Melkor, By Kimberly80

Who else might have joined Melkor?

I answered this question on Quora in February 2021. It is a great thought experiment, as of all the Valar and Maiar, it is only these two Ainur who it can reasonably be argued might have transferred their allegiances to Melkor.

Aulë was a maker, and desired to create things. Life above all else, just like Melkor (at least at first). But he was hauled up by Eru and embarrassed, so much so that he was prepared to destroy his treasured work (the dwarves). How easy it might have been, despite Eru gifting the dwarves with life, for Aulë to have become jealous of Eru’s power and with a nudge from Melkor have fallen to evil.

And Ossë? Well Ossë did almost fall into the ways of Melkor, and it was only the love of Ossë’s wife, Uinen, that brought him back from the edge. But again, what if Uinen’s love had not quite been enough to pull Ossë back from the edge, and he had thrown his lot in with Melkor. What terror might have been wrought on the seas of Middle-earth?

Ossë
Let’s consider Ossë first. Having re-read what there is to know about Ossë, I have a newfound respect for him and the extent of his power. In the early works, of what should have become The Silmarillion, Ossë was named among the Valar, and it was but a note that removed him from their number. Ossë was then listed as among one of the chief Maiar instead, and as we know, some of the Maiar were “…well nigh as great as themselves [the Valar]…”:

The Silmarillion
Ainulindalë
The Music of the Ainur
…

And the Valar drew unto them many companions, some less, some well nigh as great as themselves, and they laboured together in the ordering of the Earth and the curbing of its tumults.
…

So, given Ossë had been previously named among the Valar, and even once downgraded he was a chief among the Maiar:

Ossë, by Thorsten Denk

Morgoth’s Ring
The Annals of Aman
Notes on the Third section of the Annals of Aman
…Against 'summoned to council' he wrote an X and 'he [Osse] was not a Vala, but a chief of the Maiar, servant of Ulmo.'
…

And even though he was a Maiar of Ulmo, Ossë was, for the most part, independent of his Vala lord, and the only being capable of calming his wrath, was his wife Uinen.

I would say, therefore, that there was no other Maiar more powerful than Ossë. Maybe equally powerful, and peers of Ossë’s, but none were more powerful. Even Eönwë is listed in the Index of The Silmarillion as:

One of the mightiest of the Maiar…

Not the mightiest. Just one of the mightiest.

Indeed, Ossë’s feats were quite extraordinary, and, I think, unmatched by any other Maiar, in their magnitude, and in their frequency. It was Ossë who helped guide Tol Eressëa to Valinor, where Ulmo asked Ossë to fasten the island to the seabed, rather than do it himself. It was Ossë who raised Númenor from the depths of the sea, not one of the Valar. Ossë could not be tamed by the Valar, who relied, instead, on Ossë’s wife, Uinen, to calm him at need, and Ossë’s wrath was so great that it required the intervention of Ulmo to save Voronwë from being smashed to pieces, a victim of Ossë’s untamed wrath. And it was Ossë who very nearly became the partner of Sauron, as the most powerful servants of Melkor, until he was redeemed by his wife Uinen, and then forgiven by the Valar.

Ossë is basically a Maiar badass of major league status.

Osse and Uinen - 564 x 713 - Dreaminggirl79.jpg

Ossë and Uinen, by Dreaminggirl79

Indeed, given his temperament; his obvious power; him being asked to do major things by Ulmo, and having in an old incarnation been listed as one of the Valar, I believe it is a perfectly defensible position to think he might well have been the mightiest of all the Maiar. Given his power and deeds, it is certainly more defensible to name him the mightiest, than it is for any other Maiar. Even those such as Eönwë who achievements pale by comparison. Or even Melian, whose Girdle was remarkable, but I don’t think it comes close to what Ossë achieved.

Storm At Sea - 1920 x 1080 - Dreaminggirl79.jpg

So, what if Uinen had not been able to bring him back from the edge, and Ossë had therefore fallen to the ways of Melkor. Well, that would be extraordinarily bad news for Middle-earth. For it was only because Ulmo and Ossë worked together that:

Morgoth’s Ring (HOME 10)

AINULINDALË - Version C

…and Ossë and Uinen, to whom he gave control of the waves and of the inner seas; and many other spirits beside. And thus even under the darkness of Melkor life coursed still through many secret lodes, and the Earth did not die;

So, arguably, without Ossë working on the side of the Valar, Middle-earth would have been left completely at Melkor’s mercy.

Storm at Sea, by Dreaminggirl79

However, I would see Ossë, the servant of Morgoth, staying in the ocean waters, close to the coasts, which would be terrible news for the likes of Círdan and the Falathrim, who in the actual history of Middle-earth, relied heavily on Ossë to teach them much about shipbuilding and seacraft, and they had even remained in Middle-earth at Ossë’s bidding in the early days. Depending on when Ossë fell to Melkor, maybe the Falathrim would not have stayed at all, and Beleriand might have had a much lower population of Quendi to fend of the forces of evil, until the return of the Noldor.

