The Darkening of Valinor

FADE IN:

EXT. THE SKY-TWILIGHT

Clouds drift. No sunlight filters through, but the undersides of the clouds are lit from below.

MELIAN (Voice over)
Few remember the Elder Days, before the world was broken and became Middle Earth. Before Men, Dwarves and Halflings walked the land. When the world belonged to the Elves alone. Those were days before the sun and the stars were hung. When light came, not from the sky, but from the earth.

EXT. VALINOR-DAY

The two trees, Telperion and Laurelin, stand atop a high hill. They glow silver and gold.

MELIAN (Voice over)
All the light in the world flowed from the two trees, Laurelin, that burned with the bright beauty of gold, and Telpherion, that glowed with the soft radiance of silver, and it was the truest, purest light in creation. They were made and tended by the Valar, the powers that shaped and guarded the world. Beings who Men would later call gods.

ELVES by the thousand gather around the trees and turn their faces to the light. The light on those upturned faces enhance their beauty.

EXT. VALINOR-DAY

We see the land of the Valar from far above. There is a point of light like a star in the midst of the land.

MELIAN (Voice over)
Elves by the thousand journeyed to dwell in Valinor, the land of the gods, to bathe in that light. Things were possible in those times that the world would never see again.

INT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-DAY

FEANOR, a tall Elf of exceptional beauty and power, is bent over a vat of some strange liquid. He pours the steaming liquid into a box-mold.

MELIAN (Voice over)
Feanor, the greatest among all the Elvish craftsmen, created the Silmarils: three gems of exquisite beauty.

INT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-DAY

FEANOR holds up a Silmaril: a many-faceted gem, perfectly clear, resembling a diamond.

MELIAN (Voice over)
But that was only the beginning of his great work.

EXT. VALINOR-DAY

FEANOR and his seven SONS stand before a vast gathering of ELVES. GALADRIEL, a young Elf woman with golden hair, is in the front rank of the crowd. Feanor and his sons stand behind a long table draped with a black cloth. Three small lumps are under the cloth.

Feanor smiles, waves his hand for their patience and attention, and pulls aside the cloth with a showman's flourish. It is like parting the clouds, for a beautiful silver-and-gold light at once shines forth, to the amazement of all. Galadriel gasps in stunned delight.

The three Silmarils lie on the table, no longer clear but glowing with the light of the Trees.

MELIAN (Voice over)
Feanor had captured the light of the trees within his Silmarils, the greatest objects created by earthly hands.
But there was one who was displeased.

EXT. THE NORTH-TWILIGHT

A frozen wasteland at the edge of the light cast by the two trees. The Iron Mountains rise in the background, dark and indistinct.

EXT. THE NORTH-TWILIGHT

MORGOTH emerges from the darkness. He wears the form of a tall Man. At first he is only a black silluete, but as he steps closer to the light we make out a few details of his face and features, but not many. He only comes halfway into the light before stopping and turning away, wincing in pain as the light hurts his eyes, but though half-turned away he strains to look back at the light. We can't see him, but we read the greed in his posture and clutching hands.

MELIAN (Voice over)
One of the Valar did not share the dream of his brothers and sisters. He dreamed of power, of bending everything, every life in the world, to his will. He named himself Melkor, He who arises in Might, and all his servants and slaves so called him, but to those who fought against him he was Morgoth, Enemy of the World.

EXT. VALINOR, THE TREES-DAY

The hill is deserted. A SHADOW creeps up the hill toward the trees, like a black fog. It stops at the foot of the trees, and grass withers and dies where it touches. UNGOLIANT is in the shadow, a bloated, bulbous shape with long legs. MORGOTH steps out of the shadow, a spear in one hand, the other arm held in front of his face to shield him from the light, so we still do no see his features clearly.

MELIAN (Voice over)
Morgoth longed to possess the light for himself alone.

Morgoth raises the spear. Its head is topped with twin barbs, like a serpent's fangs. He stabs the roots of the trees.

MELIAN (Voice over)
He poisoned the trees.

The light dies in the trees. They wither.

EXT. VALINOR-NIGHT

Valinor, seen from far away again, the light begins to dim and darkness like a circle of night contracts around the land of the Valar, leaving all the world black.

EXT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-NIGHT

The castle rises in the hills. All light now comes from glowing, gemlike ORBS. ELVES rush about the battlements holding these light-sources. From far away they look like fireflies.

EXT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-NIGHT
A closer look at the ELVES, they look worried and confused by the darkness, then one GUARD points. Beams of light from the orbs lance out, but meet a wall of SHADOW they can't pierce. The SHADOW of Ungoliant creeps toward the castle.

INT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-NIGHT

A grand hall, lit by orbs that hang from walls and ceiling.

