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The unfinished Tale of Adanel is about Melkor, not Sauron. Its unusual perspective is that of a person who remains loyal to Melkor while suffering under the rule of his more powerful servants. The story’s connection to Sauron is a later parallel: its pattern of deception, enforced worship and oppression resembles the Númenórean tradition of Sauron’s role in that island’s downfall.
What is the Tale of Adanel?
The Tale of Adanel is a short, fragmentary account of the early corruption of Men. It appears among J.R.R. Tolkien’s notes on the commentary to Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, published in Morgoth’s Ring, volume 10 of The History of Middle-earth. Its antagonist is Melkor, the figure later called Morgoth.
In the story, Men hear the Voice of Ilúvatar but gradually turn away from seeking its guidance. Melkor comes among them in a fair form, presenting himself as a teacher with answers. He exploits their fear of Darkness, persuades them to reject the Voice and demands worship. He orders them to build a House for that purpose.
After the first deaths, some of Melkor’s favored servants wield power brutally over other Men. Some flee. Those who reach the West become ancestors of the Edain. The tale compresses these events into a difficult-to-place span of time; its account does not establish a precise historical setting.
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Who is telling the story?
Adanel tells the account to Andreth, and the tradition is preserved among the Wise of the Third House of the Edain. Tolkien Gateway notes that other kindreds of Men tried to forget it. The text’s framing does not assert that the tale is historically true, so it is best read as an in-world tradition rather than a settled, neutral chronicle.
The narrator’s position is the tale’s most striking feature. Tolkien Gateway interprets the speaker as someone still loyal to Melkor, yet oppressed by Melkor’s higher-ranking servants. That is an interpretation of the narrative’s pronouns and the way it distinguishes the speaker from those who escaped Melkor’s service and those who lead worship; it is not a direct statement by Tolkien about the narrator’s identity.
How does the story connect to Sauron if it is about Melkor?
Sauron does not appear as the story’s antagonist. The connection is thematic and historical: Tolkien Gateway says the Tale of Adanel closely mirrors Númenórean tradition about Sauron’s part in Númenor’s downfall. In both accounts, a dark power turns fear and persuasion toward submission and worship, with oppression following.
That parallel should not blur the difference between the figures or the narrator’s situation. The Tale of Adanel names Melkor and describes a person loyal to him but mistreated by senior servants. It does not identify that narrator as one of Sauron’s servants.
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Look for the text in Morgoth’s Ring, volume 10 of The History of Middle-earth, in the section concerning Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth and its commentary. Reading it in that setting places the fragment alongside the material and editorial context in which it was published.
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