The Top 5 Biggest Mysteries From the First Age (Beleriand Sinking, Evil Creatures, Maglor, Others)

The First Age was a wondrous and strange time in Middle-earth, and yet some was left unrevealed as the world changed. Let’s explore those mysteries together, my friends! Thank you all so much for watching, let me know your thoughts on these mysteries in the comments below, as well as any others I might not have spoken about! As always, a great thanks to the online artists whose visual works made this video possible! If you are one of the artists, please let me know and I will post your name and a link to your work in this description!

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Intro: 0:00-0:40
How did Beleriand sink?: 0:40-3:11
Did anything else remain after Beleriand sank?: 3:11-6:14
What happened to other evil creatures?: 6:14-7:29
Who exactly defeated Morgoth?: 7:29-9:26
Where did Maglor go?: 9:26-11:08
Outro: 11:08-13:31

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[JSTmore]

To me personally, the fact that we have mysteries like those makes the silmarilion even more impactful and epic
It legitimately feels like a history book where we dont necessarily have all the answers just like in real life, and i am honestly satisfied with the idea of " it has been said that .." Like with Ungoliant, it kinda gives you an idea and leaves the rest for you to figure out

[capd]

You neglected the greatest mystery of all. Just how far, exactly, can Galadriel swim?

[affinityforanime]

Maglor's fate is definitely one of the most interesting unanswered mysteries of Middle Earth lore IMO.

[MrARock]

"All the other Valar said I was daft to build a continent in Ea, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em! It sank into the sea. So, I built Beleriand. That sank into the sea. So I built Numenor. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the sea."

[Comicnut]

Wasn’t expecting a top five video but excellent work Yoystan

[medikor]

I'd rather the mysteries not be answered in adaptations. The mysteries of Middle-Earth are part of what helps make it so interesting. Besides, no adaptation or attempt to answer these mysteries would ever live up to our own ideas.

[orrointhewise]

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."

Some of the best mysterys are the ones we can't solve
But aside from the blue wizards the one mystery I want to see and know is the final battle between good and evil. The epic conflict would have put every battle in history to shame. But one can dream 😊

[leonav]

I really like mysteries to stay that way, like it gives flight to imagination and discussions

[IarwainBen-adar]

I like to think that Maglor wandering the coasts was kind of a curse as a result of all that was done because of the Oath. He didn’t have to die but he was forced to wander in solitude for all ages to come, to weep and to make music lamenting the sins of himself and his family.

[kaidorade]

An excellent top five history lesson! Thank you sir

[istari]

I always figured that the sinking of Beleriand took some years to happen, giving the survivors time to leave. I also think some of the Valar took part in the War of Wrath, with the most likely participants being Tulkas, Oromë, and Aulë. There was a letter from 1964 that recently came to light where Tolkien included a manuscript called "Concerning... 'The Hoard'" where Tolkien wrote that Maglor hurled both himself and the Silmaril into the sea. Personally, I think that is a fitting end for him, given how good the Fëanorians were at killing themselves off, along with a lot of other people.

[nemisous]

My explanation why Beleriend sank beneath the waves is because the contenant was so tainted by Melkor that it became a part of his essence and when he was defeated and cast into the void the contenant collapsed in the same way Bar a dhur collapsed after the ring was destroyed which ties back to the book Morgoth's Ring. Certain areas in Beleriend were spared because they were hallowed ground or untouched by Morgoth's malice.

[paulprovenzano]

The Silmarillion first came out when I was in high school and that’s when I read it for the first time. The eventual mysterious fate of Maglor always spoke to me.

[paulbrickler]

I love the mystery of Maglor's fate. Thanks again, Yoystan!

[shadowofchaos]

Maglor the Musician, awaits his time in the Fourth Age in the Ruins of Himring. He awaits the one to fulfill the Prophecy of Mandos. Maglor has watched the world with the Palantir his father made for him and his brothers. Fëonor meant to make one for each of his children but only managed to create three for the oldest. No living being as step foot on Himring since the Fall, but Maglor found the Ruins of his brothers Keep. Personal fanfic I'm working on.

