Fate and Free Will in Arda by Lyra

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Fanwork Notes

Written for the Holiday Feast challenge, for the Main Course meta prompt.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

I have been meaning to write an essay on this topic this year, but it's such a complicated topic that I haven't even begun to read up on it. I have, however, assembled a list of material I would read if I got around to tackling the essay. So here: have an informal bibliography, with unqualified commentary by yours truly.

Major Characters:

Major Relationships:

Genre: Nonfiction/Meta

Challenges: Holiday Feast

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 216
Posted on 3 December 2018 Updated on 3 December 2018

This fanwork is a work in progress.

A Preliminary Bibliography

Read A Preliminary Bibliography

Primary Sources

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Is there anything relevant in The Hobbit? Possibly. Will investigate.

J.R.R. Tolkien, Mythopoeia

Tolkien's subcreation manifesto does contains some lines concerning Free Will, which I know because I know the darn thing by heart, don't judge me.

Humphrey Carpenter (ed.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), "Fate and Free Will". Tolkien Studies 6 (2009), 183-188

Is it still a primary source if it's Tolkien talking about his own work? I guess so. Unfortunately, a single copy of Tolkien Studies costs 60 bucks to access. Boo.

Augustine of Hippo, De civitate Dei
Erasmus of Rotterdam, De libero arbitrio (The Freedom of the Will)

Yeah, I should probably look up the original historical discourse on the matter. Boethius too? Possibly?

Secondary Sources

Christopher Kreuzer (ed.), Freedom, Fate and Choice in Middle-earth. Tolkien Society 2012.

Annie Birks, "Augustuinian and Boethian Insights into Tolkien’s Shaping of Middle-earth: Predestination, Prescience and Free Will". Hither Shore 8 (2011), 132 - 147

Verlyn Flieger, "The Music and the Task: Fate and Free Will in Middle-earth". Tolkien Studies 6 (2009), 151-181

These sound relevant.

Honorable mention

a.k.a. I'm not sure if it's relevant but it sounds interesting:

Claudio Testi, Pagan Saints in Middle-earth. Walking Tree Publishers, 2018

Comments

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Thank you! The more I research, the more daunted I get (and of course I also wonder whether my contribution is even needed when others have already tackled the problem). But I still hope I'll get around to it one day, and it's good to know that there's going to be at least one reader. :)