J.R.R.
Tolkien, The History of Middle-Earth,
12 volumes
Reviewed
by
Franco Manni
Christopher
Tolkien didn�t stop after the Silmarillion! After Unfinished
Tales, other volumes written by the father and deciphered, arranged
and
annotated with great precision by the son have been published. At present they number twelve and are
collectively entitled The History of
Middle-Earth.
The first is The Book
of Lost Tales � Part
One. Most of the work consists of expanded and modified versions of
events
narrated in the Silmarillion; for example, it deals with the music of
the
Ainur, the construction of Valinor, the chaining of Melko,
the Noldor�s flight from Valinor, and so
on. A tale entitled The
Cottage of Lost Play, though, is original; it dates to the
winter of 1916-17 and the author, orphan and separated from his young
wife, the
friends who had provided companionship during his youth dead in the
trenches,
was himself serving in a front line battalion in which all were either
killed
or taken prisoner.
The story describes an Elf dwelling
where human children who have reached it by means of the �Path of
Dreams�
live. After the blockage of the path,
some of the children decide to remain and are allowed to return to the
What do these child-angels do? With
�evident contradiction� (as the editor justly notes), in the space of
several
lines JRRT writes first that �all
those we allow to leave do not return�, but remain in the Land of Men
because
�there are delightful places and lovable kingdoms full of attractions�
and then that �the majority (of the
children) return here, and tell us many stories and melancholy tales of
their
travels�.
This piece contains the idea, which
echoes the Never-Never Land in Barrie�s Peter
Pan, that children can make contact with a higher reality, the Elf
world,
but then return to the Land of Men � they grow up � and the reason for
growing
up is altruistic love (to console those who cry). They
return no more to the world of the
Elves, since growth is irreversible, and the reason for this
irreversibility is
the desire for experience (the delightful places full of attractions). And yet, there is also the notion (in
contradiction with the previous idea) that the return to the Land of
Men �
growing up � is disappointing and so the children go back to the Elf
world; in
other words, growing up is only a change in external appearance and the
heart �
the most genuine aspect of the personality � remains a child which
lives in
some other world whilst the superficial parts of the personality seem
to
conduct an adult life amongst other adults.
Is adulthood a positive or negative
condition, then? Does growing up mean to
come into contact with reality or the opposite?
To this choice between alternatives in which �tertium non datur�, JRRT is only able to offer a contradiction by
way of reply. But as has been clear from
the time of Aristotle, a contradiction � to affirm and deny at the same
time �
is the same as saying nothing. In fact,
as Tom Shippey has observed, JRRT �immediately let drop this Peter Pan
dilemma,
and subsequently had no time for it�.
Shell-shock kept him in hospital for a long period and saved him
from
the massacre of his battalion. He
was
able to return to his wife and later John, his first son, was born; the
possibility of a university career in the field he loved became
concrete. The �
* * *
The second volume is The Book of
Lost Tales � Part Two. Here, too, most
of the chapters are expanded
versions of parts of the Silmarillion:
the tales of L�thien Tin�viel, T�rin Turambar and E�rendel, and the
story of
the necklace forged by the Dwarves to restrain one of the Silmarils,
Nauglafring, who caused the spillage of blood between Elves and Dwarves.
One of these expansions is
noteworthy, both quantitatively (in the Silmarillion
the same event takes up a few lines; here, 58 pages) and qualitatively:
it
represents one of the peaks of a particular style of Tolkien, the
�epic-sublime�. It is called �The
Fall of Gondolin�; first the Secret
Kingdom of the Elf king Turgon is
described in all
its fabulous beauty, then when it is discovered (due to a betrayal) by
Melkor,
Gondolin is laid siege by the Dragons, the Balrogs
and the legions of the Orcs.
The resistance of the various Elf companies �
each described with its heraldic colours, its duke and its distinctive
fighting
style � against the opponents� overwhelming strength, is inspiring and
moving
and reaches final tragedy with the death of Turgon
and Gondolin in flames. The epilogue is
weighed down with grief, but touched by hope due to the flight (through
an
underground passageway) of Tuor, Idril and their infant E�rendel, he who was to
appeal to
the Gods for help for the exhausted Middle-earth.
* * *
The third volume is The Lays of
Beleriand, which contains
two long poems (in various versions): The
Lay of the Children of H�rin which
recounts the
story of T�rin and The Lay of Leithian,
the tale of Beren and L�thien. For
those who like the archaic and high-flown style of Tolkien�s poetry
(and are
able to appreciate it in English!), these works are a sort of
Pantagruelian
banquet.
In addition there is a commentary by
Tolkien�s great friend C.S. Lewis.
Lewis pretends to have found an ancient manuscript, makes
reference to
numerous (supposed) textual variants and quotes imaginary eighteenth
philologists with absurd names. Despite
the humorous presentation, the evaluation of the content is entirely
serious
and was taken as such by Tolkien.
* * *
The fourth work, The Shaping of
Middle-Earth, contains Ambarkanta,
a
detailed account of the physical structure of Arda: Valinor, the
There follow two versions of the Silmarillion
which differ from that previously
published. The presence of the Second
Prophecy of Mandos in these is interesting:
when the world becomes old and the Powers weakened, Morgoth will
come
back from the External Vacuum through the Door of the Night. He will destroy the Sun and the Moon, but
E�rendel will be on to him straight away, like a white-hot flame, and
bring him
to the ground. Then the Great Battle (Dagor Dagorath)
will take place
on the fields of Valinor. Tulkas will
face Melko, with Finw�
on
his right and T�rin Turambar to his left.
