Silmarillion - Chapter 12 - Of Men

[Aiwendil]

In this brief chapter we are finally introduced to the race of Men. Though it is said here that ‘of men little is told in these tales’, this strikes me as actually being rather misleading. As we will see, much of the latter half of the Silmarillion focuses on the Men of the three houses of the Edain. I rather wonder why Tolkien makes this somewhat strange statement.

One could spend a lot of time comparing the awakening of Men to the awakening of the Elves. As is observed here, no Vala is sent to the aid of Men. Do you think this, on the whole, to their benefit or to their detriment, as compared to the Elves?

One point that is conspicuously absent from this chapter is the “fall of Man”; absent entirely is the conception of a primeval Eden which humans, as a result of their own sin, lose. However, in Letters, no. 131, Tolkien suggests that such a Fall did take place, but that he deliberately omitted it from the narrative. In fact, in HoMe X, ‘Adanel’s Tale’ does give an account of Melkor’s corruption of the earliest humans.

This chapter began as little more than a paragraph in the ‘Sketch of the Mythology’ and was subsequently expanded in the ‘Quenta Noldorinwa’ and the pre- and post-LotR versions of the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’. In the earliest version of the mythology (the ‘Book of Lost Tales’) the origins of Men were to have been told in ‘Gilfanon’s Tale’, of which, however, only a few pages were ever written. Some tantalizing notes, however, suggest a story very different from that which appeared later. It concerns a mysterious wizard named Tu or Tuvo and a Dark Elf called Nuin, the ‘Father of Speech’, who comes across the first Men still sleeping and wakes two of them before the rising of the Sun. Then a servant of Melkor variously called Fukil, Fangli, or Fankil, comes among Men and corrupts them, and the ‘Battle of Palisor’ is fought between Men and Elves. It’s a pity Tolkien never wrote this intriguing tale.

It should also be noted that in the projected change to the ‘Myths Transformed’ cosmology (wherein the Sun and Moon were to have existed from the beginning of Arda), the awakening of Men was necessarily dissociated from the first appearance of the Sun. In the outlines for this revised form of the mythology, the awakening of Men was to take place far earlier than it does in the Silmarillion.

Additional Readings
HoMe I – contains what exists of ‘Gilfanon’s Tale’.
HoMe IV, V – Pre-LotR versions of the chapter
HoMe XI – Post-LotR revision
HoMe X – contains the tale concerning the first fall of Men told by Adanel; also contains the ‘Myths Transformed’ notes.

[Bêthberry]

One point in this chapter has always intrigued me: the various names given to the race of men by the elves:

Originally Posted by "Of Men", para 2

The Atani they were named by the Eldar, Followers, and many other names: Apanónar, the After-born, Engwar, the Sickly, and Fírimar, the Mortals; and they named them the Usurpers, the Strangers and the Inscrutable, the Self-cursed, the Heavy-handed, the Night-fearers, the Children of the Sun.

It seems to me that none of these names suggest a particularly positive or strong attachment to the second children. Rather, these names sound like those of a first born possibly jealous of the next-born. The first set of names characterises men as coming later in a chronology while the later names certainly highlight what was supposed to be the special gift of men, their mortality. The third set of names are especially contrary and most clearly show a suspicion or fear the Edain had for the Atani, regarding them very much as "other."

What the chapter does not give us is how these various names developed, particularly the time frame in which they occurred. Does this progression of names suggest in itself the eventual estrangement of men and elves which we are told is the triumph of Morgoth? The latter characterisations become veritable foreshadowings of some of the stories to follow; it appears the Second Born are to be doom-ridden. At least from the Elves' point of view.

Perhaps the "of men little is told in these tales" refers more to the nature of The Silm as the story told from elven perspective?

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

An interesting passage regarding Elves

...and in those days they were more like to the bodies of Men, since they had not so long been inhabited by the spirit of fire, which consumes them from within in the course of time.

What sort of burnt out shell might they become?

also

The the Quendi wandered in the lonely places of the great lands and the isles, and took to moonlight and starlight, and to the woods and caves, becoming shadows and memories....

So reminiscent of King Thranduil crew's activites in Mirkwood, isn't it?

[Raynor]

Originally Posted by Hilde Bracegirdle

What sort of burnt out shell might they become?

