Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Miluše Jedlinská
Fall and Mortality in the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien Bachelor ’s Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: Michael Matthew Kaylor, Ph. D.
2008
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
…………………………………………….. Miluše Jedlinská
2
I would like to thank to Michael Matthew Kaylor, Ph.D., for his willingness to supervise this thesis and for his valuable advice.
3 Table of contents 1. Introduction ...... 5 2. Ainulindalë and the Fall of Melkor ...... 7 2.1 Sub creative fall ...... 7 2.2 Fall as a means of achieving a greater glory of creation ...... 9 3. The Darkening of Valinor ...... 12 3.1 Fall of the Noldor ...... 12 3.2 World under the Sun as a fallen world ...... 14 4. Falls of Doriath, Nargothrond and Gondolin ...... 15 5. The First Fall of Man ...... 18 6. The Downfall of Númenor ...... 19 6.1 Prohibition and hubris ...... 20 6.2 The end of the ‘Old World’ ...... 22 6.3 Tolkien’s ‘Atlantis complex’ ...... 23 7. Pride, self will, domination and desire for possessions ...... 24 7.1 Melkor ...... 24 7.2 Fëanor ...... 25 7.3 Sauron and Saruman ...... 25 7.4 Denethor and Boromir ...... 27 8. Denial of Fall ...... 28 9. Mortality as a gift, not punishment ...... 28 9.1 Trying to find a justification for death ...... 29 9.2 Tolkien’s notion of Death and the Christian one ...... 30 10. Mortality vs. immortality ...... 31 10.1 Men vs. Elves ...... 31 10.2 Middle earth and Valinor ...... 35 10.3 Escapes to death and deathlessness ...... 36 10.4 Hope without guarantees for Men ...... 40 11. Longing for immortality ...... 41 11.1 Attempts at the prolongation of life or gaining immortality by force ...... 41 11.2 Natural life span and the virtues of short lives ...... 43 12. Healing and Consolation ...... 45 13. The interrelationship of Fall and Mortality ...... 46 14. Conclusion ...... 47 Appendix A List of characters & Map of Tolkien’s world ...... 49 Works cited and consulted ...... 53
4 1. Introduction
Tolkien himself claimed that his stories were mainly concerned with Fall,
Mortality and the Machine ( Letters 145). This thesis is an analysis of two of these topics: Fall and Mortality. A Fall is a recurrent motif of Tolkien’s fiction and he perceived it as a universal feature of human stories: "There cannot be any ‘story‘ without a fall – all stories are ultimately about the fall..." (Letters 147) He also claimed that most of human art and thought is preoccupied similarly as his own fiction−with the theme of Death.
The main ideas of this thesis pursued through Tolkien’s fiction are: the Fall is a means of achieving a greater glory of creation; when trying to do good, one can also fall; an unnatural prolongation of life should not be attempted; Death is our curse but also our blessing. Tolkien’s fiction is in fact a search for the meaning of life and death as is explained on the cases of fall and mortality.
The main works by Tolkien that were drawn on are The Silmarillion , The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Humphrey Carpenter), The Lord of the Rings (LOTR): The
Fellowship of the Ring (FR), The Two Towers (TT) and The Return of the King (RK).
The Silmarillion is a body of myth like stories which, however are told as historical accounts, because they really happened in the distant past of Tolkien’s secondary world.
They range from an account of the creation of the world ( Ainulindalë ) to the fates of the exiled Elves in Middle earth and to a less remote story of the Downfall of Númenor and setting up of Gondor and Arnor in Middle earth. The Silmarillion was originally meant to be published together with LOTR, because Tolkien thought the readers would understand LOTR better if acquainted with The Silmarillion (which is indeed true).
LOTR needs no introduction, for it is very well known. The Letters is a collection of
Tolkien’s personal letters to the members of his family, friends or publishers. They are
5 vital for understanding of Tolkien's fiction because of his comments on his books, further explanation of various features of his stories and stating his own opinions and beliefs.
The first part of this thesis deals with the theme of fall. The Fall of Melkor is presented as an event owing to which evil entered into the creation of the world, but was incorporated into the Creator’s plan and used for a higher purpose – to achieve a greater glory of the creation. Other moral falls followed that one of Melkor; for example the Fall of the Noldor and the First Fall of Man. Their first fall left in Men an inner weakness – being prone to evil and longing for immortality. This weakness led to the Downfall of Númenor and the end of the ‘Old World’. In this story, the motif of prohibition plays an important role. Then, the falls of individual persons such as Fëanor,
Sauron, Saruman and Denethor are discussed, and pride, self will and desire for possessions are identified as the main factors for their falls.
The second part of the thesis deals with the theme of mortality. Tolkien, in trying to find a justification for death, devised a concept of mortality as a gift from the Creator to Men. He did not think that such a notion of death was in contrast to the Christian notion which regards death as a punishment. However, Men in his secondary world are influenced by Melkor’s evil and see death as something utterly bad, therefore they want to escape death and be immortal like the Elves, who on the other hand are wearied by their long lives and wish to escape deathlesness. The differences between Men and
Elves and their varying opinions on mortality/immortality are discussed. Escape to death was Tolkien’s own peculiar theme, because as a professor of literature he claimed that human stories (mainly myths and fairy tales) contained only escapes from death.
Death in his view provides a hope (without guarantees), because the only true immortality lies beyond this world. On the example of the Númenóreans Tolkien
6 demonstrates that trying to gain immortality by craft or force is a tragical folly. We should not even attempt to prolong our lives, because every kind has its natural life span, which should not be exceeded. Owing to this belief in the virtues of short lives he was in an opposition to transhumanism.
The final chapters deal with some aspects of the interrelationship of fall and mortality and with healing and consolation.
2. Ainulindalë and the Fall of Melkor
2.1 Sub-creative fall
It is said in Ainulindalë that at the beginning there was only the Void in which dwelt Eru Ilúvatar. He created the Ainur, the angelic powers, from his mind and introduced to them a powerful theme from which they were supposed to make together a "Great Music" in harmony and begin creation. The Ainur acted as sub creators 1 of
Ilúvatar’s creation, developing his themes. For some time there were no flaws, but
Melkor, the most powerful of the Ainur, decided in order to increase the power of his own part to introduce themes of his own imagining that did not accord with the original theme of Ilúvatar. This resulted from his earlier desire to bring into being things of his own. A great discord arose, because some of the Ainur adopted Melkor’s theme.
Ilúvatar then introduced a new theme, like and yet unlike the previous one, but Melkor’s discord arose again, so Ilúvatar brought out a third theme. At last, it seemed that there were two musics, utterly at variance, one slow, deep, beautiful, but also sorrowful, and the other loud, vain, endlessly repeated, but with a unity of its own. Ilúvatar then wrathfully ended the Music in a single chord and showed to the Ainur the result of their 1 Tolkien uses the term subcreation to describe a form of the artist's creativity when making a particular kind of secondary or fictional world. But subcreation cannot be wholly new, because it draws on primal creation.
7 Music: a vision of the world and its unfolding history. When the vision ended, he said:
"Eä! Let these things Be!" ( Silmarillion 9) and so the world was made real by his word.
But, as Tolkien explains, it was made real with all the evil, rebellions and discordant elements that Melkor subcreatively introduced into it (however, the fall and corruption of things and beings is only possibility, not inevitability). There is the difference between Tolkien’s mythology and Christian mythology─in the Christian one the Fall of
Man is subsequent to the ‘Fall of the Angels’ and evil was brought into the world from outside by Satan; whereas in Tolkien’s myth, the rebellion of created free will (Melkor) preceded the creation of the World and evil was already present in the moment of creation ( Letters 286).
Some of the Ainur descended into Arda (Earth) and became Valar, the Powers of the World. Melkor was among them. At first, he deluded himself that he wanted to order all things in Arda for the good of Elves and Men (Ilúvatar’s children who were purposed in the Third theme), but in reality he wanted Arda to be his own kingdom, to have subjects and servants and to be master of others. The other Valar prevented him from doing this, but still, he viciously did great harm to their works. Melkor had a part in the knowledge and powers of all the other Valar, but turned them to evil purposes:
From splendour he fell through arrogance to contempt for all things save himself, a spirit wasteful and pitiless. Understanding he turned to subtlety in perverting to his own will all that he would use, until he became a liar without shame. He began with the desire of Light, but when he could not possess it for himself alone, he descended through fire and wrath into a great burning, down into Darkness. And darkness he used most in his evil works upon Arda, and filled it with fear for all living things ( Silmarillion 23).
Ainulindalë is often compared to Milton’s Paradise Lost , because the fall of
Melkor is similar to the fall of Lucifer. In tradition, Lucifer was "the prince of the world". Melkor called himself "Master of the fates of Arda" (Shippey 239). As
Watkins says, Lucifer, too, had his own ambitions in creation, considered himself better
8 than the other angels and thought to be equal to God; Melkor and Lucifer both fell because of their rebellion and contempt for their creators (3). Melkor envied Ilúvatar’s creativity where Lucifer envied God’s authority. Lucifer was driven out of Heaven and literally fell for nine days to Hell, whereas Melkor ‘descended’ down into darkness which seems to be his own decision−a deliberate action. However, the downward direction is partly only figurative, for Melkor did not abide in any kind of Hell (in fact,
Tolkien does not speak about anything like Hell in Arda); so the descent into Darkness can be perceived as a descent to and succumbing to the darkness of his own mind. But
Tolkien, keeping to the tradition, did not let Melkor abide in heights, but in the low places: deep underground in his strongholds.