The black sword of T�rin will finally kill Melko,
and thus the sons of H�rin and all the Men
will be
avenged. Then the Silmarils will be
pulled from the air, the water and the earth; F�anor
will seize them and take them as an offering to Yavanna
Palurien. She
will break them and with their fire regenerate the Two Trees and
immediately a
great Light will shine out. And the
mountains of Valinor will be levelled so that the Light reaches every
region of
the world. In this Light the Gods will
become young once more and all the dead Elves will be resurrected and
the plan
of the watching Il�vatar will reach fulfilment. But the prophecy makes
no
mention of the Men, apart from T�rin, who is included among the Gods.
The book ends with a coloured map of
Middle-earth in the First Age, drawn by Tolkien.
* * *
The fifth volume is entitled The
Lost Road and Other Writings. This
lengthy work contains many pieces:
various versions of The Fall of N�menor, Ainulindal�, The Annals of
Valinor,
The Annals of Beleriand and Quenta Silmarillion. There
in addition two �scientific� tracts on
the Elvish languages which will amaze
enthusiasts of
these by their completeness and by the quantity of new material they
contain (The Lhammas
and The Etymologies).
The most important part is The Lost Road, an
unfinished novel based
on a conversation between JRRT and his friend C.S.Lewis. Since neither could find stories they liked,
they decided to write their own; Lewis produced a tale of space travel (Out of the Silent Planet) and JRRT an
account of travel through time. JRRT starts from the present and goes
backwards, following the adventures of pairs of fathers and sons (which
includes autobiographical material, testified to by Christopher
Tolkien, the
curator); the mothers are dead. The
first such couple is composed of the contemporary English Albain
and adolescent Audoin who are on holiday
alone in a
cottage on the Cornish coast, preoccupied by strange visions of the
�Eagles of
the Lord of the West Flying Over N�menor� whilst they try to construct
an
abstract �time machine�, until Elendil
himself
appears to Albain and offers a pact which
would
enable them to return forwards in time.
The chapters regarding the
father-and-son pairs from the Anglo-Saxon 10th century, the
Lombard
6th century and glacial prehistory were only sketched out. Two chapters from the final part of the
voyage through time were written in full, the story of Elendil
the father and his son Herendil in N�menor
whilst
Sauron is steadily gaining power on the island and persecuting the
Faithful and
spurring on the king to act against the Valar.
The description of Elendil�s villa
by the sea
is enchanting: JRRT wishes to recreate a distant world, perhaps a piece
of the
Roman Empire where pagan decadence and the first thrilled, untamed
Christians
meet and struggle grimly. The son does
not understand his father�s ideas and wavers between his affection for
him and
the corrupt seductiveness of Sauron.
The work was written in 1937 and the horrifying totalitarian state of N�menor under Ar-Pharazon which is about to bring war to Tol Eressea (and the rest) drew on contemporary events: the Third Reich and the imminent war in Europe.
* * *
In volume six, The Return of the
Shadow, Christopher Tolkien has arranged and
annotated with customary precision his
father�s unpublished papers. Here we
find a first collection of Lord of the
Rings variants, from the opening words up to Moria.
The complexity of JRRT�s work of
composition and
rewriting in these first chapters of LOTR
is enormous. Having sat down to write a
sequel to The Hobbit for the
publisher Unwin, JRRT found himself possessed by fresh inspiration.
Certain scenes never change, such as
when Bilbo disappears with a flash and a bang or Sam overhears
Gandalf�s tale
from the garden. The general impression,
as Tom Shippey has observed, is that the inspiration for some key
scenes was
primordial, whereas the invention of the plot came afterwards and was
the
result of many uncertainties and many changes of mind.
It is all excellent material for the study of
LOTR and for a deepened understanding
of many points.
Eight versions of �A Long-expected
Party� were produced before it reached its final form.
In one, Bilbo holds the party to announce his
wedding, leaves Hobbiton, gets married, has numerous children and the
next
story will be about one of these; Bilbo is worse thought of (with
respect to LOTR) because of his strangeness and
when he announces his departure the Hobbits make many malicious
comments, wondering
(for example) whether he will really marry afterwards.
In another, Bilbo is married and disappears
from Hobbiton together with his wife; Frodo (here known as Bingo) is
his son
and does not go into mourning because he believes his parents to be
still
alive, he lives alone but is rarely at home and knows only several Tooks (related of his paternal grandmother) and
a few Brandibucks (his mother�s relatives). Frodo gives the party before leaving. In yet another version Bilbo and Frodo�s
uncle disappear mysteriously from Hobbiton, Frodo does not mourn and it
is he
that throws the party. In some versions
Gandalf does not attend the party, or argues with Bilbo on the hill
outside the
house but does not have a row with him because of the ring that Bilbo
has left
in a casket for Frodo. The ring (a
present from Bilbo to his son) does not appear until the third version
and only
in the fourth is comes to be considered as the motive for the departure
of the
party-holder (Bilbo or Frodo); there are other reasons: the search for
a wife,
tiredness of life amongst the Hobbits, a desire for adventure or a need
of
money.