I believe the hroa would dissappear altogether

Originally Posted by Of death and the severance of fea and hroa, Later Quenta Silmarillion, HoME X

As ages passed the dominance of their fear ever increased, 'consuming' their bodies (as has been noted). The end of this process is their 'fading', as Men have called it; for the body becomes at last, as it were, a mere memory held by the fea; and that end has already been achieved in many regions of Middle- earth, so that the Elves are indeed deathless and may not be destroyed or changed.

Originally Posted by Aelfwine's preamble, LQS, HoME X

Moreover their body and spirit are not separated but coherent. As the weight of the years, with all their changes of desire and thought, gathers upon the spirit of the Eldar, so do the impulses and moods of their bodies change. This the Eldar mean when they speak of their spirits consuming them; and they say that ere Arda ends all the Eldalie on earth will have become as spirits invisible to mortal eyes, unless they will to be seen by some among Men into whose minds they may enter directly.

[Morwen]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

It should also be noted that in the projected change to the ‘Myths Transformed’ cosmology (wherein the Sun and Moon were to have existed from the beginning of Arda), the awakening of Men was necessarily dissociated from the first appearance of the Sun. In the outlines for this revised form of the mythology, the awakening of Men was to take place far earlier than it does in the Silmarillion.

This is interesting. In reading this chapter I assumed that the awakening of the Men with first rising of the Sun was meant to mimic the awakening of the Elves after the creation/regrouping of the stars and that therefore there was significance in the fact that both awakenings are triggered by light - that the Children (as originally created), both Atani and Eldar, are Children of Light in contrast to Melkor's perversions, creatures bred in the darkness of some underground lair.
The projected change would mean that the awakening of Men was simply an awakening, though that is significant in and of itself.

[Raynor]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

In the outlines for this revised form of the mythology, the awakening of Men was to take place far earlier than it does in the Silmarillion.

However, in another essay from Myths Transformed, it is also stated:

Originally Posted by Orcs

For though the time of the awakening of Men is not known, even the calculations of the loremasters that place it earliest do not assign it a date long before the Great March began, certainly not long enough before it to allow for the corruption of Men into Orcs.

[Alphaelin]

Originally Posted by "Of Men", para 2

The Atani they were named by the Eldar, Followers, and many other names: Apanónar, the After-born, Engwar, the Sickly, and Fírimar, the Mortals; and they named them the Usurpers, the Strangers and the Inscrutable, the Self-cursed, the Heavy-handed, the Night-fearers, the Children of the Sun.

Harumph, I could certainly live without being called "Engwar", although I've found that being "Inscrutable" has come in handy at times.

Bêthberry wrote:

It seems to me that none of these names suggest a particularly positive or strong attachment to the second children. Rather, these names sound like those of a first born possibly jealous of the next-born.

I think that there is a certain amount of truth in this statement, although I think the differences between Men and the rest of Iluvatar's creation were intended to demonstrate both the best and the worst aspects of humans in the book. Later in the same paragraph as Bêthberry's quote, one gets the impression that Men were regarded as the 'red-headed stepchildren' of Arda:

To Hildorien there came no Vala to guide Men, or to summon them to dwell in Valinor; and Men have feared the Valar, rather than loved them, and have not understood the purposes of the Powers, being at variance with them , and at strife with the world.

Yet the last paragraph of this chapter blames the estrangement of Men and Elves as the work of Morgoth, ending

...in the dawn of years Elves and Men were allies and held themselves akin, and there were some among Men that learned the wisdom of the Eldar, and became great and valiant among the captains of the Noldor.

So BB's comment that the names given to Men by Elves reflects the growing estrangement between the Children of Iluvatar makes sense, yet it is the influence of Morgoth which causes the two Peoples to withdraw from each other.

One thing about this chapter that also strikes me is the phrase "being at strife with the world". It could also describe the sons of Feanor in their vow of vengeance against any who withhold a Silmaril from them. The phrase reflects a sense of disharmony with Iluvatar's Arda, and to me implies a willingness to go against his will. In terms of Tolkien's Christian faith, disobedience to God's will is the root of humanity's tendency toward sin. Considered this way the phrase has always led me to think that it is a wonder that some Men in The Silmarillion *don't* fall.

Men may not understand the world, but then Elves and the Valar do not understand Men, and the Atani are doomed to make their way in a world which they pass through in a brief time (compared to the Elves), and where they have had not had the same chances to learn about it in the same ways the ageless Elves did. The bodies of the Eldar can be injured or killed, or waste away with illness perhaps, but only Men die of old age.

