rumour of his feet as like thunder', 'he stood before the King like a tower', his shield 'cast a shadow over him [Fingolfin] like a stormcloud', and when Morgoth sets a foot on Fingolfin 'the weight of it was like a fallen hill'. Also, when Luthien enchanted him to sleep, 'he fell, as a hill sliding in avalanche'. But I saw a webpage that pointed out that the line 'Morgoth set his left foot upon his [Fingolfin's] neck' suggests that Morgoth wasn't that huge, else he'd just be standing on Fingolfin as a whole. So how big do you imagine him as?

For comparison, in one of his letters Tolkien says that Sauron's incarnate form was 'of more than human stature, but not gigantic'. Fairly vague, but I tend to imagine him taller than Elendil and Gil-galad, but not overpoweringly so -- a head or so taller. (Elendil himself was ludicrously tall, though.) I imagine Sauron's form was much smaller than that of Morgoth...

08-04-2010, 01:14 AM	#1
Vultur Pile O'Bones Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 14	The size of Morgoth and Sauron How big do you imagine Morgoth's form (when he became locked into one shape, 'a dark lord, tall and terrible') was? I always imagined him absolutely towering over Fingolfin, three or four times his height; the description of his fight with Fingolfin suggests immense size, 'the rumour of his feet as like thunder', 'he stood before the King like a tower', his shield 'cast a shadow over him [Fingolfin] like a stormcloud', and when Morgoth sets a foot on Fingolfin 'the weight of it was like a fallen hill'. Also, when Luthien enchanted him to sleep, 'he fell, as a hill sliding in avalanche'. But I saw a webpage that pointed out that the line 'Morgoth set his left foot upon his [Fingolfin's] neck' suggests that Morgoth wasn't that huge, else he'd just be standing on Fingolfin as a whole. So how big do you imagine him as? For comparison, in one of his letters Tolkien says that Sauron's incarnate form was 'of more than human stature, but not gigantic'. Fairly vague, but I tend to imagine him taller than Elendil and Gil-galad, but not overpoweringly so -- a head or so taller. (Elendil himself was ludicrously tall, though.) I imagine Sauron's form was much smaller than that of Morgoth...