There are other interesting variations of events in the story: in the countryside of the Shire, the Hobbits hide in bushes at the sound of hooves and a horse comes to a halt nearby; the rider, covered by a cloak and hood, sniffs the air. Who is it? Gandalf! (not the Black Rider!). At Tumulilande, when Frodo becomes separated from his companions and calls them, they have not been taken by the spectre and it all turns out just to have been a fearful imagining on the part of Frodo. The old Maggot is much more aggressive, remembering that Frodo Baggins had killed one of his dogs and still hating him profoundly for it; Frodo annoys him by using the ring to become invisible and frightens him by tripping him up. At Bree, the Hobbits meet Strider (here called Trotter), but who is he? A Hobbit � Peregrine Took � a childhood friend of Bilbo whose parents had forbidden to continue seeing him who then left the County and travelled as far as Mordor where he was tortured and now must walk with wooden clogs (!) because of the sores. Tolkien decided to make Strider a Man only after Bilbo asked his help at Rivendell to compose a song about ancient times. Gandalf is a old and short and the reasons for his lateness in reaching the fleeing Hobbits are narrated in detail. Glorfindel reveals that he is the reincarnation of the Glorfindel who died in the First Age fighting the Balrogs after the fall of Gondolin.
After having developed considerably
the story with Bingo/Frodo as protagonist, in August 1939 (during the
last few
days before Second World War broke out, a period which depressed him
greatly,
as he confessed in a letter), Tolkien suffered a crisis of pessimism
and
reverted to the original idea of writing a sequel to the Hobbit. He wrote: �New plot. Bilbo is the hero all
through. Merry and Frodo his companions. This helps with Gollum (though
Gollum
probably gets new ring in Mordor)�.
* * *
The seventh and eighth books
are
entitled The Treason of Isengard and The
War of the Ring. The composition of
the later chapters of LOTR, recounted in these two
further
volumes edited by Christopher Tolkien, was much less complex. The first work, after a rewriting of the
chapters from Hobbiton to Rivendell,
takes us from the Council of Elrond to the debate with Theoden
at
Meduseld and contains a concise appendix dealing with the Elvish
and runic alphabets. The second book
goes from Helm�s Deep to the Last Debate of the Captains of Gondor
before the
desperate march of their army towards the Gates of Mordor.
Both volumes contain maps and drawings by the
hand of JRRT.
There follow several examples of the numerous variants. Gandalf and the Balrogs at Moria:
The Balrog rushed to the Bridge-foot. Legolas raised his bow and an arrow pierced his shoulder. The bow fell useless. Gandalf stood in the midst of the bridge. In his hand Glamdring gleamed. In his left he held up his staff. The Balrog advanced and stood gazing at him.
Suddenly with a spout of flame it sprang on the Bridge, but Gandalf stood firm. �You cannot pass�, he said, �Go back into the fiery depths. It is forbidden for any Balrog to come beneath the sky since Fionw� son of Manw� overthrew Thangorodrim. I am the master of the White Fire. The red flame cannot come this way�. The creature made no reply, but standing up tall so that it loomed above the wizard it strode forward and smote him. A sheet of white flame sprang before him like a shield, and the Balrog fell backward, its sword shivered into molten pieces and flew, but Gandalf�s staff snapped and fell from his hand. With a gasping hiss the Balrog sprang up ; it seemed to be half blind but it came on and grasped at the wizard. Glamdring shore off its empty right hand, but in that instant as he delivered the stroke the Balrog struck with its whip. The thongs lashed round the wizard�s knees and he staggered.
Seizing Legolas� bow Gimli shot, but the arow fell. Trotter [Strider] sprang back along the bridge with his sword. But at that moment a great troll came up from the other side and leaped on the bridge. There was a terrible crack and the bridge broke. All the western end fell. With a terrible cry the troll fell after it, and the Balrog tumbled sideways with a yell and fell into the chasm. Before Trotter could reach the wizard the bridge broke before his feet, and with a great cry Gandalf fell into the darkness.
At Minas Tirith, the child Bergil is much more aggressive, cannot be calmed by Pippin and is about to start fighting him when stopped by the arrival of a Man from Gondor.
Gandalf reveals to Denethor that the
Wizard King, leader of the Nazguls, is a
disowned
ex-member of Gandalf�s order, the Istari, who comes from N�menor.
Denethor is more gentle with
Faramir, and when the latter tells of his meeting with Frodo in
Ithilien,
replies that although he wished that Boromir could have been there
instead,
adding � with a slap on the shoulder to his son � but only
if Boromir had had a stouter heart and more trustworthy
character; if, that is, he had brought him the ring without using
it. Tolkien changed his mind because, as
he
wrote, only if Denethor were harder on
Faramir could we see why he went crazy when his son returned on the
point of
death. It should be added that Denethor
uses the Palant�r for the first and last
time only
when he thinks his son is about to die; he scrutinizes the stone to see
if help
might come, but Sauron only lets him the strength of
Mordor and Denethor, despairing, goes mad.
Theoden narrates the meeting between
his ancestor Baldor and a talking stone
statue at the
entrance to the Pathway of the Dead. And
when Aragorn sees the skeleton in armour and recognises it as Baldor, he has a tomb built in such a way that
no one may
reach the mysterious closed door. At
Pelargir the army of the Dead hesitates to attack the fleet of Umbar
and
Aragorn is compelled to harangue the Dead until they find the courage
at last
to make war on Sauron.