Melkor fell, because he wanted to create things that he could rule; he envied
Ilúvatar’s creative powers and the gifts he gave to his Children. He did not respect the limits that were set to the Ainur in their sub creation. Not succeeding in his own creation, he at least tried to pervert what was done by Ilúvatar and the other Ainur (for example breeding Orcs from Elves). He was not created evil, but turned to evil by his own will and his fall led to other falls: the fall of the Noldor and their exile from
Valinor and the Fall of Man (as well as in the Genesis the fall of Lucifer led to the Fall of Man).
2.2 Fall as a means of achieving a greater glory of creation
When the Music ended, Ilúvatar told Melkor:
And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined ( Silmarillion 6).
Ilúvatar intended to use Melkor’s evil for a greater good. When presenting the vision of Arda to the Ainur, he said: "And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but part of the whole and tributary
9 to its glory." ( Silmarillion 6) Therefore, Melkor only contributed to a greater glory of creation, but it was not his purpose and he thought that he was capable of working against this plan of Ilúvatar’s. All this implies that there is some great purpose behind the Fall. What Tolkien had in mind, was a justification of God’s creation of an imperfect world 2 full of grief, death and suffering. The questions that lie beneath the surface of his fiction are: "Why do death and pain and evil come? Why are they necessary?" (Shippey 249) If there was no evil, no one would realize the value of good.
In The Silmarillion , all the stories have something to do with evil and fighting or facing it; without it, there would be no great deeds (for example Beren and Luthien´s deeds,
Earendil´s voyage or Frodo’s journey) and songs about them; without evil there would be no need for Men to recognize it and make themselves better through facing it (or, to have some diversity, make themselves worse through joining it). When one falls, it is an opportunity for someone else to redress the fall and show his or her qualities.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it is said that "Nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God the Creator." ( Catechism 338) It means that evil as well as everything else became a part of God’s plan, as well as in Tolkien’s fiction evil is permitted to exist by Ilúvatar. Paragraph 311 says that although God is not the cause of moral evil, he permits it because he respects the freedom of his creatures and knows how to derive good from evil. This accords with Tolkien’s view of Ilúvatar’s providence thanks to which the evil of Melkor was turned into a greater goodness of creation. Christians believe that God’s providence would finally bring the world to peace, although for the people the ways of his providence are often unknown and
2 Applicable not only to the fictionary world, but also to our present world, because Tolkien meant Arda as nothing else than the Earth in some indefinite time in the past. "Mine is not an ‘imaginary’ world, but an imaginary historical moment on ‘Middle earth’─which is our habitation." ( Letters 244) Middle earth is just the modern form of middel erd, an ancient name of oikoumenē, the abiding place of Men. Tolkien imagined the gap between the fall of Barad dûr and our days to be about 6000 years to make it credible even for the readers acquainted with pre history ( Letters 283).
10 unintelligible ( Catechism 314). Celebration of Creator’s providence is also present in
Tolkien’s stories. For example Elrond said at his Council that its participants did not get together by a chance as it might have seemed, but they were "ordered" to find a council for the peril of the world (RK 313); which implies that Providence was at work there. In the Catechism , there is also said that the "diabolical activity" is permitted by God’s providence despite the fact that the actions of Satan may cause deep injuries (395). The same with Melkor: his action, though evil in themselves, were permitted and used for good.
In the Third Theme of the Music, Ilúvatar introduced his Children and from these Children, he decided to give to Men a power to shape their lives beyond the Great
Music (which is fate to everything else), so that by their actions, everything should be, in form and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last. "These [Men] too in their time shall find that all that they do redounds at the end only to the glory of my work." ( Silmarillion 36) Also, Men shall join in the Second Music of the Ainur after the end of the world. Therefore, it is through the sub creative powers of Men that the Creation will reach completion. Ainulindalë is not only an attempt to find some justification in God's creation of an imperfect world, but it also endows Men with the power to correct the imperfections.
Thus, although religious undertone is strong in The Silmarillion , Tolkien explains the appearance of the Fall in creation through Melkor's sub creative fall and at the same time he presents a possibility, though not certainty, of eternal victory by the mediation of the sub creative powers of Men. On the other hand, Christians resolved this incompatibility between the omnipotent and benevolent God and the world of his making where exists undeserved suffering, unpunished evil and unrewarded virtue by the myth of Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man, "which explains that evil is the result of
11 human disobedience, and is allowed to exist in order to create free will, freedom to resist or to succumb to temptation..." (Shippey 179)
3. The Darkening of Valinor
The first seat of the Valar was in Almaren in Middle earth and it was lit by two lamps on high pillars, but Melkor destroyed these lights and was imprisoned by the Valar for three ages. In the meantime, the Valar made a new home (Valinor) in the lands of Aman in the West. It was lit by two Trees (Telperion and Laurelin), the work of the Vala (singular form of ‘Valar’) called Yavanna.
3.1 Fall of the Noldor
After the three ages, Melkor was given a pardon and was set free, because it seemed that he repented his deeds. Without anybody noticing, he managed to poison the minds of the Noldor (one of the branches of the Elves) telling them that in Valinor they were only vassals of the Valar, whilst in Middle earth they could rule whole lands; embittering Elven kins against each other. This was the way that Melkor (and his servants) worked: sowing lies and reaping mistrust, fear and hatred.
Melkor came with the spider Ungoliant (the ancestor of Shelob from LOTR) to
Valinor and poisoned the Trees so that darkness fell on Valinor. When Yavanna asked
Fëanor (the greatest smith of the Noldor) to give her his Silmarils (three jewels which embodied the light of the Trees) in order to heal the Trees, he refused because he was obsessed with them and because Melkor’s earlier lies that the Silmarils were not safe in
Valinor sank into his mind. But in the meantime, Melkor stole the Silmarils, killed
Fëanor’s father and fled with them to Middle earth. Fëanor then urged the Noldor to follow him to Middle earth and win freedom and great realms there, before it was too late. He echoed the lies of Melkor, that the Valar would hold them captive so that Men
12 might rule Middle earth. He said that no other race shall oust the Elves. Fëanor and his sons swore to pursue at any cost Melkor or any other being that would withhold the Silmarils from them. This oath became the reason of their fall (in addition to
Fëanor’s refusal to give up the work of his own craft, which was at the heart of his fall).
They held to the oath, regardless of evil consequences and when pursuing it, they committed two initial acts of violence and treachery: stealing the ships of the Teleri (the seafarer branch of the Elves) and killing those who defended the ships; and after having sailed back to Middle earth, they burnt the ships and refused to return for those of their supporters left behind. Because of this first killing of Elves by Elves (not the last one), the wrath of the Valar lay on Fëanor and his kin and Valinor was shut against them (The
Doom of the Noldor), so that they were in exile.
The lesson of this is that listening to lies without consulting it with those to whom they apply does not bring any good; that evil works very well if a disunity is achieved among those who were united before and that the desire for ruling can overwhelm even the virtuous ones (Elves). Fëanor, although not intending so, became ruthless and his methods resembled those of his enemy. None of us is so good that he cannot fall. The aforementioned acts of violence also played a crucial part because they caused a whole chain of resulting violence and killing. What is shown here is that violence produces only another violence. However, the quest of the Noldor also helped to achieve the greater glory of creation, as Fëanor said: "the deeds that we shall do shall be the matter of song until the last days of Arda." ( Silmarillion 95)
This preoccupation with doom and heroic deeds and songs of course comes from
Tolkien’s interest in Norse and Icelandic mythology which is largely based on the motifs of fate, doom and ‘naked will and courage’.
13 Shippey mentions one Old English poem (according to him Tolkien certainly knew it) which seems to locate the Fall of Man not in Adam and Eve, but in Cain and
Abel and the invention of metallurgy and weapons, "the inhabitants of Earth endured the clash of weapons widely through the world, inventing and tempering wounding swords" (qtd. Shippey 241). This is an interesting point, as regards both Men and Elves, because Fëanor, too, "tempered fell swords for himself and for his sons, and made tall helms with plumes of red." ( Silmarillion 71) This is Tolkien’s version of the story about primeval violence.
There the swords were used for evil purpose in the kinslaying and Tolkien seems to denounce them, but his relationship to swords seems ambiguous, because sometimes he glorifies them (for example Aragorn’s sword Andúril in LOTR). However, the glorifying aspect probably comes from the Norse features of his mythology and the denouncing aspect from the Christian ones. Or, in Faramir’s words: "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend..." (TT 340) which implies that swords are good as far as they serve a rightful defence.
3.2 World under the Sun as a fallen world
Before the Valinor’s Trees died altogether, Telperion bore its last silver flower and Laurelin its last golden fruit and they became the Moon and Sun. Tolkien says in his Letters that " the Sun is not a divine symbol, but a second best thing and the ‘light of the Sun’ (the world under the sun) become terms for a fallen world, and a dislocated imperfect vision." (149) This is a marked difference between Tolkien’s legendarium and other mythological systems of various cultures where the Sun and Moon were always divine symbols. It is so, because The Silmarillion is not anthropocentric, so that the divine symbols are the Valinor’s Trees, not the Sun which "was set as a sign for
14 the awakening of Men and the waning of the Elves..." ( Silmarillion 110) The Years of the Sun were swifter and shorter than the long Years of the Trees and the air of Middle earth became heavy with growth and mortality, and the changing and ageing of all things was exceedingly hastened.
At the end of The Silmarillion , Tolkien says:
Here ends the Silmarillion. If it had passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwë and Varda may know...( Silmarillion 306)
This suggests that Tolkien perceived the world as proceeding from better to worse. Moreover, the "fallen world" is still the world in which we live, though we have in our hands the opportunity for its amending.
In his Letters, Tolkien also made a remark that the Light of Valinor (derived from the light before the fall) was the light of art undivorced from reason that saw things both scientifically (philosophically) and imaginatively (subcreatively) and that the light of the Sun and Moon came from the Trees only after they were poisoned by
Evil (148). Therefore, according to Tolkien, the separation of art and science which then began and which we now experience is a bad thing, one of the marks of a fallen world.
