Bored on the day after Thanksgiving, so I'm going to do a MIGHTY necro and bring back this year and a half old thread.
I think one of the best things we can try to do in examining things within Tolkien's world which we don't have a ton of information on is to compare them the similar things which appear in other, more fleshed out stories. Consider, for instance, the figure of the "Artificer" in Middle-earth who, almost inevitably, is drawn into danger (or even falls) thanks to the love of their own works. Melkor does this, as does Aulë (although he repents), Fëanor, arguably Turgon ("Love not too well the works of thy hands"), certainly the Dwarves of Erebor (whose riches seem to have "brought the dragon), the Dwarves of Moria (whose digging for mithril is a part of this), and the Elves of Eregion (whose ring-smithing and hunger for ring-lore nearly ends the world). The Artificer, if they are not careful, Falls.
I'm not sure what the term for this similarity is -- archetype, maybe? -- but it's certainly something. It comes out strongly in
The Hobbit, in part because Tolkien is borrowing from his own mythology and names and images often get mixed around so that
The Elvenking sounds a lot like Thingol, and Rivendell is pretty clearly Gondolin 2.0, but it's present in
The Lord of the Rings too, and even directly acknowledged in
The Silmarillion where we hear that Sauron... "
was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another and not himself. But in after years he rose like a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the Void."
When Sauron is defeated, "
it seemed to them that, black against the pall of cloud, there rose a huge shape of shadow, impenetrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky. Enormous it reared above the world, and stretched out towards them a vast threatening hand, terrible but impotent: for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed; and then a hush fell." (
Return of the King, The Field of Cormallen) and when Saruman is slain by Wormtongue "
To the dismay of those that stood by, about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West; but out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing." (
Return of the King, The Scouring of the Shire).
Now, there's an argument to be made that what we're seeing here is not a mythic thing but only a metaphysical one -- that this cloud + wind + judgement thing is just
what happens when a Maia is slain. But I don't think so, especially when we are told that Sauron walked the same path as Melkor. Rather, I think, we are seeing the archetypical fate of
Dark Lords -- to be judged, eventually, by the West, and found wanting, and cast into the Void. Where does Sauron go when he is blown by the wind? We are not given a cardinal direction, but only told that it is "into the Void." Where does Saruman go? Certainly not to Aman.
I say all of this to hopefully show that this kind of archetypical thinking can be helpful in
The Lord of the Rings. In short, to modify Muhammad Ali, "Artifice falls, Lords are judged, waves pound the sand -- and mithril..."
Rather than seeking a scientific answer, as some folks here have, where dark spirits output some kind of evil radiation, darkening the mountain and drawing mithril to the earth, I'm tempted to look for an archetypical answer. We've got three main entities we're discussing -- Balrogs, Caradhras, and mithril -- with honorable mentions to both the Watcher in the Water and the city of Moria itself, which have come up a lot. How do these slot, archetypically?
Moria is the "Dwarfhold." This is maybe the easiest one to see -- Dwarves, or at very least the Longbeards, have been a culture in diaspora for literal millenia. This may be in part due to their real world inspiration -- Tolkien himself likened the Dwarves to Jewish folks, perhaps the most famously diasporic culture. My background is in religious studies where, if we follow the "problem and solution" model which argues that all religions suggest a fundamental problem with the world and a solution to that problem (in Christianity -- sin and forgiveness / salvation, in Buddhism -- suffering and release) the "problem" of Judaism is often described to be "exile" with the solution being either "community building in exile" or "return" (for an example of the latter -- Zionism, which begins to develop in its modern form at the end of the nineteenth century). The same can be said for Tolkien's dwarves, who seek a
return such as Balin's expedition to Moria or Thorin's quest for Erebor but also build archetypical mirrors to their lost homelands in Exile -- with Erebor standing in as a lesser Moria, and Moria standing in as a lesser Gundabad.
Balrogs might be said in the
Silmarillion and the first age broadly to fall into either a "dark lord" or a "dark lieutenant" archetype -- Gothmog's role in
The Fall of Gondolin is akin to Sauron's role in
Beren and Luthien, so I lean toward the "lieutenant." The latter Gothmog -- of the siege of Minas Tirith -- is another lieutenant, surprising nobody. The Balrog of Moria, Durin's Bane, however, does not seem to be playing this role. It seems monstrous, not seductive, and murderous, not corruptive. It does not tempt one to folly, but rather is a punishment for folly -- the artificer-fall of the dwarves of Moria. The Balrog has no master and has no dialogue where it tempts the powerful into evil. If it were the first, we might call it a Lieutenant and if it were the second we might call it Seducer -- this is the role played by Melkor during his time among the elves in Aman (before he escapes with the Silmarils and becomes the Dark Lord), Sauron among both the elves of Eregion and the men of Numenor (before he loses his body in the sinking and becomes... you guessed it, the Dark Lord), and the Nazgul who comes to Erebor, promising Dwarf-rings for news of Bilbo.