Aragorn is acclaimed by the people
of Lebennin as �Lord of the Rings� and
Tolkien
wonders if this happens in order that Sauron should believe himself in
possession of the Only and stop worrying about Frodo, or because
Galadriel had
handed Nenya over to him.
Here is a variant from the chapter The Last Debate:
�But if we should find the Ring and wield it, how would it give us victory?�, asked Imrahil.
�It would not do so all in a day�, answered Gandalf. �But were it to come to the hand of some one of power or royalty, as say the Lord Aragorn, or the Steward of this City, or Elrond of Imladrist, or even to me, then he being the Ringlord would wax ever in power and the desire of power ; and all minds he would cow or dominate so that they would blindly do his will. And he could not be slain. More : the deepest secrets of the mind and heart of Sauron would become plain to him, so that the Dark Lord could do nothing unforeseen . The Ringlord would suck the very power and thought from him, so that all would forsake his allegiance and follow the Ringlord, and they would serve him and worship him as a God. And so Sauron would be overthrown utterly and fade into oblivion ; but behold, there would be Sauron still....but upon the other side, a tyrant brooking no freedom, shrinking from no deed of evil to hold his sway and to widen it.
�And worse�, said Aragorn. �For all that is left of the ancient power and wisdom of the West he would also have broken and corrupted�.
�Then what is the use of this Ring?�, said Imrahil.
�Victory�, said Hurin Warden of the Keys. �At least we should have won the war, and not this foul lord of Mordor.�
�So might many a brave knight of the Mark or the Realm speak�, said Imrahil. �But surely more wisdom is required of lords in council. Victory in itself is worthless. Unless Gondor stand for some good, then lei it not stand at all; and if Mordor doth not stand for some evil that we will not brook in Mordor or out of it, then let it triumph�.
What follows is
equally fascinating.
* * *
The
ninth volume is called Sauron Defeated.
The first section of this sizeable tome
contains variants of the final part of The
Lord of the Rings, from Sam and Frodo at Mordor to The Grey Havens. I have selected some interesting points. Frodo does not want to throw the Ring into
the Abyss of Fate because he hears a deep, slow, but persuasive voice
which
offers him life, peace, honour, a rich reward, a lordship and finally a
share
of the Great Power, if only he will wait and return to Baradur
with a Slave of the Ring. This
terrorizes Frodo and he remains immobilized by the choice between
resistance
and surrender, in torment, for a period that seems to him incredibly
long and
unmarked by the passage of time. Then he
is disturbed by a fresh thought, not from outside, but a thought from
within
his being: he should keep the ring himself
and gain control of everything. Frodo,
King of Kings. The Hobbits (naturally,
he would not have forgotten his friends) would be in command and he
would
command the Hobbits. He would write
great poems and compose great songs and all the earth would bloom and
everyone
would be invited to his parties. And so Frodo takes the Ring!
Variants of the final catastrophe
are that Sam pushes Gollum and the Ring into the abyss, or Gollum,
overcome by
remorse and the terror of being forever deprived of the Ring by the
advancing Nazguls, commits
suicide.
At Edoras during the banquet which
follows Theoden�s funeral, Gandalf, during
a toast,
refers to Frodo and Sam by Elvish names
which
translate, respectively, as Resistance-Beyond-Hope and
Inextinguishable-Hope.
When they return to the County, Ted
Sandy makes this prophecy:
�You are out of date, Mr. Samwise, with your elves and your dragons. If I were you I�d go and catch one of their ships that are always sailing, according to your tale. Go back to Babyland and rock your cradle, and do not bother us. We are going to make a big town here with twenty mills. A hundred new houses next year. Big stuff coming up from the South. Chaps who can work metals. And make big holes in the ground. There�ll be forges a-humming and steamwhistles and wheels going round. Elves can�t do things like that.�
A small difference is that Sharkey
is not a Saruman, but a Man-Orc. More
noteworthy,
that Frodo eliminates various enemies in the County and is a energetic
and
determined leader, strong in war and resolute in his decisions, who
comes to be
honoured by all the Hobbits with such devotion that �not even Sam could
complain�. Fortunately Tolkien changed
his mind in the definitive version and gave us in Frodo a great icon of
humanity and not the hero of a TV series!
A comment by Tolkien refers to The
Grey Havens as an �Arthurian� finale for Bilbo and Frodo, in which of
course he
does not explain whether he intends an allegory of death or a means of
healing
and restoration as prelude to a return.
There follow two versions of the Epilogue which
does not appear in LOTR.
Sam is surrounded by numerous children of both sexes to whom he
recounts
stories of long ago. He speaks to
eldest, Elanor, of the Elfin beauty which is disappearing, but has not
yet gone
and which she may therefore see too.
Lastly, he announces that King Elessar will be passing near the
border
of the County and would like to see his old friends.
Here are the last lines of the Epilogue:
after having sent the children to bed,
Master Samwise stood at
the door and looked away eastward . He drew Mistress Rose to him, and
set his
arm about her.
�March the
twenty-fifth!�, he said. �This day seventeen years ago, Rose wife, I
didn�t
think I should ever see thee again. But I kept on hoping �.
