Blame lembas?

[Thinlómien]

While reading the Peoples of Middle-Earth (HoME XII), a strange thought came to my mind.

Originally Posted by Of Lembas, a footnote

For it said, that if mortals eat often of this bread [lembas], they become weary of their mortality, desiring to abide among the Elves, and longing for the fields of Aman, ro which they cannot come.

So really it wasn't the Ring and the painful and nightmarish journey to Mordor that made Frodo (and later Sam) leave to Valinor! Weren't they the ones of the Fellowship that ate most lembas? Weren't they the ones who had to "niggle on lembas"? It all makes sense!






It actually doesn't.

There's one thing that ruins the theory. Its name is Bilbo. How come he left to Valinor, as far as we know, he didn't eat any lembas. Or wait... maybe he had a habit of taking some lembas-boosted walks in the woods near the Rivendell!

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Seriously, I think that the lembas probably added to Frodo's (and Sam's) craving for Aman, but didn't actually cause it.

Any thoughts on this? Serious or less serious? Am I on a completely wrong track? Any other theories on this craving caused by lembas? Did it affect Túrin who Melian sent lembas via Beleg?

[Lord Melkor]

Hmmmm, now there's an interesting find! So it turns out the Elves have been feeding Frodo and co. the Middle-Earth equivalent of spacecake?

Galadriel: "Far out, dude!"

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All sillyness aside, I'm not sure there are many hints that the Lembas had that much of an effect on Frodo and Sam. Upon rereading Frodo's behaviour it doesn't seem like he's longing to be with the elves, but instead his anguish seems to be caused by his addiction to the Ring and his feeling of guilt for having 'failed' his quest. It is also important to note that Sam is not experiencing any longing for Aman at all, even though he had the same kind of exposure to Lembas as Frodo, though it may be that the more earthly Sam would be less likely to be influenced by the lembas than the more spiritual and 'Elf-attuned' Frodo.

Damn Elves and their hippie ways.......

[Thinlómien]

But if the elf- and Aman-longing were subconscious?

Did Galadriel and co. really think about it when they gave the fellowship the bread? Or did they just estimate there was no real danger of "being affected"? Or that the profits were greater than the risks?

[The Might]

I think the reasons why the Ring-bearers (Frodo, Bilbo, and eventually Sam) are allowed to go to Valinor are made pretty clear in LOTR.

Still you are 100% correct, this is the reason why lembas was such a well guarded secret.

This food the Eldar alone knew how to make. It was made for the comfort of those who had need to go upon a long journey in the wild, or of the hurt whose life was in peril. Only these were permitted to use it. The Eldar did not give it to Men, save only a few whom they loved, if they were in great need. The Eldar first received it from the Valar in the days of the Great Journey. It was made of corn which Yavanna brought forth in her fields of Aman and she sent some to the Eldar by the hand of Oromë for their long march. The corn of which the Lembas was made had the strong life of Aman and it could impart it to those who had the need and the right to use it, it could be sown at any season save in frost and it needed only a little sunlight to grow. The Eldar grew it in guarded lands and sunlit glades, they gathered it, each one by hand and were not allowed to use any metal tools. From the corn to the wafer none were permitted to handle this grain, except those Elven-women who were called Yavannildi, the maidens of Yavanna, and the art of making Lembas which they learned from the Valar, was a secret among them.

This was done because the Eldar had been commanded to keep this gift as a secret for if Mortals eat often of this bread, they became weary of their mortality, desired to abide among the Elves and long for the fields of Aman to which they cannot come.

Even though Melian was a Maia of Vana and Este, I guess she had learned this recipe from Yavanna some time during her stay in Valinor.

[Mänwe]

Lommy a very interesting idea, and one that made me scour the books for every reference to lembas, of which there were many, and most of which showed its effects on those who ate it. While we have Frodo and Sam almost exclusively eating lembas, Merry and Pippin during their capture also relied heavily upon the waybread. However I think we can safely say that they were not consuming it as often and as long as Frodo and Sam.

