Incubation by elennalore  

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Fanwork Notes

CW: art contains artistic nudity, although not explicit.

I have written the poem and made the art in 2021. Now I have a chance to post them together.

Art medium: soft pastels on black paper.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Melkor in the Void. A poem in free verse and accompanying art.

Major Characters: Melkor

Major Relationships:

Genre: Poetry

Challenges:

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings
Posted on Updated on

This fanwork is complete.

Incubation

Incubation

I’m a seed in darkness, waiting for my time

Planted by my brother

I’m floating in space

You thought it a punishment

Exposure to extreme cold, burned by the stars

But I’m a Vala of extremes

I have walked Helcaraxe and tamed the spirits of fire

Did you forget it?

I survive without air and company

A seed is alone at first

Incubation in the dark

A cold of winter precedes the spring

But all things pass, and all things change

You can’t stop the time you’ve created

And time is a spiral, not a line

I’m rotating in the Void

Sometimes I pass a blazing star

The rays of light melt the frost when they touch me

It’s not yet time

I’m searching for a greater light

The seed waits in darkness

Incubation time

But it’s all going to change

The Door of Night will be opened again

A stream of light flows in

And the seed wakes up

Stretching and humming to himself

It has found the Song again

Did you really think it would forget?

Did you really think it would be forgotten?

I am a seed, I have potential

I know the song of change

Your mountain won’t withstand the echo of it

I will raise what once was submerged

The straight road will coil up like a snake

The walls of the world will come tumbling down

The soil is plowed before planting the seed

The wheel is rotating

And when everything is ready, I will return

Wait for me

I teach you the meaning of change

Very beautiful, very powerful! (forgive the somewhat facetious remark but it's the first thing that came to mind!)  This *was* both, though, and such wonderful imagery!  

But I’m a Vala of extremes

Oh isn't *that* the truth!!

I teach you the meaning of change

?

Yoh! Your poem is thought provoking, presenting Melkor here as very yin: calm, quiet, dark, potential — in contrast to his very yang manifestation on Arda. Just like yang refers to the sunny side of the hill and yin is the shady side, with each having their time in the cycles, and neither being constant, instead merging, complementing, flowing through each other as essential parts of the whole...

"You can’t stop the time you’ve created

And time is a spiral, not a line

[...]

I’m searching for a greater light"

Your drawing in itself is very evocative of his emotion, his posture and expression. And I really love the way the he glows in the dark with the light behind and the stars in the distance.

Ooh, nice thought that he is here in his "yin" phase compared to his usual "yang", but indeed, that was something I tried to describe here!

The light and "stars" in the drawing are actually impurities: sunlight caused the light effect on paper as I took a photo of my art, and the stars are loose pastel powder... but I was quite happy with the unintended effect, and did not take another picture!

This was fascinating; I love how it takes what many see as a negative punishment and changes the perspective to biding one's time to fully grow.  And the idea throughout of him being a seed adds an interesting impression to the poem, where it becomes one of life instead of focused purely on the destruction he will wreck when he escapes.  Finally, the line "I know the song of change" is a very cool reference back to the beginning of the Silm!