As for the return of the Noldor, whilst it might be the case that the main host, crossing Helcaraxë may have escaped Ossë’s wrath, I just cannot see Fëanor and his people getting away without being troubled by some of the mightiest storms, which may well have wiped most of them out, leaving a pitiful few to achieve the shores of Middle-earth. They would then have been much more reluctant to take on any forces of Morgoth on their arrival, and possibly have suffered even more losses at the hands of Morgoth’s reception party.

And what about Eärendil’s voyage? Unless Ulmo intervened, as he did with Voronwë, then Eärendil would be fish food, which means no saving of Beleriand, the Valar stay behind the Pelóri, Morgoth crushes the free peoples, including Doriath, and Middle-earth is lost.

Had Ossë fallen to Melkor’s ways, the First Age of Middle-earth would have been very, very different, and not in a good way.

Osse and Teleri - 1024 x 693 - Steamey.jpg

Osse and Teleri, by Steamey

Aulë

What about Aulë? Well, Aulë was a Valar, and one of the great Valar.

He never suffered the humiliation of a demotion, during the germination of the Middle-earth story, and as one of the great Valar, he simply must have been a lot more potent than the Maiar Ossë in the mind of Tolkien. He would have been an extraordinary prize for Melkor, if Aulë were to turn to the dark side. Although when Aulë turned is the critical issue.

If Aulë turned prior to creating the Dwarves, then the Dwarves would never come to be, and the Free Peoples down the Ages, would be denied critical allies. Aulë would still have tried to ‘create' new beings, but his efforts would have been in vain, absent the Flame Imperishable. But I could easily see how, alongside Morgoth's corruption of elves and men, one of which, ultimately, brought orcs into being, then maybe Aulë would find ways to enhance them. I mean, why not find a way to blend them with machines? Surely Aulë must have had such knowledge, and now being evil, any morality he may have previously had as a Valar, would not hold him back. Additionally, I could see him making war engines of terrifying power; forge terrible weapons of war for Morgoth's servants; and maybe help make the likes of dragons even more powerful than they already were. Possibly making them as potent as the Balrogs. This would all be extraordinarily bad news for the Free People, and one simple cannot see any hope for Beleriand in such circumstances, which would then have fallen far sooner than it actually did.

Aulë, by Kimberly80

If Aulë turned after creating the Dwarves, then the situation would be probably worse than the above. Because I think we can be pretty sure most of the Dwarves would side with Aulë above all other agencies. So, not only would the Free People have to face all the potential engines of war, and the enhancements to the forces of Morgoth that Aulë could engineer, they would also lack the support of the Dwarves, and instead the power of the Dwarves would be actively turned against the other Free Peoples.

So, for both of the above scenarios, in supporting Morgoth, Aulë would become pivotal in the eradication of all the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, and in the complete domination of Middle-earth.

But that could not be the end of the story. Aulë was a maker of things. Morgoth was a nihilist. These are mutually exclusive, and ultimately, I believe they would have fallen out with each other, and conflict would have arisen.

Aulë, in either of the above scenarios, would ultimately see the diminished Morgoth for what he had become, i.e.: a much lesser being that he had been as Melkor; no longer the mighty force that drove all the Valar before him; and an inferior being to the fully powered Aulë. Sauron had been a Maiar of Aulë. Might Aulë therefore be a being whose creative strengths could easily warp into the need to control and rule. Morgoth's nihilism would simply be intolerable to a creator like Aulë. By the time the First Age came, Melkor's descent to becoming the Morgoth was sufficiently complete, that Aulë would have realised that he was by far the superior being; and in order to avoid the ultimate extension of Morgoth's nihilism (the destruction of Arda), Aulë himself would have to take command, and give the disparity between Aulë and the hideously reduced Morgoth, he would have taken command with ease.

I'd be astonished if Sauron would not have fallen in behind Aulë immediately, and with Sauron to back him, I would expect many, if not most of the other dark servants, when they realised the truth about Morgoth, would support Aulë's inevitable overthrow of the Dark Lord. This would not be a titanic struggle that would sink half a continent, but rather, a swift takeover and transference of power, which would see Morgoth shackled in a new chain, preventing him from using his disseminated power in the substance of Arda (surely a key reason why Beleriand sank during the War of Wrath), leaving Aulë perfectly positioned, a fully powered Valar, with access to the Morgothian taint that soiled all the substances of Arda, to dominate Middle-earth forever, right?

Aule The Destroyer - 924 x 1399 - Ted Nasmith.jpg

Aulë The Destroyer, by Ted Nasmith

So, in conclusion, Ossë turning to the dark side is very bad, and it would make any attack out of Valinor to overthrow Morgoth, hugely more difficult. But Aulë falling to evil, is so, SO much worse, that I simply don’t see the free lands and peoples of Beleriand and the rest of Middle-earth surviving.