If you consider this for example in connection with the destruction of landscape that
Tolkien so much denounced in his life; would that happen if people regarded the landscape not only scientifically and exploitatively, but also artistically?
4. Falls of Doriath, Nargothrond and Gondolin
Gondolin, Nargothrond and Doriath were hidden kingdoms of the Noldor in
Beleriand in Middle earth in the times of the war of Elves with Melkor. Each kingdom was set up by an elf king (Thingol, Finrod Felagund and Turgon) and flourished for
15 quiet a long period, until they were found by mortal men (Beren, Túrin, Tuor) and served as their hosts. According to Shippey, these stories of human involvement with the Elves were of the most beloved ones of Tolkien (247). However, they are very complicated because of their dependency upon genealogy and because Tolkien was interested in the hidden roots of evil, in the way in which seemingly unimportant cases of selfishness or carelessness function as a trigger of the future catastrophe. Tolkien requires of the reader to keep in mind the division of the elvish groups and many pedigrees and family relationship in order to understand the stories, but as Shippey says, it is something that could be done by the listeners of Norse sagas (or by the Hobbits), but modern readers usually cannot do this (244).
All the falls are connected with the Tale of the Children of Húrin and with the story of Beren and Lúthien. Beren, a mortal, and Lúthien, an Elf, fell in love with each other, but Lúthien’s father Thingol told Beren that he could have Lúthien only if he brought him a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown (Morgoth is another name of Melkor which means ‘dark enemy of the world’) and thus he wrought the doom of Doriath and was caught in the Doom of the Noldor. Beren managed to wrest one Silmaril from
Morgoth with the help from Lúthien and it really came to Thingol, but Beren died in the process. Húrin 3 brought to Thingol from the ruin of Nargothrond Nauglamír, the famous dwarf necklace. Thingol then had the Silmaril set into the Nauglamír by the Dwarves, but when it was done and he was alone with them, they claimed the whole work as their own possession, he laughed at them, being a proud Elf, so they killed him,
3 Húrin, one of the greatest mortal men, was for a long time captive of Morgoth who made him see what he himself saw so that Húrin watched the fate of his children from distance, but his vision was distorted by Morgoth and he thought that in Doriath and elsewhere the Elves dealt deliberately badly with his children Túrin and Nienor and his wife Morwen, so that his bringing of Nauglamír was meant as a ridicule of Thingol for his seemingly careless behaviour towards Túrin, Nienor and Morwen, who also for some time dwelt in Doriath.
16 and run away with it. Thingol’s wife then left Doriath and its fall was completed─because of Thingol’s pride and lust for the Silmarils.
Túrin was admitted into Nargothrond and gained friendship and respect of the king. However, Ulmo (one of the Valar who still cared about the Elves) sent message to the Lord of Nargothrond: "Shut the doors of the fortress and go not abroad.
Cast the stones of your pride into the loud river, that the creeping evil may not find the gate" ( Silmarillion 253). Túrin, who in the meanwhile became powerful in
Nargothrond, was against that and led the army out to fight the dragon Glaurung. They were defeated and Glaurung used the bridge, forced his way into Nargothrond and ransacked it. Thus, seemingly it was Túrin’s pride and excessive self confidence that led to the fall of Nargothrond. But the roots of Túrin’s ill luck go much deeper, as deep as to the decision of his mother to sent him away to Doriath when he was a child and stay at home herself; and even deeper it leads to Morgoth’s curse which was laid on his father Húrin and his kin and which operates by "shadow" and suggestion (Shippey 254).
As an example of this serves the unfortunate remarks (for example of Thingol’s counsellor Saeros 4) which made Túrin act without thinking. Nevertheless, the disobeyed advice of Ulmo only highlights the self will of Túrin─he did not listen to the advice of the wiser and it proved to be the best way to a disaster. The story of Túrin (which is not concerned only with the fall of Nargothrond) is in some aspects similar to Macbeth :
Túrin tried to deny his fate and ran away from it, but precisely by this denying and running he came to its tragical fulfiling. Macbeth’s unfortune, too, seemed to be brought about by a prophecy (of the witches), but the doom could not operate without his responses to that prophecy (Shippey 254).
4 Saeros taunted Túrin with the remark about the women of his kin running naked in the woods which was a weak spot of Túrin because he feared about his mother and sister who stayed at their home which became occupied by the Easterlings about whom he in his childhood heard from his friend that they chase after women in the woods with dogs as a sport.
17 Tuor (Túrin’s cousin) came to Gondolin to give Ulmo’s warning to king Turgon:
that the Curse of Mandos [the Doom of the Noldor] now hastened to its fulfilment, when all the works of the Noldor should perish; and he bade him depart, and abandon the fair and mighty city that he built… ( Silmarillion 287)
But Turgon became proud and still trusted in the secret and strength of Gondolin. Tuor wanted to follow the advice, but Maeglin, the son of Turgon’s sister and the Dark Elf
Eöl, spoke always against him. Maeglin was once captured by Orcs outside Gondolin and betrayed the exact position of Gondolin to Morgoth, so that Gondolin was destroyed. Only Tuor, his wife Idril (Turgon’s daughter) and their son Eärendil escaped.
Here is a similar pattern as in the fall of Nargothrond: pride (this time it was not a proud human, but the elven king), not following Ulmo’s warning, bad counsels (of
Maeglin) and too much love of the Elves for their work (the city). Nonetheless, the roots of Maeglin’s treason were again in the net of family relationships and division of
Elves 5.
What can be seen in these falls is pride, treason, disunion, violence, desire for possessions and working of Morgoth’s evil. However, it is necessary to say that the desire for possessions resulted mainly from the artistic value of the desired things.
The Elves did not want to abandon Gondolin because of some kind of value that could be measured in gold or money or whatever of this kind, but because it was beautiful.
5. The First Fall of Man
In Tolkien’s legendarium, the first Fall of Man is nowhere described exactly. It is one of the untold stories. The only information is that "It is said by the Eldar that Men came into the world in the time of the Shadow of Morgoth...and they worshipped
5 Maeglin’s father was a Dark Elf, whereas his mother, Turgon’s sister, was a light Elf; his father killed his mother, his uncle Turgon killed his father; Maeglin himself lusted for Idril who became Tuor’s wife so that he had a bitter grudge against Tuor, etc.
18 the Darkness and yet feared it." ( Silmarillion 309) However, this domination did not last forever and some Men repented and fled westwards, because they heard that there was light there (contrary to the darkness in which they found themselves to be). These Men later became Elf friends.
The first Fall left in Men an "inner weakness", because it was repented, but not finally healed ( Letters 154). The Second Fall of Man (The Downfall of Númenor) was partly the result of this weakness.
This ‘weakness’ is a milder version of the Catholic notion of the human nature which is in a "fallen state" and "deprived of the original holiness and justice" because of the original sin ( Catechism 404) Although human nature is not totally corrupted, it is subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death ( Catechism 405). Tolkien says: "Men have ‘fallen’−any legends put in the form of supposed ancient history of this actual world of ours must accept that..." ( Letters 203) These words imply that Tolkien believed Men to be fallen in the primary world and that is why he described them as fallen in his secondary world.
Shippey says that The Silmarillion does not contradict Genesis , because it only offers an alternative view on the origin of sin─not in the desire for the "knowledge of good and evil", but in the desire for creation, mastery, power (242).
6. The Downfall of Númenor
In the second age of Middle earth Men who helped the Elves in the war with
Morgoth were given by the Valar a new land, an island called Númenor between
Middle earth and Valinor. Númenóreans (also called Dúnedain=Men of the West) were given a life three times longer than that of other men. However, Tolkien says that
"Reward on earth is more dangerous for men than punishment!" and that "Its central
19 theme is (inevitably, I think, in a story of Men) a Ban, or Prohibition." ( Letters 154)
This is a hint at the Garden of Eden and the prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Prohibition indeed is a common motif in many myths and fairy tales. For example in the myth about Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus was prohibited to look back on his way from the underworld, yet he did so and died in the consequence of his disobedience. In the story of the Downfall of Númenor, the Ban was placed for Númenóreans on sailing westwards to Valinor and seeking immortal life.
6.1 Prohibition and hubris
Tolkien describes their fall from grace in three phases. At first, they acquiesced to the Ban and sailed only eastwards to Middle earth, in the second phase they began to murmur against the Ban and seek wealth rather than joy and became tax collecting usurpers of Middle earth. The third phase commenced with Ar Pharazôn, the 25th king.
He took Sauron as a hostage to Númenor (Sauron at that time in fact ruled Middle earth but surrendered without fighting to Númenóreans) Afterwards, Sauron arose by his cunning to the chief counsellor of the king and deluded him and most of the people by his lies, telling them that Eru Ilúvatar was only an invention and oracle of the Valar (and that the chief of gods was Morgoth who dwelt in the Void where he could make endless realms for his servants) and that the Ban was only a lying device to prevent Men from seizing endless life that the Undying Lands provided (this was not true, because it were the Valar who gave an air of immortality to the land, not vice versa). Sauron founded a new religion─worship of the Dark. Also, a temple was built to make human sacrifices to Morgoth so that he should release the Númenóreans from Death. But its only result was that death came sooner and more often and people were assailed by madness and sickness. When Ar Pharazôn felt his own death approaching, he yielded to Sauron’s insinuation, built a huge armada, broke the Ban and set off to Valinor to wrest
20 immortality from its inhabitants. They landed in Valinor (not Sauron who stayed in
Númenor) and Ar Pharazôn wavered and almost turned back, but did not do so because of pride.