No, the Balrog is neither of these things. What the Balrog is is a good old fashioned Horror, a creature of nightmare who gnaws, like Gandalf says so many gnaw, at the roots of the mountains. This is a role shared, I think, with both Ungoliant and Shelob -- as well, it's worth saying, as with the Watcher in the Water. Archetypically these are shadows which exist just because the bottom of the world, the caves in hidden lands, the Ered Gorgoroth are
fundamentally scary places, cursed by Morgoth's marring of the world.
Mithril is a metal, and certain things happen with metals in Middle-earth. Gold -- as
@Eldy Dunami noted -- seems particularly susceptible to corruption, as silver is not (and it is the silver tree, despite that being a poetic and not literal description, which persists in the white tree of Minas Tirith, a representation to the persistent elvish strain in the Dunedain which Tolkien said "ennobled" man). But there are two other worthwhile metals we should talk about -- the star-iron out of which Eöl forges two
incredibly cursed swords, and -- not metal really but -- Maeglin's love for ores and mining, which leads him out of Gondolin and into Morgoth's clutches. Metal is the stuff of Aulë, and as such is bound up, I think, in the doom of the Artificer -- though it may not be evil of it's own nature, it is nonetheless a dangerous material which may serve as the cause of another's fall -- Maeglin's (although he was already... iffy) or the Gold-desiring Dwarves, or the Dwarves of Moria, who dug too deep. It is not the mithril which is evil -- Mithril is almost silver, after all -- and that which is made with it may be as beautiful as any other craft, but it is the
reckless pursuit and consumption of mithril which leads one to fall into the fate of the Artificer.
We come, finally, to Caradhras. Caradhras Caradhras Caradhras, what are we going to do with you? I've saved it for last because determining an archetypical role does mostly depend on figuring out the real question of this thread -- why's that mountain so freakin' haunted?? -- and having a better understanding of those in Caradhras's environment will be helpful in that. Could the Balrog have done it? Corrupted this mountain? Maybe! Certainly, if it was playing the Dark Lord or Lieutenant roles, we might see the mountain corrupted as part of an intentional defilement -- the way the Witch-king corrupts Minas Morgul, or the way the Witch-king corrupts Angmar, or the way the Witc- Sorry, Sauron that is corrupts the original Minas Tirith. But the Balrog isn't playing that kind of intentional, pawn-of-the-Enemy role, and there doesn't seem to be an indication that the Balrog was doing much of anything before the Dwarves woke it. So that seems out. Maybe the mithril did it somehow -- but mithril is, like I said, not a
bad thing of itself, and beautiful works are made with mithril. I doubt Bilbo's shirt of mithril links would be nearly as consistent a tool if it were a shirt of Eöl-forged star-iron.
Maybe there's a curse on the Mountain, then -- the movies suggest it is Saruman, and not Caradhras, who summons the storm. I mean, there's no way to disprove this but... Why? The whole theme of Moria is that the dwarves kind of destroyed themselves in their hunger and greed -- the classic Artificer's fall. So a dread will working on the mountain seems to take away from that, especially since Morgoth (who we known went in for that kind of stuff with the Children of Hurin, for instance) is gone, and Sauron's power seems to be in tricking people (as the Seducer) or defeating them physically (as the Dark Lord) rather than just sending bad vibes.
No, here's what I think. I think that what
@Troelsfo said last (a year and a half ago) and what
Eldy pointed out about the spirits of a land is on the money. After all, in
Of Aule and Yavanna Yavanna argues for the ents, saying: "
Would that the trees might speak on behalf of all things that have roots, and punish those that wrong them!"
This argument requires a personhood already present in plant life -- a person to be wronged, reaffirming references to the memory of trees and grass. It is, after all, the special ability of the ents to
speak on behalf of plant-life, not to be the solitary beings among them -- and the line of whether huorns are uplifted trees or treelike ents is not clear. If there are spirits which can come from trees, why not the earth? Why not the stones of the mountains? And -- as
Eldy quoted -- we do see the stones lamenting the departure of the Noldor of Eregion.
Treebeard is described as treeish, and the ents are tree-like in their personalities and culture. What would the personality of a mountain be like? Hard and cold, ancient and old, and it would care little, I think, for the life of little things -- especially if those little things had spent centuries digging around inside you. The trees and grass of Hollin may be too young to remember, but Caradhras must be old and -- Moria was founded at some point in the first age -- long, long, long-suffering. Is it any wonder that he, like Old Man Willow, might have a bone to pick with dwarves and their friends?
That, then, is our last archetype -- the Place, whether that is Treebeard (who gives his name to the forest, after all) or Caradhras the mountain, Places seem concerned mostly with themselves, with the business of being trees or being mountains. They might be kinder -- Treebeard -- or more furious -- Caradhras -- or even strange and uncertainly connected to their Place -- Goldberry is the River-daughter, whatever that may mean. But in the end they will act in the interest of trees or mountains -- in the interest of the nature they represent -- rather than blindly siding one way or another in the conflicts of the world without.
Ah! That was longer than I expected. Sorry again for the colossal necro and PLEASE let me know if you think I'm talking gibberish.
) he uses. Tolkien also uses character foils. For some examples, I think Theoden and Denethor are foils, Gandalf and Saruman, Boromir and Aragorn.