Comments

The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.

I am not big myself on philosophical musing, but the concepts here remind me very much of a couple of Italian philosophers whom James Joyce's credits as influencing him: Giambattista Vico who propounds a cyclical theory of history and Giordano Bruno differently but similar in some ways, who talks about a dialectical concept of nature--everything renews itself and yet constantly remains the same. Makes me feel like my pointy little head might explode.

I guess I am like those poor Men who Eru chides above in expecting to discover that life has some meaning. I want to see everyone getting their chance (especially Feanor) for redemption at the end. But then I am the first to admit, that despite all my whining, I am an idealist and an optimist at heart. Anyway, the threats to my piece of mind aside, it keep me reading through to the end. I almost felt sorry for poor Melkor.

I've studied some philosophy during my High School and University years, but I didn't know about those philosophers in particular. I've heard Giordano Bruno's name before, though I'm not familiar with his theories. But well, many thinkers and religions propose a cyclic time, instead of a linear one.
I hope that this didn't give you much of a headache XD. And don't need to feel sorry for Melkor; he got better later.

I tend to think and function in spirals (which, I guess, is the Chinese influence), so linear concepts feel fairly alien to me. In a way, this somehow seems more plausible than Tolkien's ultimately Christian vision.

And it incorporates into Ardaverse some of the more intriguing philosophical theories and scientific hypotheses. 

It also reminds me of my favourite SF series called Lexx, where time functions exactly the same way (time begins and then time ends and then time begins once again).

To sum it up, I love the idea.

 

And some of the descriptive passages are very powerful.

 

All in all, I enjoyed this fic immensely. 

Yeah, I think as well that circular thinking is more typical of Eastern cultures, though the Greeks had also that conception. Probably it was from some Greek philosopher from whom I took that idea, but right now I can't remember which one. Also the Big Bang-Big Crunch theory of physics comes to my mind, of course.
Any way, thanks for your review. I'm glad that you liked my philosophical ravings :)

No. I would not be here commenting if it gave me too big of a headache. I tend to exaggerate a little OK, a lot! I hope to see you writing more! (I did minor in philosophy for a while but abandoned it in a classic flounce--too abstract for me--and picked up history (as though that does not have its bias!). Small intellects find abstract theory difficult! I knew about those guys not from philosophy classes but from Joyce scholarship.)

The same happened to me. I started studying Philosophy the first year of University, but then I got bored of so much abstract thinking and changed the career to one of Humanities (a mixture of history, art, philosophy, social sciences and the like). I needed to have my feet on the ground a bit more.

I have other story published in this same site. Melkor suffers much more there, really.