�I never hoped at
all, Sam�, she said., �Not until that very day ; and then suddenly I
did .About
noon it was, and I felt so glad that I began singing. And mother said:
�Quiet ,
lass! There is ruffians about�. And I
said : �Let them come !Their time will soon be over. Sam�s coming back
.� And
you came �.
�I did , � said
Sam.� To the most belovedest place in all
the world.
To my Rose and my garden�.
They went in , and
Sam shut the door. But even as he did so, he heard suddenly, deep and unstilled, the sigh and murmur of the Sea upon
the shores
of Middle-earth.
The Epilogue,
which indeed is in some
passages a little sugary and simpering, was eliminated by Tolkien on
the basis
of the many criticisms he received: �it has been so universally
condemned�� But he remained unsatisfied
because he felt �the picture to be
incomplete��
The second part of the book is
dedicated to the unfinished novel The
Notion Club Papers, which is very similar to The Lost
Road (also unfinished), telling of a group professors,
friends who during their discussions at the Club find themselves -
without
understanding why - wandering through and space, ending up in the 10th
century when the Danes were attacking the Anglo-Saxons and, still
further back,
in a time shortly before the Fall of N�menor.
Tolkien enthusiasts will be interested three versions of the
poem Imram (the death of St Brendan). We find Tolkien caught in a typical position
between a Hindu-Orphic-Pythagorean and Christian point of view:
The theory is that the sight and memory goes on with descendants of Elendil and Voronw� [his companion ], but not reincarnation ; they are different people even if they still resemble one another in some ways even after a lapse of many generations
The third section contains four
versions of the Fall of N�menor and
finishes with a linguistic treatise on Adunaic,
the
tongue of the N�menoreans.
* * *
It seems to me to that the tenth
volume, The Morgoth�s Ring, is that
amongst the 12 of HoME which contains
the most new material and which is of greater philosophical depth.
A piece entitled Laws and Customs among the Eldar
recounts how the bodies of Elves grew more slowly than those of Men,
but their
minds more quickly; they learned to talk before they were one year old
and at
the same to walk and dance. During
infancy it was difficult to distinguish between the children of Elves
and those
of Men. The latter, however, seemed
happier
because they still enjoyed the world, the fire of their own spirits had
not yet
consumed them and the weight of memory was still light upon them. At the end of the third year human children
continued to grow whilst Elfin children did not; a Man reached his full
stature
at an age when an Elf was only the height of a human seven-year old. Fifty years (and for some, a hundred) were
needed for an Elf to reach full size.
Elves married only once in their
lives, even during the most obscure periods in the history of Arda, and
the
occurrence of lewd behaviour amongst them was rare.
The Noldor observed the custom that the
bride�s mother gave the son-in-law a jewel suspended from a chain, and
likewise
the groom�s father to his daughter-in-law.
These ceremonies were not considered necessary for the marriage,
but
were merely courtesies by which the parents demonstrated their love and
recognition that the union bonded the families as well as the couple. The essential wedding rite was carnal union,
after which a typical unbreakable marriage bond came into existence. In times of peace and prosperity it was
considered discourteous not to hold a public ceremony, but Elvish
law always held that marriage required only the free consent of the
couple
without the need for witnesses and thus it often was in times of
difficulty.
Conception and pregnancy took a
larger amount of physical and spiritual energy from Elf women than
human
ones. For this reason Elves had few
offspring whilst they were young, usually not long after getting
married. With respect to Elfin sexuality,
fertility
and sexual desire could not easily be distinguished; they would
undoubtedly
have kept their sexual potency for a long time if their desire remained
unsatisfied, but when generative power was effectively exercised,
sexual desire
disappeared rapidly and the mind occupied itself with other things. Sexual union certainly gave them great joy
and the �child days� � as they called them � remained in the memory as
the most
joyful in their lives. But they had many
other potentialities of the mind and body which their nature urged them
to
fulfil.
When M�riel died, weakened by her pregnancy with F�anor, her husband Finw�,
who
was still young and wished for more children, asked Manwe to be allowed
to
remarry. Manwe asked M�riel,
who was in the halls of Mandos, if she wanted to be reincarnated and
she
replied that she did not (she could no longer find in herself any
desire for
life, at least within the borders of Arda).
Manwe thus gave permission to Finw�
to marry
again and he did so with Ingwe�s sister, Vanyar Indis. The Valar debated much over the case of M�riel and Finw�,
because it was
unusual for someone to die at Valinor.
