~by Martina Juričková
Probably one of the most controversial things to discuss about the Christian motives within The Silmarillion is the understanding of so-called Ilúvatar’s children, the Elves and Men. The likeness of the term “the children of Ilúvatar” to the term “the children of God”, which is used in Christianity, is obvious. It is generally known, that the children of God are we, the people, and explanation for this is given in the Genesis, which says: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him,” (Genesis 1, 27). Because we are like Him in appearance, made in His image, we have the privilege to be called His children. And Tolkien had very similar vision about his children of the Creator. He noted that Elves and Men were called Ilúvatar’s children because they were “his private addition to the Design, by the Creator, and one in which the Valar had no part,” (Carpenter, 2006, p. 285). In both cases the children originated from their Creator: they inherited his image or arouse from his very own thought.
Elves and Men
However, the most contradictory part of this concept is that in Tolkien’s mythology there were two kinds of the god’s children while Christianity recognizes only one. In The Silmarillion the first children were Elves, the Firstborns, several centuries later followed by Men, therefore called the Followers. The understanding of Men is simple; they represent the same race as we are. Although when the Elves met them for the first time they considered them to be wilder, a little bit more savage than they were and with dark past. But soon the Men’s behaviour developed in the presence of Elves and they are doubtlessly our imaginary ancestors.
But a problem appears in the understanding of Elves. Although they are physically the same as Men, something in their nature is different. They are described as beautiful, noble and wise beings with big love to nature and some hidden power. Kreeft says they are semi-angelic creatures (Kreeft, 2005, p. 78). For their immortality, they could seem to readers as angels. But because the angels are paralleled to the Ainur, such comparison is not relevant. The Elves can by no means represent angels, not even the lowest degree of angels, also because of the fact that they can marry and bear children, what the angels cannot.
Nevertheless, as Dimitra Fimi noticed and noted in her book Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: “Even if the Elves are not angels or overtly religious […], they are at least associated with a more spiritual and mystic religious experience,” (Fimi, 2009, p. 207). So another possible interpretation is that the Elves may resemble Men in the Paradise before the Fall. This idea is supported by the fact that they are akin to Men. The purest and innocent Elves may be a good image of us, people, what we would look and be like if the first people did not disobey God by eating fruit from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. Even the mightiest Elves are often depicted as almost unearthly, supernatural beings who can also communicate through minds without speaking aloud. So they could be probably understood as the prototype of people created in God’s image without any deformation by the sin. Only if there were not individuals who prove that even the Elves can be influenced by Evil and consequently do bad things, hate and even kill members of their own race.
Therefore, the only solution to this problem must be sought in Tolkien’s own explanation of the understanding of Elves. And that is that Elves and Men just represent two sides of human nature (Carpenter, 2006, p. 149). This idea is derived from the Christian concept of human being consisting of two parts: the mortal physical body and immortal spiritual soul. So the Men in Tolkien’s mythology should represent the physical side of human, while Elves represent the spiritual side. That is the reason why Elves are depicted as higher and nobler and can better perceive the organisation of creation. For some time they dwelled with the Valar, what the Men never did, and gained most of their knowledge from them. And because they are immortal as the soul is, they live for ages, so their understanding of the world is much deeper than that of Men. They do not bother about unimportant things, because they know that the essential things depend on something else. On the other side, Men are more temperament, easily driven by their desires and less steadfast regarding their opinions.
But the most distinguishing characteristic is the mortality of Men. The Bible says that Men became mortal after their Fall. It was a punishment for them. Contrary, Tolkien states that mortality was a gift from Ilúvatar given specially to Men. It is the only thing the Elves envy them, because they cannot depart from this world so easily and go to places beyond it. They are bound to the Earth and its doom. But Men, influenced by Melkor’s lies, stopped believing it to be a gift and started to fear death. Melkor said them that after death there is nothing, what was in contradiction with the truth, which Elves were told by Valar. And the truth was that Ilúvatar intended a great fate for Men after their death. And that is that in the future, what even the wisest cannot foretell, Men will join the Second Music of the Ainur (Tolkien, 1992, p. 36).
The idea that there is nothing after death which they were introduces by Melkor is identical with the atheistic view of death. And the idea of Men joining the Second Music is very similar to the Christian doctrine that describes the creation of new Earth after the Apocalypse. Because as it was formerly explained, the Music of the Ainur is the music of creation, so it can be suspected that in the Second Music something new will be created, probably a new world for the Men to dwell in. Similarly, the Bible says that a new world will be created for all those who will be saved, that is, all those who will get to Heaven (Revelation 1, 1-3).
Resources:
CARPENTER, H. (ed.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 2006, London: HarperCollins, 1981. 502 pp. ISBN 978-0-261-10265-1
FIMI, D., Tolkien, Race and Cultural History, 2009, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 240 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-21951-9
KREEFT, P., The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind the Lord of the Rings, 2005, Ignatius Press, 2005. 237 pp. ISBN 1-58617-025-2
TOLKIEN, J.R.R., The Silmarillion, 1992, London: HarperCollins, 1992. 480 pp. ISBN 978-0-261-10273-6