non-fiction on the nature of elves by hennethgalad

Chapter 1

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the two trees and the nature of elves.

   perhaps the elves are Tolkien's answer to the question 'what if Adam had eaten the fruit of the tree of life, rather than the tree of knowledge of good and evil ?' especially at the junction when Elros and Elrond choose different destinies. 

  This would make the elves 'innocent' , or as Tolkien put it in the Hobbit, "Good People". 
Of course, its unimaginable to a human what innocence would be like, we are social animals, and socialization is the process of learning what is considered good and evil. The nearest examples of such innocence would be someone like Socrates, of whom one commentator wrote "His will was as strong as his convictions so his conduct was as logical as his thought." ;

  and also consider the alien species called the Pak by Larry Niven, who are genetically human, but mutated into immortals by eating "tree of life", after which time they become Socratically innocent, that is, once they see the 'good' they must do it, and much of the plot of "Ringworld Engineers" is concerned with the protagonists following the logical steps taken by one of  the Pak, in order to anticipate its next move. 

   Aragorn tells the hesitant Eómer "good and ill... it is a man's part to discern them" (meaning person of any species) and elves, apparently, always do the good thing.

   Fëanor does evil things like the Kinslaying and the burning of the ships, but he was "fey", or not of sound mind; indeed, an altogether singular character, whose conception devoured his mother's spirit and whose overgrown spirit devoured his own corpse when he died. 

  Maedhros and Maglor commit murder but they are weighing eternity in the abyss for themselves compared to a temporary loss of body for those they murder. They are trying to logically pursue the original virtuous goal of retrieving the silmarils, but the nature of the oath they swore (fey...) traps them into their impossible position. sadly, the lesser of two evils is evil nonetheless. 

   Eöl and Maeglin are the two most conspicuously evil elves, (though none of the sons of Fëanor really shines) although whether Eöl intended murder with the concealed javelin or just committed manslaughter in a moment of insanity is hard to say. He was, after all, heading into the land of those he held to be his enemies, and might thus regard his son as a traitor.

   Maeglin's betrayal of the location of Gondolin was under threat of torture, but i have to say that while i admire those like Finrod who withstood torture, i cannot consider it evil to be unable to endure torture. people under the influence of alcohol and drugs lose their inhibitions, torture has the same depersonalizing effect. of course people will say anything the torturer wishes to hear to get them to stop. 

   how can the innocent be evil ? because of course, the moment an elf goes over to the other side they become an orc; no elves ever fight for the enemy. is Maeglin an orc when he returns to Gondolin after his capture by Morgoth ?

  because the elves do not seem to commit crimes as we would recognize them; although the abduction of Lúthien comes pretty close. even hobbits have 'shirrifs', and Eömer is imprisoned by Gríma Wormtongue. however elves who do wrong are either misled by the enemy or otherwise incapacitated; by anger, pride or fear, into making errors in discerning the good. they do not act out of malice, for if they do they cease to be elves at all. so being an elf is something contingent upon constant ethical investigation, constant scrutiny of the consequences of actions which will affect 'you' until the end of time; small wonder types like Lindir and Gildor told the hobbits they had other things on their minds...

   so what are the elves ? humans, in Tolkien, seem quite ordinary judeo-christian sinners, who ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and so can choose freely to see the good, right path, (e.g. fight with Isildur against Sauron) and still not do it (hide in the mountains).

  of course, too much free interference with the creator's plans would make Arda even more marred than it already is, so the lives of humans are short.

  but the innocent elves are here to add beauty to the world. they are immortal but not "angels" in the judeo-christian sense, much more pagan, spirits like naiads and dryads, perhaps; operating in a conceptual framework without 'original sin' and all that nasty furtive stuff, which guilt-trips people into accepting appalling treatment from the elites because the elites think people should be on their knees beating themselves up for being born.

   Nietzsche was here... he wrote about "the innocence of becoming" and i wonder if the elves do not represent an idealized picture of pagan 'virtue', of 'valour', which are words our modern elites have destroyed. the reward for virtue is to be remembered well, to have songs sung about you, and to spend a long time in Valhalla, or Hades or wherever, being congratulated by your pals. in the elves, who did not eat the tree of knowledge but the tree of life, Tolkien has made the promise of immortality concrete, and considered its impact on behaviour. 

   the innocent elves, ( consider also the innocence of Manwë, who cannot grasp that Morgoth is evil, and compare it with Galadriel, as marred as Arda ?, who now percieves the very heart of the darkness ) helping to complete Arda, not able to grasp the concepts of the creator, but striving to create beauty, to act beautifully and to help the world become beautiful.

    interior decorators ? landscape gardners ? artists ? but their innocence is compounded by ignorance; consider that Ulmo had not imagined the snowflake...

   it is no wonder that they give ambiguous advice, it seems that a large part of their task is literally impossible; trying to second-guess an inaccessible architect who is keen on pain, suffering and punishment, who wants everything just-so, and has only given a few clues as to what is even being constructed. 

   Tolkien was explicitly trying to imagine what the lost anglo-saxon mythology might have been, and the concept of elves goes back in time a long way and crosses many borders, from England to Sri Lanka. 

  of course as a rational agent i do not believe in santa claus, elves, angels, original sin, creation myths, magic rings, dragons or free will. i just choose virtue and valour and try my best.

 

 

 

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Chapter End Notes

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