Some Valar, although agreeing with the decision, thought that
instead of
solving the problem it would have perpetuated it. Manwe
replied:
�Neither must ye forget that
in Arda Marred Justice
is not Healing . Healing cometh only
by suffering and patience, and maketh no
demand, not
even for Justice. Justice worketh only
within the
bonds of things as they are, accepting the marring of Arda,
and therefore though Justice is itself good and desireth
no farther evil, it came but perpetuate the evil that was, and doth not
prevent
it from the bearing of fruit in sorrow. Thus the Statute was just, but
it
accepted Death and the severance of Finw�
and Miriel, a thing unnatural in Arda
Unmarred, and therefore with reference to Arda
Unmarred it was unnatural and fraught with Death. The liberty that it
gave was
a lower road that, if it led not still downwards, could not again
ascend. But
Healing must retain ever the thought of Arda
Unmarred, and if it cannot ascend, must abide in patience. This is Hope
which,
I deem , is before all else the virtue
most fair in the Children of Eru, but
cannot be
commanded to come when needed : patience
must often long await it.�
The debate which follows Manwe�s
words is most interesting (Aule,
Ulmo, Yavanna and Nienna
voice different opinions); it is a rare example (insofar as I am able
to judge)
of the embodiment of a profound theological argument in a fictional
narrative. The Manwe speaks again:
�Aul�
and Ni�nna err, I deem ; for what each
said in
different words meaneth this much : that
Death which
cometh from the Marred may be one thing , and Death as an instrument of
Eru be another thing and discernible : the
one being of
malice, and therefore only evil and inevitably grievous ; the other ,
being of
benevolence, intending particular and immediate good, and therefore not
evil,
and either not grievous or easily and swiftly to be healed. For the
evil and
the grief of Death are in mere severance and breach of nature which is
alike in
both (or Death is not their name) ; and both occur only in Arda
Marred, and accord with its processes.
Therefore I deem that Ulmo is to be followed rather , holding that Eru need not and would not desire as a special
instrument
of his benevolence a thing that is evil. Wherefore, indeed, should he
intrude
Death as a �new thing� into a world that suffereth
it
already ? Nonetheless, Eru is Lord of all,
and will
use as instrument of his final purposes, which are good, whatsoever any
of his
creatures, great or small, do or devise, in his despite or in his
service. But
we must hold that it is his will that those of the Eldar
who serve him should not be cast down by griefs
or
evils that they encounter in Arda Marred ;
but should
ascend to a strength and wisdom that they would not otherwise have
achieved :
that the Children of Eru should grow to be
daughters
and sons.
For Arda
Unmarred hath to aspects or senses. The first is the Unmarred that they
discern
in the Marred, if their eyes are not deemed, and yearn for, as we yearn
for the
Will of Eru : this is the ground upon
which Hope is
built. The second is the Unmarred that shall be : that is, to speak
according
to Time in which they have their being, the Arda
Healed, which shall be greater and more fair than the first , because
of the
Marring : this is the Hope that sustaineth.
It cameth not only from the yearning for
the Will of Iluvatar
the Begetters (which by itself may lead those within Time to no more
then regret),
but also from trust in Eru the Lord
everlasting, that
he is good , and that his works shall all end in good. This the Marrer hath denied, and in this denial is the
root of evil,
and its end is in despair.
Therefore, notwithstanding the
words of Vair�, I abide by that which I
said first.
For though she speaketh not without
knowledge, she uttereth opinion and not
certainty. The Valar have not and
must not presume certainty with regard to the wills of the Children.
Nor, even
were they certain in this one case concerning the f�a [soul] of Miriel would that
unmake the union of love that once was between her and her spouse, or
render
void the judgement that constancy to it would in Finw�
be a better and fairer course , more in accord with Arda
Unmarred, or with the will of Eru in
permitting this
thing to befall him. The Statute openeth
the liberty
of a lower road, and accepting Death, countenanceth
Death, and cannot heal it. If that liberty is used , the evil of the
death of Miriel will continue to have
power, and will bear fruit in
sorrow�.
Lastly,
Mandos adds:
�Let the Statute stand, for it
is just.
It is our part to rule Arda, and to counsel the Children, or to command
them in
things committed to our authority. Therefore it is our task to deal
with Arda Marred, and to declare what is
just within it. We may
indeed in counsel point to the Higher Road, but we cannot compel any
free
creature to walk upon it. That leadeth to
tyranny,
which disfigureth good and maketh
it seem hateful.
Healing by final Hope, as Manw� hath spoken of it, is a law which one can
give to
oneself only ; of others justice alone can be demanded. A ruler who
discerning
justice refuseth to it the sanction of
law, demanding
abnegation of rights and self-sacrifice, will not drive his subjects to
these
virtues, virtuous only if free, but by unnaturally making justice
unlawful,
will drive them rather to rebellion against all law.�
Another interesting piece of the
work is The
Controversy Between Finrod and Andreth;
the Elf who was friendly with Men and the wise elderly woman engaged in
a
philosophical discussion because Finrod
had heard of
a tradition amongst Men according to which they considered death not to
be a
natural event, but a result of the malice of Melkor.
Andreth was aware
of the uncertain status of tradition, both because it had no scientific
basis
and because there were diverse traditions, such as that (shared by the
Elves)
which maintained that the death of Men was
natural and unavoidable. Finrod maintained that Melkor did not create
death, but had
merely perverted it; previously it had existed and been considered a
good
thing. Furthermore, Elves too would one
day die, albeit after many eras had passed, and they did not know what
would come
after. Thus, after living for
thousands
of years, their condition was no different to that of a young Man who
does not
think of death because it is still far off.
Andreth replied that thinking of
death leads
to desperation, because the world is controlled by Melkor, and no
valorous
Elfin or human action can succeed. Finrod chided her for confounding Melkor with
Eru: he was
the real lord of Arda and Manwe his second in command.
