Can anything good come from Men? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Kuruharan · 02-19-2009, 06:45 PM

I'm pondering how the goodness of humanity in Tolkien seemed to be directly related to their level of elvishness. Humanity (or parts of it) did begin their westward migration on their own but other than that I am hard pressed to think of an example of acts in humans that are considered virtuous to some degree in Tolkien that are not informed in some way or another by elven culture.

In large measure in Tolkien humanity is actually an evil race, or at least fights on the side of evil. It only seems to be contact with the elves (and maybe to some extent the dwarves) that humanity learned virtue.

I can think of hobbits as being one example of a "good" Mannish culture that developed (more or less) in absence of elvish influence...but even with them (at least among the ones that were held up as examples of virtue in the stories) elvishness was the standard that they strived for and admired.

Is humanity in Tolkien capable of developing virtue on its own or must it be received from the other races of Middle earth?

Can anything good come from Men?

02-19-2009, 06:45 PM	#1
Kuruharan Regal Dwarven Shade Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: A Remote Dwarven Hold Posts: 3,591	Can anything good come from Men? I'm pondering how the goodness of humanity in Tolkien seemed to be directly related to their level of elvishness. Humanity (or parts of it) did begin their westward migration on their own but other than that I am hard pressed to think of an example of acts in humans that are considered virtuous to some degree in Tolkien that are not informed in some way or another by elven culture. In large measure in Tolkien humanity is actually an evil race, or at least fights on the side of evil. It only seems to be contact with the elves (and maybe to some extent the dwarves) that humanity learned virtue. I can think of hobbits as being one example of a "good" Mannish culture that developed (more or less) in absence of elvish influence...but even with them (at least among the ones that were held up as examples of virtue in the stories) elvishness was the standard that they strived for and admired. Is humanity in Tolkien capable of developing virtue on its own or must it be received from the other races of Middle earth? Can anything good come from Men? __________________ ...finding a path that cannot be found, walking a road that cannot be seen, climbing a ladder that was never placed, or reading a paragraph that has no...