The roots of this rebellion were hubris, craving for something that does not belong to men (immortality), lies of Sauron (who learnt this art from his master
Morgoth) and the reward of a longer life which caused a possessive attitude towards their art and wisdom among the Númenóreans and awakened a desire for more time to enjoy these things.
Nonetheless, there is yet another meaning to the Fall of Númenóreans. They were descendants of the Re formed Men who escaped westwards from the domination of Morgoth and his false worship and embraced a monotheist faith (without institutionalised worship) in Eru Ilúvatar (not in the Valar, because strictly speaking, these were not gods 6); but in worshipping Morgoth and the Dark, they returned to the state of paganism.
As Curry says, in the story of the Fall of Númenor, there is obvious Tolkien’s antipathy to today’s worship of technological modernism that is described through hubris consisting of both domestic political autocracy, including the suppression of dissent, and a foreign policy based on technological and military supremacy (Curry 49).
Indeed, the tyranny of the Númenóreans resembles the tyranny of Nazi Germany and the mass appeal of Sauron to people has some similar aspects to the appeal of
Hitler. By this I do not mean that this story is an allegory of Nazi Germany. Tolkien’s negative attitude to composing allegories is well known. Tolkien solely points out bad features of human character which can lead in a secondary (fictional) world to
6 "…beings and powers that might seem worshipful were not to be worshipped, not even the gods (the Valar), being only creatures of the One. And He was immensely remote." ( Letters 204)
21 a situation like the Fall of Númenor and in the primary (our) world to Nazi Germany and the Second World War.
As was mentioned before, Men are easily seduced to evil due to some inner weakness in them and in their hubris they think that there are no limits to expansion and when having pleasures and wealth in their lives, they inevitably want more and more.
6.2 The end of the ‘Old World’
When the Númenórean fleet landed in Valinor, the Valar laid down their government of Arda and called to Ilúvatar 7. He opened an abyss in the sea into which
Númenor fell and removed the Undying Lands beyond the reach of Men forever into the realm of hidden things. The Old World was changed and made round and new lands and seas were made in their place 8. From then on, there was no physical dwelling of the divine beings on earth. Valinor remained only in its memory. Only Elves could sail to Valinor, taking the ‘straight way’, but the world became finite and inescapable (save by death). However, some of the Faithful (minority of people who had not worshipped the Dark) escaped from the cataclysm (Elendil─a Noachian figure─and his sons) and set up the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor in Middle earth. From then on, Númenor was referred to as Akallabêth the Downfallen or Atalantë.
The Fall of Númenor brought on not only the end of the Second Age, but also of the Old World, "the primeval world of legend (envisaged as flat and bounded)“ ( Letters
154). After this began the Third Age (at the end of which the LOTR takes place) or the Twilight Age, the first age of broken world and at the same time the last age of fully incarnated Elves and of Evil with a single incarnate shape (Sauron). This was a first step
7 It was because the Children of Ilúvatar were not under their ultimate jurisdiction so they were not allowed to destroy them. 8 This was supposed to be America. However, Shippey says that the problem of America had been bothering Tolkien into old age because he was not satisfied with this solution and wondered if such a myth was still acceptable in a scientific age.
22 in the transition of the ‘Old World’ into our world. The second step which took place sometimes after the end of the Third Age is not described and the Fourth Age is not identified with any particular epoch in our history. The opportunity for contact between men and other beings and traditions was lost. Therefore, with the end of the Third Age, the Old World came to its utter end.
6.3 Tolkien’s ‘Atlantis complex’
The story of Númenor was Tolkien’s own use of the Atlantis myth in which he was interested, because, according to him, the tradition of culture bearing men of the sea profoundly affected the imagination of people of Europe with westward shores
(Letters 303). Tolkien said that he had what some might call an Atlantis complex─"the terrible recurrent dream (beginning with memory) of the Great Wave, towering up, and coming in ineluctably over the trees and green fields." What is interesting, he also said that he had not had it since he wrote the Downfall of Númenor . He thought that the Atlantis tradition seemed so fundamental to ‘mythical history’, whether it had any kind of basis in real history was not important, that some version of it had to be contained in his legendarium.
In Plato’s dialog Critias , the island of Atlantis was Poseidon’s share of land and its inhabitants were descendants of Poseidon himself and a mortal woman.
They [Atlanteans] retained a certain greatness of mind, and treated the vagaries of fortune and one another with wisdom and forbearance...They did not let their high standard of living intoxicate them or make them lose their self control...But when the divine element in them became weakened by frequent admixture with mortal stock, and their human traits became predominant, they ceased to be able to carry their prosperity with moderation. (Plato 142 143)
Zeus then decided to punish them and Atlantis was swallowed by sea and vanished forever.
So, Tolkien’s Númenóreans and Plato’s Atlanteans were both special (because of long lives and a divine origin, respectively), for some time they were both wise and
23 wealthy, but then the degeneration began and they were not ‘able to carry their prosperity with moderation’, i.e. desired for more and more; so that the fall and destruction took place.
Moreover, in Timaeus , there is a notion of periodic destruction by natural cataclysm, followed by a slow redevelopment of civilisation, which is something that also happens again and again in The Silmarillion : from the destruction of Almaren or the breaking of
Beleriand to the Downfall of Númenor and consequent setting up of Gondor and Arnor.
7. Pride, self-will, domination and desire for possessions
These are the main roots of the fall in Tolkien’s fiction (except for Melkor’s sub creative evil) which I intend to analyse in this chapter in connection with the characters to whom they apply.
7.1 Melkor
Melkor, the ‘Beginner of Evil’, was given the greatest power and knowledge among the Ainur, but this made him proud so that he thought himself equal to Ilúvatar.
He conceived such dark thoughts when he had been going alone into the Void and seeking the Flame Imperishable (an embodiment of Ilúvatar’s creative powers) before the Great Music. Power led him to pride and arrogance, which is not an uncommon story. He can be contrasted to Manwë, the highest of the Valar, whose power was almost as big as that of Melkor, but who was not seduced to evil. Melkor is as well as
Satan, "a liar and the father of lies" ( Catechism 392).
24 7.2 Fëanor
Fëanor (it means "the spirit of fire" 9) was the greatest among the Noldor, as well as Melkor was the greatest among the Ainur. He became obsessed with his own creation and his Fall was "into possessiveness and (to a less degree) into perversion of…art to power." ( Letters 146) His desire for ‘freedom’ and realms in Middle earth played an important part in his departing from Valinor. His Silmarils were originally a work of art, but once the Trees were dead, they became an instrument of power, for only in them the light of the Trees survived. They also had a similar attributes as the Rings of power in LOTR−evoking a desire to possess them in anybody who came into contact with them. Also, Fëanor’s fall owed much to his self will (he believed only in himself and did not listen to councils) and to his fiery spirit. This fiery spirit became his final undoing: in a battle against Melkor’s host he rushed ahead of his army and was mortally wounded by Balrogs.
7.3 Sauron and Saruman
Sauron was one of the Maiar (the Ainur of a lesser order) seduced by Melkor into evil. He repented in fear when Morgoth was utterly defeated (at the end of the First
Age), but finally did not do as commanded−return to Valinor and be judged. Instead, he stayed in Middle earth and beginning with fair motives (reorganising and restoration of
Middle earth), he slowly became new Dark Lord with a huge desire for power. As
Tolkien says, this desire is connected with the desire for making the will more quickly effective, and so it leads to the Machine (or Magic 10 ). By Machine and Magic Tolkien understood all use of external plans and devices instead of development of the inner powers and talents, or the use of these talents with the motive of dominating (146).
9 Melkor’s element was fire, so he was the spirit of fire, too. 10 Machine is our modern form of magic. The ‘magic’ of the Enemy was not the same as the magic of Elves, because their magic was Art, not power or domination or re forming of Creation ( Letters 146).
25 Sauron, like Melkor before him, was concerned with domination and became the ‘Lord of magic and machines’. He was the king of men in the east and south of Middle earth who feared him and worshipped him as god. Those Men were fallen, too, because of their worship of a false god. However, as Tolkien says, Sauron’s evil arose from a good root: the desire to benefit the world and others, but speedily and according to his own plans ( Letters 146)
The wizard Saruman began as well as Sauron with good motives, but he long studied the ways of Sauron with hope to defeat him, prided himself on his knowledge and started to envy Sauron as a rival rather than hate him, "he desired that he and no other should find the Ring, so that he might wield it himself and order all the world to his will." ( Silmarillion 362). Saruman’s original name, Curunír, means ‘Man of skill’
(or, according to Shippey, ‘Artificer’ or even ‘Engineer’ (241)), because he was skilled in speech and smithcraft. Nonetheless, he used his talents for the purpose of domination and became another ‘Lord of magic and machines’. Saruman, like Sauron, is a figure who deceives and destroys, rather than preserves. As Gandalf told Saruman: "he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." (FR 336) This is one of the allusions to the concept of science divorced from arts discussed in the subchapter
3.2.
Sauron and Saruman’s cases are yet another warnings against the misuse of technology and ‘science’. The One Ring is not an allegory of the atomic bomb, but a symbol of all technologies that give dangerous power (which often leads to the desire for domination) to men and can be used for bad purposes rather than for good ones, even if their original purpose was to benefit the world.
