The Children of Ilúvatar: II

Eärendil the Mariner

This is not in keeping with my poorly carried out plan to be of some slight assistance to Silmarillion readers, I just wanted to talk about this section.

"[T]he Valar are to these kindreds [Men and Elves] rather their elders and their chieftains than their masters."

I find this quote to be important, in dispelling the idea that there are multiple Gods in Arda. There is Eru, who is the only one who could be considered an allegory for God.  Tolkien does a beautiful job of weaving together the mythological idea of multiple deities, and the truth of one God, with many angelic servants (some ranking higher than others). CS Lewis takes a similar approach in his Space Trilogy, with each planet having it's own god-like ruler, who are all in submission to a higher entity (except for one, who rebels, as usual). The Valar, it should be remembered, do not always make the best decisions, and are not perfect. 

"[I]f ever in their dealings with Elves and Men the Ainur have endeavoured to force them when they would not be guided, seldom has this turned to good, howsoever good the intent."

"The dealings of the Ainur have indeed been mostly with the Elves, for Ilúvatar made them more like in nature to the Ainur, though less in might and stature; whereas to Men he gave strange gifts."

Ilúvatar said that the Elves should have greater bliss in the world but to Men would be given a different gift. 

"Therefore he willed that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and should find no rest therein; but they should have a virtue to shape their life, amid the powers and chances of the world, beyond the Music of the Ainur, which is as fate to all things else". 

This is a particularly interesting passage to me, as it speaks of free will. The elves, obviously, have the freedom to do as they please, but this quote would imply that even their freedom was held in the confines of that first music, whereas Men's was not. Elves are farseeing, and perhaps this is because they are, somehow, linked to that 'which is as fate'. But they are not always right, as many moments in Tolkien's work prove. It is interesting to think about. Elves are, quite frankly, a bit depressing, though I love them anyway. 

"It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and are not bound to it, and depart soon whither the Elves know not. Whereas the Elves remain until the end of days, and their love of the Earth and all the world is more single and more poignant therefore, and as the years lengthen ever more sorrowful.[...]the Elves die not till the world dies, unless they are slain or waste in grief[...]and dying they are gathered to the halls of Mandos in Valinor".

This is ruining my dreams of Legolas and Aragorn meeting once more. And now that Arwen is mortal.... it is not so difficult to imagine the pain her father and brothers must have felt. How easily could they have hated Aragorn! It makes me sad to think about. 

"But the sons of Men die indeed, and leave the world; wherefore they are called the Guests, or the Strangers. Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar, which as Time wears even the Powers shall envy. But Melkor has cast his shadow upon it and confounded it with darkness, and brought forth evil out of good, and fear out of hope."

I have no idea why ANYONE would want to be immortal on this earth. I would certainly like to live to about 110, but no longer. It is interesting to think of Hobbit's place in all this. I think that they technically count as men and would probably share the same after-death destination. Though Tolkien does talk about their history a little bit, and there are theories (probably true) about their origins, I like that it isn't ever explained in any great detail. They just sort of happened. If you have spent much time digging up interesting facts about Tolkien, you will probably know that the hobbit began while he was grading something (which he apparently found very boring) and doodled "in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit' in the margin. Since that was the sentence he thought up, it is likely that he had had some previous thought of 'hobbits' but not much. Anyway. Moving on. 

"Yet of old the Valar declared to the Elves in Valinor that Men shall join in the Second music of the Ainur; whereas Ilúvatar has not revealed what he purposes for the Elves after the World's end, and Melkor has not discovered it."

Sigh. I'm going with men (and hobbits) and elves eventually being reunited, because I refuse to believe that certain sets of people never see each other again. As for dwarves....I also persist in believing that they will get to join in as well, somehow, because the idea of Legolas and Gimli being separated for eternity is not one which I deign to entertain. I have also decided that the Maiar share the same fate as the elves, and therefore the entire Fellowship WILL be reunited after the end of the world. 

Also of note is the "Melkor has not discovered it" bit. Melkor was actually the first to find the Firstborn, once they had woken in Cuiviénen, and is/was the greatest among the Ainur (alongside Manwë). He is terribly clever, and it would not be at all surprising to learn that he had somehow figured out Ilúvatar's plan. 

I should probably figure out if there is a limit to the length of quote you can put in a post, without breaking some sort of copyright law. Because you're not supposed to reproduce the entire work as, say, a free pdf online, even with proper attribution; but you can quote it in your own work so long as you cite it. Somewhere in between, there has to be a line. 

 

(Lest there should be any confusion or matter of rights and whatnot, all quotes in this post are from the works of JRR Tolkien, unless otherwise mentioned. There may be slight errors, misspellings, or alternate punctuation in the quotes, and if you notice such, please inform me so that I can speedily remedy them.
Header image by John Howe. End image compiled by Goldenrod Gardener)