Oxonmoot 2024

Morgoth’s injection of his essence into Arda made it “Morgoth’s Ring”; the only way to remove him is to “disintegrat[e] the matter of Arda”. We reread Arda Marred as a parable for climate change, offering a new critique of how Tolkien’s legendarium responds to climate change as a c19-20 anxiety. It uses environmental bioethics and Timothy Morton’s ecological work to read Morgoth as a symbol for humanity’s mistreatment of the environment. Much like the invisible yet destructive effects of plutonium, Morgoth’s ‘corruption’ is a metaphysical, ontological, and philosophical hyperobject responsible for Arda’s fall; its effects, like humanity’s creations, outlives sentience in Arda. Building on Heidegger’s tool-being, it is only once environs have been marred that their true value is noticed. However, Tolkien noted that Morgoth cannot “annihilate” the world itself; the environs will recover, healing from Morgoth’s scarring of Arda’s body. The end is a beginning: an ecological feedback loop.