26 7.4 Denethor and Boromir
Denethor, the last steward of Gondor, was also captured through pride−he considered himself powerful enough to use his Palantír, even when he knew that one of the Palantírs was in Sauron’s hands. Sauron thus manage to show Denethor only the unfavorable things (like the greatness of the armies of Orcs) and made him to despair. Denethor, when he deduced what the task of the Fellowship of the Ring was, had such a pride to think that the Ring would be safe in Minas Tirith and that as a last resort, he would use it against Sauron and would not let himself be overmastered by its will. He did not have the humility of Gandalf, who knew that the Ring was too great for himself and that it would destroy him. What is more, Denethor knew that Aragorn had the right for the throne of Gondor, yet he regarded it as a plot designed to divest him of power; "he clung to power instead of displaying the true stewardship exemplified in
Gandalf." (Duriez 70) Eventually, when Minas Tirith was under siege, Denethor decided to commit a suicide, in a time when he should have led his people. Gandalf considered his suicide as a ‘sin’ and a fall, saying: "Authority is not given to you…to order the hour of your death…And only the heathen kings, under the domination of the Dark Power, did thus, slaying themselves in pride and despair…" (RK 148)
Boromir was like his father: because of his pride he wanted to possess the Ring and bring it to Minas Tirith and all the councils of the wise (Elrond, Gandalf, Galadriel) did not change his mind. That is an example of the inner weakness in Men−inability to resist the temptation of power and prolongation of life. However, Boromir, unlike
Denethor, repented before he died.
One of the meanings of these stories is that even when trying to do good, one can easily fall; like Denethor who wanted to protect his city by using Palantír, but was not
27 able to protect himself against pride and despair, and like Boromir who wanted to bring the Ring to his father (or maybe keep it for himself) thinking that it would be for good.
8. Denial of Fall
As was said before, evil and a fall are not inevitability, but only possibility in the created beings, so to contrast all these falls, there are also cases of those who resisted the temptation and denied the fall.
A good example are the Faithful of Númenor−an oppressed minority who did not yield to the widespread worship of the Dark and still kept faith in Eru Ilúvatar, even at the cost of losing their lives. That is a show of moral qualities which did not succumb to hard times.
Also those who refused possession of the Ring in fact denied fall. Bilbo, as the only one, voluntarily (although with Gandalf’s help) gave up the Ring. Had he not done so, he might have well end up like Gollum, if it was time for that. Gandalf, too, admitted that he was tempted to take the Ring from a desire to do good, when Frodo offered it to him, but did not do so. Galadriel, as well, was offered the Ring by Frodo, but denied it and recognized it as her final test before she could return to the West
(because she was one of the rebellious Noldor who went to the exile in Middle earth against the will of the Valar).
9. Mortality as a gift, not punishment
Explanations of Death are always connected with the understanding of life itself.
Therefore, if in Tolkien’s view mortality is a gift, then life is a gift too, and vice versa.
Because The Silmarillion is not anthropocentric, mortality is not explained mythically, but as a mystery of God: after the Music of the Ainur, Ilúvatar said that he would give
28 to Men new gifts: free will and mortality. Mortality means an escape from the world and freedom from time. However, the notion of Death as a gift is an Elvish view, "and does not necessarily have anything to say for or against such beliefs as the Christian that
‘death’ is not part of human nature, but a punishment for sin (rebellion), a result of the ‘Fall’." ( Letters 286) But this is the understanding of death (not being tied to ‘the circles of the world’) that should become Man’s own. "‘mortal’ Man has probably (an
Elf would say) a higher if unrevealed destiny than a longeval one." ( Letters 286) Death is thus a part of the nature of Man and it was planned long before Men awakened in
Middle earth and started to worship the Dark Lord(s), which was the cause of their First
Fall. It was owing to the domination of the Dark Lord Melkor that Men began to perceive Death as an evil, because he perverted it and confounded it with darkness, made evil out of good and fear out of hope.
According to the Elves, Men too go to the halls of Mandos (the seat of the Vala called Mandos and the assembly point of dead Elves), but their place of waiting there is not the same as that of the Elves. Their fate after death was not foretold in the Music of the Ainur, but there is Hope there. This hope is dealt with in chapter 10.
9.1 Trying to find a justification for death
"Death is not an enemy!" says Tolkien in his Letters (267). There has been a long discussion about attributing to much or too little influence of writers’ lives on their works, therefore, only few facts from Tolkien’s life taken from the biography by
Carpenter are mentioned and left upon the reader to decide what influence it had on his fiction (which is beyond any doubts much preoccupied with the theme of death).
Well, his father died when Tolkien was four years old, his mother died when he was twelve, in the WWI he experienced the Somme offensive and the trench warfare and all his close friends from T.C.B.S. (Tea Club, Barrovian Society), except one, died
29 in the war. At that time he began to write the first stories of his legendarium (e.g. The
Fall of Gondolin, Beren and Lúthien). He then lived to see the WWII (at that time he started to write LOTR). His wife Edith died in 1971 and Tolkien himself died two years later.
As I said in chapter 2.2, Tolkien’s legendarium is an attempt to present some justification for death and suffering, whether his life had any role in this or not; to show that "death is our curse, but also our blessing" (Mathie 1).
9.2 Tolkien’s notion of Death and the Christian one
Tolkien always wanted to merge Christian religion with the relics of pagan beliefs contained in the literatures and myths which he studied 11 . He, although being a Catholic, did not perceive the notion of Death as a gift to be in conflict with the Christian view: "A divine ‘punishment’ is also a divine ‘gift’, if accepted, since its object is ultimate blessing, and the supreme inventiveness of the Creator will make
‘punishments’ (that is change of design) produce a good not otherwise to be attained…"
(Letters 286) He knew that in the primary world some may call it a ‘bad theology’, but he thought it to be as "capable of elucidating truth, and a legitimate basis of legends."
(Letters 189), i.e. as good an explanation for death as the Christian one. The idea of a gift is not a bad one. It is something that would be called a "positive thinking" today.
Certainly, it is more positive than the idea of punishment. Such was Tolkien’s suggestion of how we should think about Death.
In Christian religion, Death was not part of God’s plan, but the consequence of the original sin (disobedience of God and breaking of the Ban), "Even though man's nature is mortal God had destined him not to die." ( Catechism 1008) However, this curse was transformed by Christ’s obedience and submission to God into a blessing.
11 That is why he wrote about the intrinsic worth of courage in the face of an inevitable doom.
30 According to the Catechism , Death lends urgency to our lives: remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment (1007)
Thus, in Tolkien’s secondary world, Death is a blessing and a gift from the beginning, because it was so destined by Ilúvatar, whereas in Christian view it was a punishment at first and only later became a blessing. But the result is the same: Death is meant to highlight the eternal quality within humans.
In Tolkien’s secondary world (unlike the fiction of his friend C.S. Lewis), there is no Heaven or Hell in the Christian sense of the words, nor does he explicitly mention any kind of Last Judgment and Resurrection. What Tolkien offers are only glimpses of hope, not its certainty.
10. Mortality vs. immortality
Immortality and mortality were special gifts of Ilúvatar to his Children.
However, Tolkien held that the true immortality is beyond the ‘circles of the world’
(with Ilúvatar and the Ainur) and not even Elves are subject to it, because their immortality is in fact a longevity coextensive to the life of Arda. Nonetheless, the word
‘immortality’ is used here for their longevity, in order not to make more confusion than necessary.
10.1 Men vs. Elves
The doom of the Elves is to be immortal and to last as long as the world lasts, never leaving it, even when slain. They can be killed or die of grief or weariness, but age alone does not reduce their strength. Their death is not a true death, because their spirits go to the halls of Mandos where they remain either discarnate or are re born. If
31 re born, they are rehabilitated and eventually recover memory of all their past, therefore they remain ‘identical’.
Tolkien remarked that Elves and Men were in biological terms one race, or they would not be capable of intermarriage 12 and that the biology in his secondary world allowed such difference in the length of lives in one race. Elves and Men were represented as biologically very close because of literary and didactic purposes: Elves are certain noble aspects of Men and their high talents and desires, incarnated in
Tolkien’s world. They have freedoms and powers we would like to have, and the strong and weak points resulting of the possession of these things is shown in them ( Letters
189). However, mortality and immortality are inherent in biological and spiritual nature of Men and Elves and cannot and should not be changed.
As well as the Elves are incarnations of the best human features, the Orcs are incarnations of the worst ones (delight in cruelty, betrayal, wanton destructiveness).
Orcs were not ‘created’ by Melkor, but they were perverted Elves, bred to evil, who no longer had the power to recognize the evil of their actions and thus had no moral choice.
They cannot fall any deeper then they are, because they are unable to do good, unlike
Men who, although often prone to evil, are still beings with a free will to choose between good and evil.
After the awakening of Men, Elves and Men were of like height and strength, but the Elves had greater wisdom, skills, and beauty. As time went by, the differences deepened. The bodies of Elves became consumed (just metaphorically) by the fires of their spirits, so that they seemed a bit transparent; and Men were diminished in stature
(except of Númenóreans). The diminishing in stature can be attributed to their falls, because in Tolkien’s fiction, height is often connected with the nobility of a spirit. For
12 There were only three unions of Elves and Men: Lúthien and Beren, Idril and Tuor, Arwen and Aragorn.
32 example Galadriel is described as "tall and valiant" ( Silmarillion 89), Númenóreans were at the beginning also taller than other men, and Aragorn was "Tall as the sea kings of old…" (RK 297); even the Hobbits Merry and Pippin became taller in the process of getting more noble and courageous. But the differences between Men and Elves were not only physical. They also became estranged from each other owing to the work of
Morgoth and Sauron who made them mistrust or even dislike each other.
Elves, unlike Men, were not fallen as a race, but their weakness was in regretting the past and in unwillingness to face change. They wanted to live in mortal Middle earth because they became fond of it and because there they had the advantages of a superior caste, and so they tried to stop its change, history and growth, keep it as a place where they could be artists and creators. They became burdened with sadness and nostalgia, experiencing gradual fading and decline. It was because of their desire for power over things as they were, to arrest change, and keep things always fresh and fair, that they were almost captured by Sauron: in the Second Age the Elves forged the Rings of Power with advices from Sauron (who at that time still seemed to be fair and undeceiving). Those who possessed the three Elven rings could ward off the decay of time and postpone the weariness of the world, but on the other hand, they nearly fell under the power of Sauron who made the ruling Ring which controlled all the other
Rings. When the ruling Ring was lost, one of the Elven rings was in Rivendell and one in Lothlórien where they were used for its original purpose−to arrest all change and decay. That is why these places seemed so fair in comparison with the rest of the world.