[awgates]

I like to think the sun and moon drove Ungoliant mad. Two lights she could never reach and devour filling her with a crazed lust and hunger, she might have driven herself to utter exhaustion and then ate herself, or try setting a trap at the edge and falling off 😅

[rileycord]

Murmur of the sea you will lull my pain
On the shore of sorrow I'm fading away
Drained by the weight of a long, erring life
Burnt by the doom, the curse and the strife

Weighed down with the loss
Stretching out my hand
Trying to remember
Now I understand
I passed through all seasons
Of love and of hate
Everything I fought for
Was my chosen fate

In the wail of the wind
In the beat of the rain
In the breaking of waves
You will listen in vain
Hear the cry of the gulls
Yearning for the sea
Hear the springing stream
But you will not find me

Now nothing remains
Of him who was lost
And faced his own ruin
Carrying on at all cost
While here by the sea
The cold wind is sighing
While down in the valley
The flowers are dying

My voice in the shadows forever will hide
Footprints in the sand wiped out by the tide
And the light in the west and all that my soul sees
Is just a faint whisper that dies in the breeze

Weighed down with the loss
Stretching out my hand
Trying to remember
Now I understand
I passed through all seasons
Of love and of hate
Everything I fought for
Was my chosen fate

In the wail of the wind
In the beat of the rain
In the breaking of waves
You will listen in vain
Hear the cry of the gulls
Yearning for the sea
Hear the springing stream
But you will not find me

Now nothing remains
Of him who was lost
And faced his own ruin
Carrying on at all cost
While here by the sea
The cold wind is sighing
While down in the valley
The flowers are dying

- Maglor The Lost Elf, The Ainur's album From Ancient Times

[rfigueiredomusic]

To me the best way to introduce a character like Maeglor. It should be in a video game or a series that is respectful to the lore. Where you play a character in the second, third or fourth age, and you talk with an NPC in a quest where he speaks about meeting an elf that didn’t seem like any other. He had a strong presence but was sorrowful like the weight of the world was put on his shoulders. And actually talk a bit about him. But you don’t actually meet him. You just know that he met some NPCs around the world, that have stories and moments shared with him. So that you actually know that he is still around, and helping by advising people to what greed does to people. I don’t know. To me at least I always find more fascinating the ruins of a castle than the castle itself. The mind does more work then the eyes could ever see

[TheCountZopolai]

My view is that by far the most convincing argument about Maglor is that he has mostly stayed in Eryn Vorn in Minhiriath (a patch of woodland on the coast more or less due south of the Shire or the Tower Hills). That is because:

1) He must have started his exile in the general vicinity of Lindon, as with all elves surviving the sinking of Beleriand- if indeed that was not explicit in his last sighting in the Silmarillion.

2) He clearly could not stay in Lindon proper as he would not be welcome by Cirdan in particular, given his involvement in the sack of Sirion, so he will not be able to syat in that land.

3) It is very unlikely that he would have travelled to any of the surviving islands of Beleriand for the same reason, as he could only obtain ships from Lindon. In any case, he is described as wandering the shores of the world, which seems inconsistent with him being on one of the Islands.

4) He is very unlikely to leave the seashore, having thrown the Silmaril into the sea and his ban from Valinor, so he is very unlikely to travel further than absolutely necessary.

5) He has not been knowingly sighted in the later ages, so he must be somewhere isolated. Realistically, that leaves the coastal regions of Eriador as a possibility. Any further south, and you're into heavily populated lands.

6) There are three coastal regions of Eriador (excluding Lindon, if it counts)- Enedwaith, Minhiriath, and Forochel.

7) I think that Forochel is unlikely- he's going to have heard stories about what happened in the Helcaraxe in his youth, and isn't going to think much of the subarctic. So one of the two southern regions.

8) Eryn Vorn is the only patch of woodland left on the coast of Enedwaith or Minhiriath. Elves, clearly, have a habit of seeking refuge in woodlands in times of danger, and come to think of it, so did Maglor in Ossiriand after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. It's also (almost) uninhabited and was never really under anyone's control, except nominally Arnor/Cardolan

9) All of this presupposes that he did not, eventually, have a chance to repent and travel to Valinor. I think not- he is bound by the Oath of Feanor and the Doom of Mandos, and leaving would be almost unimaginable for him.

10) His likely fate is the same as all elves who cannot eventually leave for the West. Elves are not truely immortal in Middle Earth proper, or, rather, their immortality is not fully preserved there. Given time- probably millenia- he will age, and weaken, and wither, and fade. A tragic, but perhaps fitting, fate.

[MxKtl]

The fate of Maglor is my favourite mystery as well. I'd really love to know his story after the first age.