[Raynor]

Originally Posted by Alphaelin

One thing about this chapter that also strikes me is the phrase "being at strife with the world". It could also describe the sons of Feanor in their vow of vengeance against any who withhold a Silmaril from them. The phrase reflects a sense of disharmony with Iluvatar's Arda, and to me implies a willingness to go against his will. In terms of Tolkien's Christian faith, disobedience to God's will is the root of humanity's tendency toward sin. Considered this way the phrase has always led me to think that it is a wonder that some Men in The Silmarillion *don't* fall.

Well, all the race of Men is fallen; the closest they were to overcoming that was with Numenor, but they blew it:

The Downfall is partly the result of an inner weakness in Men – consequent, if you will, upon the first Fall (unrecorded in these tales), repented but not finally healed.

Frankly, having some Men not fallen from the very start is my favorite divergence from Tolkien's work

Originally Posted by Alphaelin

The bodies of the Eldar can be injured or killed, or waste away with illness perhaps, but only Men die of old age.

Actually, illness can't kill them

Originally Posted by Of the flight of the Noldor, Silmarillion

For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos.

[Morwen]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

In this brief chapter we are finally introduced to the race of Men. Though it is said here that ‘of men little is told in these tales’, this strikes me as actually being rather misleading. As we will see, much of the latter half of the Silmarillion focuses on the Men of the three houses of the Edain. I rather wonder why Tolkien makes this somewhat strange statement.

Perhaps he meant "men" in a broader sense, i.e. mankind as a whole and not just those who were fortunate enough to encounter the Eldar. The Silm doesn't tell us anything really about the Easterlings, the Southrons, etc.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Alphaelin

Yet the last paragraph of this chapter blames the estrangement of Men and Elves as the work of Morgoth, ending

. . .

So BB's comment that the names given to Men by Elves reflects the growing estrangement between the Children of Iluvatar makes sense, yet it is the influence of Morgoth which causes the two Peoples to withdraw from each other.

Hello and welcome to the Downs, Alphaelin. I don't think I've had the pleasure of posting with you before--although to be honest I'm hopeless most of the time with names. And faces don't count here!

That quotation does not of itself suggest the estrangement is solely due to Morgoth. Perhaps it is my lack of liking of the elves, but I can't help but think that at least part of the estrangement derives from the elves' own failing. They are mightily involved with themselves and their own skills, talents, abilities. There's even a quote somewhere which specifices how they had little time for races other than their own. LotR? I can't recall now. Despite being created by Eru, I think the elves had weaknesses and failings and are at least somewhat responsible for their--can I use this word?--eventual extinction in Middle-earth.

[Raynor]

I think the elves had weaknesses and failings and are at least somewhat responsible for their--can I use this word?--eventual extinction in Middle-earth.

There are much more things at play that caused their extinction - the consuming of their body by their fea, the destruction of their body by the marring of Melkor - but first and foremost: they are destined to make way for the Men. Their actions, good or bad, could not have changed any of these.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Alphaelin

One thing about this chapter that also strikes me is the phrase "being at strife with the world". It could also describe the sons of Feanor in their vow of vengeance against any who withhold a Silmaril from them. The phrase reflects a sense of disharmony with Iluvatar's Arda, and to me implies a willingness to go against his will. In terms of Tolkien's Christian faith, disobedience to God's will is the root of humanity's tendency toward sin. Considered this way the phrase has always led me to think that it is a wonder that some Men in The Silmarillion *don't* fall.

You know... I'm thinking now... and what you've said here is prompting some ideas. Not very solid ones, but it's interesting that you mention Tolkien's Christian faith and "the world".

See, there is an opposition in Christianity (well... the Catholic branch is the one I'm familiar with, but that's where Tolkien was coming from too, so I shall generalise) of God, and all that is with God: ie. Christians, and "the world". Christians are, ideally, said to "live in the world, but are not of the world".

Taken out of context, and applied to Men in Middle-Earth, that sounds very like the Doom of Men, does it not?

What's also interesting is the fact that "being at strife with the world" could be, in a Christian context, taken as a POSITIVE description of Man being so different from the Quendi, in that it would be evidence of Man's ability to work against Fate allowing him to work against evil (that is, the World).

Interesting thoughts, anyway...