We are all aware that it conveys ‘strength’ to whosoever ate it;

“`So it is,' they answered. `But we call it lembas or waybread, and it is more strengthening than any food made by Men, and it is more pleasant than cram, by all accounts.'” – (Book II, Chapter 8, Farewell to Lórien)

The Fellowship having recently entered Lórien after their flight from Khazad-dum were in need of good food and calm and more importantly ‘strengthening’ for their journey was known, if only by Galadriel. Indeed you may say that the benefits outweighed the costs. There is one point where they ‘warn’ Gimli from eating it, having swallowed an entire cake,

"`No more, no more!' cried the Elves laughing. `You have eaten enough already for a long day's march.'" - (Book II, Chapter 8, Farewell to Lórien)

I suppose you could say they were more concerned with it being wasted than its adverse affects. But lembas was not the only food that they imparted with the Fellowship. They were confident that it would not be solely lembas they would be eating.

Though I must admit their lack of advice in prescribing this powerful food is somewhat perplexing. They would not have made good GP’s, no administering information to be seen. Silliness aside I am saying we do not know whether, little over a long period was bad, often over a long period, or often over a short period, or little over a short period was ‘bad’.

Your quote states a yearning for elves and the fields of Aman, despite the obvious renewal of physical strength the waybread gave, it enthused the diner on pleasant images;

“The hobbits each ate two or three pieces. The taste brought back to them the memory of fair faces, and laughter, and wholesome food in quiet days now far away.” - (Book III, Chapter 3, The Uruk-Hai.)

“'I can manage it. Lembas does put heart into you! A more wholesome sort of feeling, too, than the heat of that orc-draught.” (Book III, Chapter 3, The Uruk-Hai.)

Merry and Pippin seem to benefit them more in a mental way that a physical way. Perhaps we could say that lembas gave ‘strength’ according to the users needs. In their case the will to survive, memories of old are a sure way to relieve the mind of its current plight.

“Often in their hearts they thanked the Lady of Lórien for the gift of lembas, for they could eat of it and find new strength even as they ran.” – (Book III, Chapter 2, Riders of Rohan)

Whereas the pursuing Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn benefited from it, through their endurance of long sustained travel; this “new strength” could I suppose also be taken to mean mental strength, seeing as they were pursuing an enemy travelling fast and who were ahead of them, they were also in the knowledge that perhaps they were merely pursuing dead corpses.

“Doubtless the Orcs despoiled them, but feared to keep the knives, knowing them for what they are: work of Westernesse, wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor. Well, now, if they still live, our friends are weaponless. I will take these things, hoping against hope, to give them back.'” – (Book III, Chapter 1, The Departure of Boromir.)

Personally I do not think that any of the fellowship thus far, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were affected by the lembas in a way that they yearned for Aman. And as for Sam, I think Lord Melkor is right in saying that,

Originally posted by Lord Melkor

“…the more earthly Sam would be less likely to be influenced.”

For he grows tired of its taste,

“'Only those, what d'you call 'em, lembas, Mr. Frodo. A fair supply. But they are better than naught, by a long bite. I never thought, though, when I first set tooth in them, that I should ever come to wish for a change. But I do now: a bit of plain bread, and a mug – aye, half a mug – of beer would go down proper.” – (Book IV Chapter 1, Taming of Sméagol.)

Interestingly enough there is a passage in the letters that speaks of two uses of lembas;

“22. In the book lembas has two functions. It is a 'machine' or device for making credible the long marches with little provision, in a world in which as I have said 'miles are miles'. But that is relatively unimportant. It also has a much larger significance, of what one might hesitatingly call a 'religious' kind. This becomes later apparent, especially in the chapter 'Mount Doom' (III 2135 and subsequently.” - (Letter #210)

That ‘religious’ kind’ refers the following quote in the book;

“The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die.” - (Book VI Chapter 3, Mount Doom.)

Forces the body and mind to greater feats of endurance, perhaps not though the users own will, something my next quote I think illustrates,


“And yet this waybread of the Elves had a potency that increased as travellers relied on it alone and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond the measure of mortal kind.” - (Book VI Chapter 3, Mount Doom.)

It could ‘master sinew and limb’, to the point where it made someone yearn for Aman, perhaps…

As a thought to its effect on Túrin, perhaps the offer of the gift had the greater affect then the actually gift itself. After he accepts having refused the gift from Beleg, he sees ever more open to council.