Moreover, the elvish notion of time is very different from that of Men, as Legolas explains in the LOTR:
For the Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them. Slow, because they do not count the running years, not for themselves.
33 The passing seasons are but ripples ever repeated in the long long stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an end at last. (FR 501)
That is one of the dangers of immortality: being lulled by the ‘ripples’ into a dream like state and not changing together with the outer world. By the last sentence, Legolas hints that if Elves wish to remain immortal, they must leave Middle earth at last, because its air of mortality would eventually wear and suffocate them.
In fact, the refugees from Númenor also suffered from nostalgia because there was no going back for them or any mortal men; the way into the west was open, but led nowhere than back again.
Tolkien said:
"The real theme [of LOTR] for me is...Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race ‘doomed’ to leave it…and…the anguish in the hearts of a race ‘doomed’ not to leave it, until its whole evil aroused story is complete." ( Letters 246)
This is a reference to the fact that some Elves rejected to live in Valinor with its unchanging peace and immortality and, as Shippey says, chose Middle earth, creation, independence and death (Shippey 241), of course death only in the sense of leaving their bodies. Therefore, there is a paradoxical situation, because Men desired to be immortal and Elves desired to be released from the world−to die. Thus, each kind was not contended with its destiny.
Burns thinks that Tolkien’s Elves can be linked to the Celtic Tuatha Dé Dannan
(The People of the Goddess Danu), people of a divine origin who, according to the Irish mythology, came to Ireland from over the water (Burns 24). Thanks to their immortality, they are said to live "without grief, without sorrow, without death...without age, without corruption of the earth" (Mac Cana 65), they have their local kings, disputes and warfare and as well as Elves, they can be killed. Elves thus have certain
Celtic features−ethereality, shiftings of time, looking to mysteries−which accounts for
34 their nostalgia and desire to halt the time. Men, on the other hand, have more Norse features, such as unyielding heroism, inevitable doom and more of realism (Burns 12).
These are reflected very well for example in the last stand of Húrin (in The Silmarillion ) or in the Ride of the Rohirrim.
However, it has to be said that Elves, despite all their weaknesses, were
Tolkien’s favourite beings, because they were incomparably better than Men, had much greater artistic skills, tried to understand the world around them without breaking it, lived in harmony with nature etc.
10.2 Middle-earth and Valinor
Middle earth is the land of mortals where the pace of life is quick (and also this world in the past, see footnote 2) and Valinor is the land of immortals where the ages go by only slowly.
Valinor of course lay in the west before it was removed. It is Tolkien’s use 13 of the belief in the land of the Undying in the west, which was spread in the literatures of
North Europe. An example of this is Avalon from Arthurian legends. Tolkien remade
Avalon into Avallónë−a city on the Lonely Isle near the shores of Valinor. There are also various versions of an Irish story about the Navigation of Saint Brendan who visited Tir na nOg or the Land of Promise, an island of refuge set aside by God for his saints. Tolkien argued that the belief in a Land of the Dead across the ocean must have been the reason for the Anglo Scandinavian custom of ship burials (Shippey 283).
Valinor is both the land of immortals and the land of the dead, similar to the Celtic ´Land of the Living´, Tír inna mBeo , where sickness and decay are
13 In fact what Tolkien did was extracting universal motifs, characters and situations of various mythologies and merging them in a new compendium. Or rather an old one, because it represents the ‘lost lore’ from which all the mythologies were supposedly derived later on.
35 unknown…a land of primeval innocence where the pleasures of love are untainted by guilt.“ (Mac Cana 123) However, this land had no spatial definition (not in the west), it was placed underground, under the sea, on distant islands and so on. Another version of the Celtic otherworld was Annwn, which is mentioned in one poem called "The Spoils of Annwn" (Preiddeu Annwn). It tells about a disastrous expedition to the otherworld by
Arthur and his men who wanted to carry off a magic cauldron that belonged to the ruler of the otherworld in his role of a dispenser of feasts. This resembles Ar Pharazôn’s disastrous expedition to Valinor. However, Valinor is not, strictly speaking, an otherworld because Tolkien did not adopt this concept from any of the mythologies that were his inspiration.
10.3 Escapes to death and deathlessness
As is mentioned above, Men were not content with mortality, hence the escapes to deathlessness, and Elves were sometimes not content with immortality, hence the escapes to death. This is the puzzling thing on Tolkien’s stories: the theme of the Great Escape−escape from death is naturally attractive and in his essay On Fairy-
Stories he called it ‘the oldest and deepest desire’. But why he elaborated the theme of escape to death? Many of Tolkien’s Elves chose death in a long term simply by returning to Middle earth where they were exposed to the evil of Morgoth and chances of Middle earth which were often deadly. Why there was such a deep love for the mortal world, which they regarded a bit as a paradise, and as Shippey says, loss of which was not even fully compensated by immortality? (Shippey 248) A likely explanation is a need to show that mortality has some attractions that are invisible to us because we have no other choice and that immortality is not such an ideal state as men often think. This is not the first attempt to show immortality in more or less negative light. There are for example Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Swift is not so subtle
36 as Tolkien in portraying his immortals, Struldbrugs (born as normal humans, with the only difference that they do not die), because he describes them as ever ageing senile wrecks. By depicting the evils of immortality not accompanied by eternal youth,
Swift delivered a little blow to the then naive ideas about the blessings of eternal life.
Tolkien’s warning about immortality is not so overt. It is only for those who want to see it.
The first Elf who refused to live was Míriel, a mother of Fëanor. She felt so consumed in spirit and body (because of bearing of Fëanor) that "she yearned for release from the labour of living" ( Silmarillion 64) She went to the gardens of Lórien in
Valinor and lay down to sleep, but her spirit left her body and passed to the halls of
Mandos. This case is exceptional because it happened in Valinor when there was no one yet tired of life and did not felt its weariness. What is more, her body was preserved intact, so she was like the Sleeping beauty, whom, however, nobody could ever awake.
On a smaller scale than that of the mass decision of the Elves to leave Valinor and expose themselves to death, there are instances of Elves who reached a real death−the same that awaits Men. One of them was Lúthien who did it for the sake of
Beren, a mortal, from whom she did not want to be separated not even after death.
When Beren was mortally wounded by the wolf Carcharoth, Lúthien bade him to await her beyond the Western Sea. The spirit of Beren lingered in the halls of Mandos, unwilling to leave the world, until Lúthien came to say her last farewell. Lúthien left her body and came to sing before Mandos who was for the first and last time moved to pity, but had not power to change their fates. Lúthien was offered a life in Valinor alone or becoming mortal and be granted a second life and death in Middle earth with Beren (by the direct act of Ilúvatar). She chose a mortal life and as the only one of Elves really died. Peculiar to this story is that Lúthien died out of love, whereas other Elves who
37 would have liked to die would do it out of weariness. Her motive was in a sense unselfish and that is probably why it was fulfilled.
Eärendil and Elwing, the Half elvens, and their sons. Elros and Elrond, were given by Manwë an option to choose whether they wanted to be counted among Elves or Men. Eärendil, Elwing and Elrond chose Elves and became immortal; Elros chose
Men, became a mortal and the first king of Númenor. However, theirs were not true escapes because they could freely choose which fate fitted them best. Through Elros, the strain of blood of the Elves entered into mankind and it is said that that strain would never die out.
In the Third Age of the world, Arwen, Elrond’s daughter, made a choice not to leave Middle earth with her father (she could be immortal in Middle earth only when
Elrond still dwelt there) and became mortal because of Aragorn. But when the time came and Aragorn decided to die, it was much more bitter for her than for Lúthien. She begged him to stay for yet another while and said: "…not till now have I understood the tale of your people and their fall. As wicked fools I scorned them, but I pity them at last. For if this is indeed…the gift of the One to Men, it is bitter to receive." (RK 344)
Aragorn tried to comfort her by saying that beyond the world, there was more than memory, but she seemed not to have much faith in that, because she lingered on earth for some more time, before she died. In the end, hers was not a true escape, neither, because she adopted almost a human perspective on mortality and did not want to die and face the unknown when she realised that there was no other choice for her. Through her words Tolkien shows his understanding for the majority of humans who also find it hard to receive the ‘gift’.
The only mortal who supposedly managed to escape from death forever was
Tuor. It is interesting that his tale−the only real escape from death−is not told in full and
38 it is only mentioned as rumour among Elves in Middle earth. Tuor built a great ship and sailed into the West with his wife Idril and was, as a unique exception, admitted among the Elves in Valinor and from then on shared their fate. The question is, whether he literary became an Elf by being admitted among them, which would mean that his identity as a Man was discontinued owing to this escape, or whether he remained Man, only with immortal life. The fact that Tolkien did not write a detailed story about this unique escape from death implies he considered it as unimportant, which points to the below mentioned argument that in the stories about human involvement with Elves mortality is more important than immortality.
Another one who escaped from death was Beren because he was brought back from the dead thanks to Lúthien. Nonetheless, he did not impart his knowledge about the experience of being dead to anyone else and died for a second time together with
Lúthien. His escape was thus only temporary.
In none of the three unions of Elves and Men did Tolkien allow one of the pair to die and the other live. Two pairs were mortal (Lúthien and Beren, Arwen and Aragorn) and only one immortal (Tuor and Idril). Why Beren and Aragorn did not gain immortality and why did their elven wives had to sacrifice their lives instead? A possible answer is that is was for the sake of the story and for romantic reasons. But even if it was only for the sake of the story (the enrichment of mankind with the strain of elven blood is presented as Ilúvatar’s plan), it still means that mortality is more important than immortality, that allowing the Elves to divest themselves of immortality is more desirable than allowing Men to divest themselves of mortality.
