An AU in which Melkor forces Mairon into a bodily form
Haven't read Silmarillion yet, but still got a mini fix on these two. From what I’ve gathered while dipping my toes in there, Mairon originally incarnated in Middle-earth of his own will, so this idea is fully AU.
Melkor obviously believes himself the only one worthy of ruling Arda, for his bond with it is deeper than any other Ainu – physical bond. He loved the beautiful, rebellious earth, took shape within it, and became one with it. He knows the weakness, temptation, and fragility of flesh — and therefore understands it, sees its strength, its bliss, its endurance. But he wants a co-creator, a co-ruler beside him, to share victory and defeat. The only one capable of truly understanding him – not through fear or servility. Mairon.
But Mairon sees all this as folly — vulnerability, corruption. When Melkor tries to convince him of the blessing of incarnation, he pushes back against his master’s desire, fiercely as he never did before. So Melkor, strongest of the Ainur, does to him what the Valar once will do to the Istari: he binds him in flesh.
He shackles Mairon with the Maia’s own craft — chains that can hold a fëa — and shapes him like a sculptor, like a potter at the wheel. He carves from pure fire the features he wishes to see beside him for the next eternity. He shapes him methodically and lovingly, like an artist creating the masterpiece of his life. And this painful chiseling of flesh out of flame — he considers their shared creation.
«You cry out — and so your will is forged into the form.»
Mairon cannot believe his lord fails to see the monstrous error he is committing. He cannot understand what sin of his could disappoint The Dark Lord so much, that he decided to get rid of him in such a humiliating way. But it is no punishment. It is a gift — one the spirit-smith is not yet able to accept. A gift of being bound to this world, of making it an extension of himself, of ruling it and feeling its sweetness and bitterness. And Melkor believes that, in time, his faithful apprentice will understand. Will see this body not as a prison – but as a bond to the world they wish to rule. And a bond to Melkor himself.