Finrod then said that
Elves and Men see Arda differently;
Men are like guests who stay for a short while in a new land and all is
new and
strange to their eyes, whilst the Elves are like people born in that
land and
everything seems familiar to them, all that exists, and their own
property and
therefore precious. For Finrod, the death of Men, before Melkor covered
it with
fear and anguish, was a �returning home� of the spirit which left Arda
and the
body which is part of Arda and went to some place of immortality.
Andreth asserted such an
opinion to be false and the product
of the Enemy�s lies, because it implied a sinful disregard for the
body,
whereas in every incarnate creature body and soul love one another
mutually. Andreth
then asked Finrod what hope was, and he
distinguished
two meanings: the first, more common, was �the search for improvement�
and is
the expectancy of good which, although uncertain, has some foundation
in that
which is already known (the Elvish word is
Amdir).
The second, more profound, is �faith� and
since it is not derived from experience is not affected by things of
this
world, but is based on the belief that, since we are Children of Eru, he will not allow any enemy or us ourselves
to deprive him of what is his (in Elvish, Estel).
Andreth replied that Men�s Estel is shaken and that they doubt that
Melkor is lord of the world. Finrod�s rejoinder was that even though Estel can be suffocated, there always
remains at least a spark of it in our wishes and dreams.
The most interesting section of the
book is, in my opinion, Myths
Transformed; in the last years of his life JRRT modified several
ideas
which were central to his mythology. The
Silmarillion was described as a human interpretation of Elf history
known to
the Men of N�menor and then of Middle-earth.
The Men added their own primitive and absurd cosmological
notions such as
the Flat Earth and the Sun and the Moon as navigators in the sky, each
with its
own home etc., which were not shared by the High Elves, who had the
same
astronomical knowledge as twentieth-century men (considering Arda just
a tiny
speck lost amongst the endless regions of Ea).
JRRT became convinced, towards the end of his life, that the Subcreator cannot present his readers with a
world whose
laws are in contrast with that which they are familiar.
Thus, the Sun and Moon had to be born long before
the Trees; the Trees, moreover, must
have been created
by the Valar for selfish motives, to decorate Valinor with which they
became
progressively infatuated, forgetting Middle-earth.
As for Melkor, although lord of the
infinite regions of Ea, he was jealous of the kingdom of Manwe on Arda
because
he knew that the Sons of Eru would be born there and wanted to be their
only
lord and master. To this end, he had to
make Men and Elves forget of the
existence of Eru. But this could never
happen because Eru had given the Vala Varda the power to take a Holy
Light to
Ea. JRRT wanted to make Melkor much more
powerful than in the previous scheme of things; stronger than all the
Valar put
together.
The Valar managed to beat him in the
War of Ira only because, through lust for power he had become the
tyrant
Morgoth, with enslaved Orcs, Balrogs,
Dragons etc. In order to achieve this change, though, he had had to
concede to
these creatures the ability to procreate and multiply, thus greatly
diminishing
his individual creative power by giving a portion of it to beings which
were
partly independent and there potentially beyond his control � otherwise
he
would have been unable to slake his thirst for power.
When Manwe saw Melkor transformed in Morgoth,
he was amazed to see him so reduced in personal power; without his
slaves he
was now much weaker than Manwe and could not meet his stare.
In the Second Age, Sauron was
imagined to be �greater� than Melkor at the end of the First Age since,
although much smaller in size, he had not yet been reduced to such a
weakened
state. Morgoth had exhausted much of his
essence by transferring it into the physical constituents of Arda, so
much that
creatures born there would be potentially corruptible (he did on a much
larger
scale the same thing that Sauron was to do with the Ring; but, although
the
destruction of the Ring was sufficient to destroy Sauron�s
power, to destroy Melkor�s it was
necessary to
eliminate Arda, �Morgoth�s Ring�).
Sauron just inherited the corrupted Arda.
Sauron was moreover wiser than
Melkor, because, not having initiated the rebellion, he could have
stayed
listening to the Music for longer.
Melkor was possessed by a complete nihilism, wishing to destroy
all the
Elves and Men, that drove him mad, for he would have certainly have
eliminated
his Orcs too if he had won the war. The roots of Melkor�s
desperation and his final impotence were in the fact that � whilst
Elves and
Men continued to love Arda even though it was corrupt, because they
could
attempt to cure its wounds � he felt powerless towards it and, if he
had had
the freedom to act, he would angrily have sought to recreate the
original
chaos. And in this case he would have
been defeated, since the world would have existed at some past time,
independent from his mind.
Sauron never reached this degree of
nihilism, never objected to the world�s existence, as long as he could
do as he
wished in it. He still contained the
relics of good qualities; his virtue was a love of order and
coordination and
he hated confusion and wasted energy (he was attracted to Melkor
because he
thought � erroneously � that the former would be able to achieve his
aims
authoritatively and efficiently, in contrast to the wavering and
wasteful
behaviour of the other Valars).
Sauron was, in fact, very similar to
Saruman and for this reason was able to understand his plans
immediately. But, as with all minds of
this sort, his love
and comprehension of other intelligences was weak; although the only
rational
motive for all his order and planning was the good of all the
inhabitants of
Arda, his �plans� and �ideas� were the products of an isolated and
therefore
limited and simplistic mind and could only be implemented in a more
complex
reality by means of violence.