At the end of LOTR, it may look like Frodo and Bilbo, too, were permitted to join the Elves in Valinor and escape from death. But they only went into the West to be healed and to find some rest before they died. It was a temporary reward, because
39 mortal kind cannot be changed forever and cannot abide on earth forever. Nor could they return to the mortal world after this reward.
10.4 Hope without guarantees for Men
In Ainulindalë , it is said that:
...greater music still shall be made before Ilúvatar by the choirs of the Ainur and the Children of Ilúvatar after the end of days. Then the themes of Ilúvatar shall be played aright, and take Being in the moment of their utterance, for all shall know the comprehension of each, and Ilúvatar shall give to their thoughts the secret fire, being well pleased. ( Silmarillion 4)
This suggests that the world will be created again and that the sub creative thoughts of children of Ilúvatar will become reality because of the ‘secret fire’ (another name for the Flame Imperishable). At the same time, it implies that some part of each human survives, because otherwise they could not take part in the Music, but it is not said whether this part has a conscious existence in the meantime before the Second Music comes. In another part of The Silmarillion it is stated that only Men will participate in the Second Music, whereas the purpose of Elves after the world’s end is not revealed.
So it seems as if the Elves were less important, at least in this regard, for which speaks also the remark about ‘higher if unrevealed destiny’ of Men (see chapter 9).
Some hints of continuity of life after death are contained in Aragorn’s death scene when he says: "In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. We are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory." (RK 344) This statement could mean there exist something like Heaven, or a waiting place until the Second Music comes. Or "memory" can be an allusion to Valinor which remains only in the "memory" (the exact word) of the world and in Aragorn’s time was in fact an imaginary place, so "more than memory" must refer to a place that is not only imaginary but in some sense real (but not literary Valinor, because Valinor is not an otherworld) where the human existence is continued.
40 In another sense, as Curry mentions, hope without guarantees represents the fact that the future is not fixed and no matter how dark it may seem, we must refuse despair,
"Tolkien’s Middle earth gleams with the light of an ancient hope: peace between peoples, and with nature and before unknown." (Curry 165) However, Burns says that
Tolkien knew that such a peace never lasts for long because of ‘quick satiety with good’ of Men and that evil is never at rest (Burns 177), so that the only true hope lies beyond this world.
11. Longing for immortality
The theme of Great Escape (from death) is a universal motif (as well as the motif of prohibition) of many myths and fairy tales. That is one reason why Tolkien used it.
The second reason is his opinion that "...Men are essentially mortal and must not try to become ‘immortal’ in the flesh." ( Letters 189) The attempt to reject death leads only to the denial of nature, our bodies and life itself. Tolkien called the efforts to recover longevity by magic or device (science) a supreme folly and wickedness of mortals
(Letters 286).
11.1 Attempts at the prolongation of life or gaining immortality by force
The island of Númenor and the life of its inhabitants which was of a nearly ideal state (long lives, no sickness, wisdom and wealth) have already been described. Good
Númenóreans died of free will, letting their lives go before they became too weak or senile. But they slowly lost their humility and began to delay death by all means possible, to build great houses for their dead and try to discover the secret of recalling life, or at least prolonging it. They achieved only the art of preserving the dead bodies incorrupt and the living turned the more eagerly to pleasures of life, desiring more wealth. This is applicable on the contemporary western civilisation: we are trying to
41 prolong life as well; preservation of the dead bodies incorrupt is possible; and the pleasures of life and wealth are much celebrated.
When Sauron arose, the Shadow was deeper upon Númenor and the lives of the Kings became shorter because of their rebellion. Sauron caught the Númenóreans on his favourite bait−the offer of immortality−which led to their destruction. In their folly they thought that they could wrest immortality from those to whom it was innate.
Sauron used the same bait again in the form of the Rings of Power, leading the small to Gollum and the great to Ringwraiths. Men who received Nine Rings of power from Sauron became mighty kings, sorcerers and warriors. It seemed that they had an unending life, but it became unendurable to them. One by one (according to their inner strength and inclination either to good or evil) they fell under the power of their rings and the domination of the One. So they achieved a prolongation of life. But only at the cost of becoming immaterial slaves to the controlling will of Sauron. And
Gollum? His long life did not bring him any happiness. On the contrary, it made him a degenerated miserable creature, only a wraith of a Hobbit he once used to be.
Also Gondorians in the time of their last kings had not learnt from the history and still wanted to have immortal or at least much longer lives:
Death was ever present, because the Númenóreans still, as they had in their own kingdom [Númenor] hungered after endless life unchanging. Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living, and counted old names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of sons. Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered old men compounded strong elixirs…(TT 348)
The same old desire (and mistake) was emerging again and again. Despite all of these efforts, Gondor waned, the blood of Númenóreans became mingled with that of other men and their life span was shortened. The desire for prolongation of life is the same in the contemporary civilisation, with the difference that our scientists do not sit in ‘aged
42 halls’, but in laboratories, musing not on ‘heraldry’, but genetics and compounding not elixirs, but medicines.
11.2 Natural life span and the virtues of short lives
Tolkien was convinced that each kind has its own natural life span which is integral to its biological and spiritual nature and which cannot be increased qualitatively or quantitatively: the prolongation in time is like stretching a wire ever tauter and becomes an intolerable torment ( Letters 155). In the LOTR, this is shown on Bilbo who after the long possession of the Ring said: "‘I am old, Gandalf. I don’t look it, but I am beginning to feel it…Well preserved indeed!’ he snorted…I feel all thin, sort of stretched…like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can’t be right.
(FR 47)" Bilbo was thus ‘well preserved’ but felt unwell, because already at that stage, the prolongation of his life became unnatural for his body (and maybe even his mind).
When Frodo saw Bilbo again in Rivendell, he was a weak old man in looks and behaviour, because the natural ageing continued as soon as the unnatural forces of the Ring stopped working.
Owing to his opinions, Tolkien was in an opposition to what is nowadays called transhumanism (a movement aiming at the improvement of human mental and physical abilities and/or prolongation of life by the means of technology and science). The term began to be widely used only in 1980s, but in the first half of the 20 th century there were already some precursors, for example geneticist J.S.B. Haldane. Tolkien realised the danger of such efforts and incorporated his opposing voice into his fiction (not intentionally, because he claimed it was not his conscious purpose). And although he acknowledged the urge to try to escape our mortality, LOTR is a story about accepting the need to let go with all its accompanying sorrows. It is also a story about the peril of confusing true immortality (that which is beyond this world) with "limitless serial
43 longevity...Freedom from Time and clinging to Time." ( Letters 267) The confusion is the work of the Enemy (Sauron) and one of the causes of human disaster. On the other hand, the peril to the Elves was living in their memories and attempting to halt time.
‘The limitless serial longevity’ is exactly what the transhumanists want to achieve because they do not believe what Tolkien believed in−that hope in immortality is only beyond this world, after death, and in the meantime we should accept the limits of our mortal lives.
In fact, Tolkien pictures short lives as a kind of asset. According to Mathie, the virtues of mortality are most obvious in the great paradox of the book: the very mortal Hobbits are the only ones who can resist the Ring’s seduction and destroy it.
Seemingly they are the most insignificant race of all; they spend their short lives in small pursuits and do not understand lofty “elvish” ideas, being thus unlikely saviours of the world (Mathie 1). Hobbits have many children, whereas Elves, Dwarves and
Gondorians have only few children and the Ents have none. There is almost a direct proportion between the length of life and the number of children: the Ents are the oldest beings and they have no children; Elves do not need many children because they are immortal, Dwarves (also very long lived) rather pursue their work than setting up of families and the same with Gondorians who do not desire marriages being busy with their crafts (see the remark about "childless lords" in sub chapter 11.1). The races that are in decline simply do not have enough of children and lack new energy that comes with the young generations. According to the example of Hobbits, as Mathie says, fertility and willingness to pass life on to a new generation rather than seeking ‘endless life unchanging’ should be regarded as an advantage of mankind. The life that lives for its offspring may never achieve perfection, but at the same time it is never utterly defeated or utterly corrupted (Mathie 1). Just remember the seed (for example of
44 the White Tree that Elendil brought from Númenor, or its much later offspring that
Aragorn found in the wasteland) which is a symbol of the unceasing continuation of life.
Immortality or a very long life makes the pace of life and change much slower, people become centred on themselves, on their works (like Fëanor) and unwilling to abandon them (like Turgon in Gondolin), or on glorious deeds in an attempt to gain personal immortality. Individual defeats then seem to be the end of everything.
Part of the Curse of Mandos is this: "...those [Elves] that endure in Middle earth...shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after." ( Silmarillion 94) By the ‘younger race’ is meant mankind and its youngness is referred to as the feature that would ensure its domination, whereas the Elves with their immortality and increasing burden of life would ‘wane’. What is more, those with short lives are usually more willing to sacrifice them for some cause they consdier worthy, like Boromir who died in the defence of the Hobbits.
Tolkien’s message, although unintended, is that the unnatural prolongation of life should not be attempted and that we should not seek immortality in this world.
Otherwise, we would be a population of Ringwraiths.
12. Healing and Consolation
From all that has been written so far, it could seem that Tolkien was a proponent of death in every circumstances. But it is not so. Death is not acceptable before the time comes for it. What is more, suicide is equally bad as the desire for prolongation of life
(see the subchapter 7.4 about Denethor). The right time for death should be recognized by everyone, as Númenóreans did before their fall. If the time is not ripe yet, healing and escape from death are desirable, as it was in the case of Faramir, Éowyn and Merry
45 when they were seriously wounded and lay in the Houses of Healing in Minas Tirith.
