Dark Tree

Dark Tree is a description of the growing threat of evil in Middle-earth - its roots can never be fully destroyed so that evil will once again arise if the 'tree' is left untended or unwatched. The term is used by Borlas in the The New Shadow in his conversation with Saelon. is the deification of the Dark Powers, whose Shadow plagues Middle-earth. Though a vaguely abstract term, it refers to the ever-returning threat of evil to the Free Peoples, a tree who if left unattended grows again and bears twisted fruits of corruption. It was the official religion, throughout the Ages, in the far East, the southern regions and other lands under dominion of the venerated idols.

## Faces

##### **The Cult of Melkor**

The Dark Tree first arose in the First Age, after Morgoth escaped his captivity and returned to Middle-earth. In spite of his descent into nihilism, his hubris was as immeasurable as in his prime - for long before had he yearned for control and to be revered by those around him.

Therefore, Morgoth came to demand adoration by his servants, and the *Cult of Melkor* began among his lesser minions in Angband, the grotesque and horrible rabble of the Orcs and those unhappy thralls in the fortress' dungeons. When Men awoke, Morgoth came to them as a mentor and fed them with his deceits, claiming that only he could deliver them from the the devouring Darkness. Using fear and desperation as tools, he seduced some of them to take him as their Lord and pay him homage, finding satisfaction in proving there was nothing in Eru's Eä which he could not corrupt to serve his every despicable whim. He came to boast to servant or foe alike that he was the first and mightiest Ainur, claiming that it was he who had shaped the World and it was his right to do with it as he saw fit, even undo its very existence.

Long after Morgoth's downfall, the Men in Númenor where persuaded by Sauron to turn to atheism or to the worship of the Darkness. Since he had seemingly humbled himself before them - and thus could not propound himself as of yet as a god - Sauron presented himself as the high-priest of Morgoth - naming him the Lord of the Darkness - and requesting human sacrifices in his name. In the end, however, the adherents of Morgoth would in time become intolerable rivals to the devout Sauronites, being mostly purged by them even before the start of theThird Age.

##### **The Cult of Sauron**

After the destructive War of Wrath, Sauron hid in Middle-earth, apparently lying dormant but staying true to his old ways. As Morgoth's representative, he gathered under his government all the creatures that had brooded in the days of his predecessor, and began breeding them anew. He also took fair forms and walked among the Men in the East and the southern lands of Khand and Harad, ensnaring them with promises of everlasting life and prosperity, or displaying his semi-angelic powers to bewilder them.

Once he saw how much his knowledge, sorcery and teachings were admired by his followers, and that Men in the lands tributary to him viewed as a "sun-god" for his mastery of fire, his pride became boundless. Now largely filling the place of Morgoth as his heir in the Black Land of Mordor, Sauron demanded the worship by his servants - the bloodthirsty Easterlings and savage Haradrim fearfully built him temples and placated him with rituals and human sacrifices to appease him.

Expanding his empire in the aftermath of the War of Sauron and the Elves, Sauron reigned over much of Middle-earth in the Black Years as God-King - he sought to gain absolute temporal power over Arda and to be held as divine by all of its rational inhabitants, for he honestly considered himself entitled to such reverence. As a skilled smith, he arrogantly fashioned a golden mask to reflect his newfound prestigious status. To cement his own seat of power, he persecuted te Faithful and the pagan religions, suffering no other being as his equal or superior - in his twisted mind he believed that Eru and the Valar had forever abandoned Arda. After his first defeat, his resurgence was prophesied by his emissaries as the coming of Adanil.