This distinction between Melkor and
Sauron is oversimplified, because Sauron, after beginning to serve
Melkor,
became infected by his lust for destruction and hatred of God. But Sauron could not be a sincere atheist,
because he had met Eru. He deceived
himself into believing that Eru no longer cared about the destiny of
Ea, or at
least of Arda, because of the failure of
the Valar,
including Melkor. At the Fall of
N�menor, he therefore interpreted as the isolation of Aman as Eru�s punishment of the Valar, who were deprived
of all
control over Middle-earth.
When he saw the Istari, he supposed
that they had been sent by the
Valar in a pathetic attempt to regain control over Middle-earth in
order to
colonize it, an imperialistic endeavour lacking the approval of Eru. Observation of Saruman�s
behaviour confirmed his hypothesis and he became convinced. He could not understand Gandalf, but by now
Sauron had become stupid enough to imagine that the difference in his
behaviour
compared to that of Saruman was merely due to an inferior intelligence
and the
wish to cause trouble.
Sauron was not a genuine atheist, but preached atheism because he knew it weakened other creatures� resistance to him. Or he proclaimed idolatry of Melkor, as in the case of Ar-Pharazon. Here, he wanted to destroy the Men of N�menor in revenge for the humiliation inflicted upon Ar-Pharazon, although in fact (in contrast to Morgoth) Sauron would have been happy that they existed in his service, and corrupted and exploited for his own ends many of them.
Other subjects are dealt with in
this section, such as the origin and behaviour of the Orcs,
the reason why Manwe did not fight and the cause and modality of the
�disappearance� of the Elves after the Third Age.
* * *
The eleventh volume is entitled �The War of the Jewels�, considered by Christopher Tolkien companion to The Morgoth�s Ring; both refer to the First Age, the previous book to the earlier part (in Aman) and this to the later (in Beleriand). Little completely new material is to be found, though, unlike in the dazzling tenth volume.
It is said of female Dwarves:
The Naugrim have beards, male and female alike ; nor indeed can their womenkind be discerned by those of other race, be it in feature or in gait or in voice, nor in any wise save this : that they go not to war, and seldom save direst need issue from their deep bowers and halls. It is said, also, that their womenkind are few, and that save their kings and chieftains few Dwarves ever wed ; wherefore their race multiplied slowly, and now is dwindling
A long section (60 pages) is dedicated to The Wanderings of H�rin, in which the adventures of T�rin�s father, after his release by Morgoth, are narrated in much greater detail than in the Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales. Four pages are devoted to the story of Maeglin, the unfortunate son of Isfin and Eol and rejected suitor of Idril.
A linguistic passage covers words which refer to Elves and their variety, such as the clan names, with a rich appendix listing the names used by Elves for Men, Dwarves and Orcs. Another section is about the Valar language, which explains, or example, that in their tongue the �Gods� call the Telperion tree Ibr�ni�ilpath�nezel and the Laurelin tree Tulukhedelgor�s.
This interesting volume concludes with a piece about the Awakening of the very first Elves and their brides and the invention of spoken language.
* * *
The twelfth book is called The Peoples of Middle-Earth. This is the last volume of JRRT�s previously unpublished writings edited by his son Christopher, who observes in the Preface:
It is a long time since I began the work of ordering and elucidating the vast collection of papers in which my father�s conception of Arda, Aman, and Middle-earth was contained[...] Nearly a quarter of a century later the story, as I have been able to tell it, is as last concluded. This is not to say that I have given an account of everything that my father wrote, even leaving aside the great body of his work on the language of Elves
So it doesn�t seem impossible that other books of Tolkien�s unpublished writings might appear in the future. This twelfth book covers many topics. The first part contains various versions of the Appendices and Prologue to the Lord of the Rings. There follow several late writings of greater interest. A brief account of the relations between Dwarves and Men describes the seven Dwarf tribes and where they Awoke, with references to their language and those of Men. A passage deals with some details of the Qenya spoken by F�anor, the maternal names and names of all the descendents of Finw� and their meanings. A short piece outlining the problem of the reincarnation of Glorfindel, one of the five Wizards (and in which the two Blue Wizards have different names to those used in the Unfinished Tales) is followed by another on Cirdan the Carpenter. There is a piece containing the reply of the Elf Pengolo� to a question posed by the English sailor �lfwine on the differences between the Elves� languages, and one concerning lembas.
Lastly, the plots of two interesting tales. The first, The New Shadow, is set in Minas Tirith in the Fourth Age after Aragorn�s death; it is a sort of thriller in which an old man (younger brother of Bergil, the child who knew Pippin) finds out about a secret association of youngsters devoted to the cult of the Shadow and begins to investigate together with an ambiguous friend of his son. The second, Tal-Elmar, is set on the west coast of Middle-earth during the Second Age, at the time when the settlements of the N�menoreans had begun to spread, and takes the point of view of the indigenous people. Tal-Elmar is a youth sent in an advance patrol who finds out that he can understand the strangers� language.
* * *
Looking back over these twelve
volumes of the History of Middle Earth,
then, one must express gratitude that Christopher Tolkien has made
available to
scholars such a large and precious collection of material.
It must be admitted that for the normal
Tolkien reader the going is often heavy, since the work contains many
repetitions on the part of the author and much erudite commentary on
behalf of
the editor. It would be useful to
concentrate the most interesting passages into a single volume, so as
to create
a work which could be enjoyed in the same fashion as � and perhaps even
more
than - Unfinished Tales.
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