Aragorn healed them and his abilities in this regard were much praised as of someone who was able not only to kill but also heal. Frodo, too, was on several occasions near death, but always escaped. Gandalf escaped from death as well, but it was only because his task was not finished yet and because he was one of the Maiar, so that his physical body was only a casing for his spirit which was in itself immortal. Healing and such escapes from death provide what Tolkien calls consolation, because they are
‘eucatastrophes’ (good catastrophes).
13. The interrelationship of Fall and Mortality
Men have fallen, that is what Tolkien as a Catholic certainly thought. Mortality in his secondary world was originally meant as a gift, but the Enemy confounded this gift with darkness and with evil and made Men fear death for it was (and still is) a journey into the unknown. This was the First Fall. The Second Fall was the result of the first one because Men began to desire immortality, sometimes overtly and sometimes secretly. Melkor’s lies were still implanted in the hearts of Númenóreans, therefore for Sauron it was only the matter of playing on this chord to awake the old fears of death and enlarge them into the desire to wrest immortal life from the Valar.
Númenóreans fell back into paganism, worshipping Morgoth. Their disastrous expedition to Valinor brought on the end of the ‘Old World’ of legends, so that new and much more dim and bleak ages were to come. Men fall because they are not capable of accepting their mortality. They are not marred by the Creator, but deceived by the primeval evil, and constatntly deceiving themselves. They are free from time, yet they tend to cling to it, which is represented as a ruinous delusion. And sometimes,
46 the weak proves strong, where the strong falls (Grabner 66), as is explained on the example of the Hobbits in the subchapter 11.2.
14. Conclusion
This thesis attempted to show that Fall and Mortality are indeed important elements in the fiction and the world view of J.R.R. Tolkien. He perceived our world as fallen, but with a possibility of correction. On the metaphysical level, he thought that the fall contributes to the greater glory of creation, i.e. from the evil will ultimately arise a greater good, although it might seem incomprehensible to the human beings who often suffer from evil, death and grief. It is precisely this aspect of his fiction which makes it religious in spite of no overt mentioning of religion. "The Lord of the rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision." ( Letters 172) Thus in this regard the Christian side to his fiction is stronger than the Norse one– the doom and defeat is inevitable, evil is ever present, but the end of the world is part of the design because of which there is a possibility of eternal victory. Still, " The Silmarillion ...is deeply sad...certainly sad beyond anything normally tolerated in twentieth century fiction." (Shippey 249) The sadness is present because of the pervasive themes of fall and mortality, whereas the theme of hope and eternal victory, although essential, seems only remote. However, hope and consolation are there, which is one of the reasons for Tolkien’s books being so attractive to the readers.
Tolkien, in spite of (or because of) encountering so much death in his life, decided that death is not our enemy, but a gift, although a bitter one to receive. An evidence for this is the contrast created between Elves and Men: Elves are embodiment of immortality on earth and Men are embodiment of possible immortality after death,
47 being endowed with a ‘higher destiny’. For Men, mortality has the advantage of not getting wearied of the world like the Elves. Mortality is freedom from time. The desire for immortality or ‘limitless serial longevity’, characteristic of Men, is condemned as being very unwise, because even when the prolongation is successful, the result is only a Ringwraith like being with no personal happiness and little hope of real eternal life which, according to Tolkien, is only beyond this world.
48 Appendix A - List of characters & Map of Tolkien’s world
1) Elves Eöl "Dark Elf" (one of those who have not been to Valinor), husband of king Turgon’s sister; hostile to Tuor Fëanor – the greatest smith of the Noldor; maker of the Silmarils; his name means "spirit of fire" Finrod Felagund – an Elf both of the Noldor and the Teleri; brother of Galadriel; king of Nargothrond in Middle earth Galadriel an Elf of both the Noldor and the Teleri; one of the exiled Elves in Middle earth; in the later ages queen of Lothlórien Idril the only child of Turgon; wife of Tuor Legolas the son of the King of the Woodland Realm in the Third Age; member of the Fellowship of the Ring Lúthien – the only child of king Thingol; she fell in love in Beren, and as an exception among Elves really died Maeglin – son of Eöl; his mother took him to Gondolin where he became one of the causes of its fall; he loved Idril, but she hated him Míriel – mother of Fëanor; the first Elf who wanted to die Noldor – one of the branches of Elves who went Valinor; they were interested in lore, warfare and crafts; they went to exile in Middle earth because they thought the Valar were exercising control over them Saeros – one of Thingol’s counsellors; enemy of Túrin Teleri – the last branch of Elves who came to Valinor; they were interested in the sea and ships and songs Thingol – the king of Doriath in Middle earth; originally he was the leader of the Teleri Turgon – one of the exiled Noldor; the king of Gondolin 2) Half-elves Arwen – daughter of Elrond; she fell in love with Aragorn and became mortal Eärendil – son of Idril and Tuor; a great mariner who made a journey to Valinor when it was hidden and pleaded for pardon and help to Elves and Men in their war with Morgoth; eventually, he became a star in the sky Elrond – son of Eärendil; he chose to be united with Elves and thus became immortal; lord of Rivendell in Middle earth in the Third Age; bearer of one of the Rings of Power (Vilya) Elros – brother of Elrond; chose to be united with Men and thus became mortal; the first king of Númenor Elwing – granddaughter of Lúthien; wife of Eärendil; she chose an immortal life 3) Men Aragorn – one of the Dúnedain in Middle earth; member of the Fellowship of the Ring; the king of Gondor and Arnor Ar Pharazôn – the last king of Númenor; he led the disastrous expedition to Valinor to wrest the immortal life from the Valar
49 Beren – Man from the house of Bëor (one of the Elf friends) in the First Age; in love with Lúthien; managed to take from Morgoth one of the Silmarils; died together with Lúthien Boromir – son of Denethor; member of the Fellowship of the Ring; tried to seize the Ring from Frodo, but was unsuccessful and pitied it Denethor – the last steward of Gondor Dúnedain "men of the west" – the descendants of the Númenóreans who settled in Middle earth Elendil – one of those who opposed Sauron’s evil in Númenor; a Noachian figure who escaped when Númenor was flooded; he landed in Middle earth and together with his sons set up the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor Eówyn – a niece to the king of Rohan; she killed the chieftain of the Ringwraiths Faramir – the younger son of Denethor; unlike his brother Boromir he was interested not only in warfare, but also in learning Húrin – the greatest warrior of Men in the First Age; in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears covered Turgon’s retreat and was captured by Morgoth Númenóreans – Men who helped the Elves in wars with Morgoth; for this they were rewarded with the gift of a new land (Númenor) and longer lives Túrin – son of Húrin; a tragic hero who was mastered by his fate Tuor – son of Húrin’s brother; he gained a great respect in Gondolin and married Idril; the only Man who became immortal 4) Hobbits Bilbo Baggins – finder of the Ring Frodo – Bilbo’s nephew; member of the Fellowship of the Ring; he was permitted to go to Valinor for a healing before he died Gollum – a Hobbit with unnaturally prolonged life because of the power of the Ring Merry and Pippin – members of the Fellowship of the Ring 5) Other beings Ainur – the angelic beings created by Ilúvatar; they were sub creators in his creation; they were not gods, although it might have seemed so Valar "the Powers of the World" – those of Ainur who descended into Arda (Earth) in order to work on its development and supervise it according to the vision given to them by Ilúvatar Mandos – his Halls in Valinor are the gathering place of the dead Elves and Men Manwë – chief of the Valar Melkor – the most powerful of the Ainur; he has fallen to evil and sub creatively introduced evil into the world; he was given the name Morgoth by Fëanor, which means "Dark enemy of the world" Ulmo – Lord of Waters; friend to the exiled Elves in Middle earth Yavanna – Giver of Fruits; creator of the Two Trees of Valinor
50 Maiar – the Ainur of a lesser order Balrogs – spirits of fire corrupted by Melkor into evil Gandalf – one of the wizards sent to Middle earth by the Valar in the Third Age in order to help Men and Elves resist Sauron Sauron – originally a servant of Melkor; later on a Dark Lord on his own; master of deceit and treachery; creator of the ruling Ring; the last physical incarnation of evil Saruman – a wizard; his original name, Curunír, means ‘Man of skill’, skilled in speech and smithcraft; began to lust for power and domination, fell to evil and was replaced by Gandalf as the most powerful wizard Ents – the oldest beings in Middle earth; shepherds of the forest; they looked like trees Carcharoth – Morgoth’s wolf that bit off Beren’s hand with the Silmaril; later on he was the cause of the first death of Beren Glaurung – Morgoth’s dragon; involved in the tale of the Children of Húrin Ilúvatar – the creator of the universe Ringwraiths – the Dúnedain who accepted the Rings of Power from Sauron, were overmastered by their power and became servants of Sauron Ungoliant – a giant spider who poisoned the Two Trees of Valinor
51
52 Works cited and consulted
Burns, Marjorie, Perilous realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien’s Middle earth . Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005. Campbell, Joseph, The masks of God: creative mythology . Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976. Carpenter, Humphrey, J.R.R. Tolkien: a biograpy . London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1977. Catechism of the Catholic Church . The Second Edition English Translation. Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. 19 February 2008
53 . The lord of the rings. Part 1, The Fellowship of the Ring . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. . The lord of the rings. Part 2, The Two Towers . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. . The lord of the rings. Part 3, The Return of the King . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. . The Silmarillion . London: HarperCollins , 1999 . . Unfinished Tales . London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1986. Watkins, Zachary. “Satan and The Silmarillion.” The Grey Book . Volume 1, 2005. 2 January 2008
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