MELIAN (Voice over)
He attacked Feanor's castle.

The castle doors burst inward, Elvish GUARDS turn and draw their swords, eyes shining with terror. The SHADOW fills the doorway and creeps into the hall, TENDRILS of shadow seek out the orbs along the walls, extinguishing them. MORGOTH stands in the doorway, a darkened shape still holding the poisoned spear.

The Elves scream in terror and fury and charge Morgoth, even as the shadow-tendrils put out the orbs and plunge the hall into darkness.

INT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-NIGHT

The gold and silver light of the Silmarils fills the room, illuminating the dead bodies of the Elvish GUARDS. The light flows from Feanor's vault, the door is broken and MORGOTH stands in the doorway, the light throws his long shadow back into the hall.

INT. FEANOR'S VAULT-NIGHT.

The Silmarils lie on a velvet cushion atop a pedestal in the center of the room, their light shines off the white walls.

MELIAN (Voice over)
And he stole the Silmarils.

MORGOTH'S hand creeps toward the gems, fingers spread wide. The hand is long-fingered, covered in segmented black armor like a snake's scales. The hand comes close, but pauses, hesitant, for a moment before seizing the Silmarils. Plumes of smoke rise from between the fingers, but he only clutches the gems tighter.

INT. ANGBAND-NIGHT

A close-up of the Silmarils. They are set into an iron crown. The settings resemble claws. MORGOTH'S hands enter the picture from above and lift the crown.

MELIAN (Voice over)
He set the Silmarils in an iron crown, in his underground kingdom of Angband, beneath the peaks of Thangorodrim, far to the frozen north. Their light was denied to all.

INT. ANGBAND, MORGOTH'S THRONE ROOM-NIGHT

MORGOTH sits on his iron throne, the Silmarils on his brow. We still cannot see his face, the light from the gems is too bright. Around him are pillars supporting a cavern roof. There are open pits of fire, throwing reddish light on hunched SHAPES, Orcs and slaves of other races, toiling around the pits.

EXT. THANGORODRIM-NIGHT

The starlight illuminates columns of smoke emerge from the three peaks and from a multitude of vents in the mountain range, covering the land in shadow.

EXT. VALINOR-NIGHT

Feanor's broken, emptied castle stands in the hills. New orbs are lit, showcasing the wrecked doors and bodies.

INT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-NIGHT

FEANOR kneels beside a dead ELF and gently turns him over. He weeps as he sees the corpse's face. It is a noble face, even frozen in a grimace of pain. The features are unlined, but the hair is white, suggesting age.

FEANOR
(Whispers)
Father.

INT. FEANOR'S CASTLE-NIGHT

FEANOR and his SONS stand in the ruined castle, silent and grim.

MELIAN (Voice over)
Feanor and his sons swore an oath of vengeance, to reclaim the Silmarils-

EXT. COAST OF VALINOR-NIGHT

A vast Elvish HOST in full armor marches toward the coastline, where TELERI Elves tend their ships. The Teleri are unarmed mariners, not warriors.

EXT. COAST OF VALINOR-NIGHT

A Teleri ELF stands between FEANOR and his HOST and the ships. He shakes his head in a negative gesture. Feanor, his face dark with grief and anger, draws his sword.

MELIAN (Voice over)
-and to allow nothing, mortal or immortal, to stand in their way.

EXT. COAST OF VALINOR-NIGHT

The ground is littered with dead TELERI.

MELIAN (Voice over)
In despair of their marred world, and grieving for the crimes of Feanor's vengeance, the Valar withdrew their power from the mortal realms, and shut themselves away in Valinor.

EXT. THE OCEAN-NIGHT

An ARMADA sails the ocean.

EXT. SHIP-NIGHT

FEANOR and his SONS stand near the front of the ship, wearing full armor. They strain their eyes eastward.

Behind them, GALADRIEL glances back at Valinor, then westward to the mortal world, caught between sorrow for what has happened and excitement for the new world she will soon see.

MELIAN (Voice over)
Feanor lead a great army to the coast of Valinor, to sail oversea to Middle Earth, to the lands of the mortals, and there brought war against Morgoth.

EXT. ERED WETHRIN-NIGHT

FEANOR lay dying on the slopes of the mountains, after a great battle with Morgoth's hosts. His SONS, bloodstained and wounded, kneel around him. Feanor looks north and sees the peaks of Thangorodrim, raises his trembling fist in a gesture of futile defiance. His fist falls to his side, his head falls back, and he dies. His flesh turns black and crumbles to dust, and the wind sweeps it up in a swirl of black specks. His sons look up, amazed.

MELIAN (Voice over)
But against Morgoth's power, there was no hope of victory. And so the centuries pass.