Copyrighted Material
Tolkien at the End of Time; Alchemical Secrets of
The Lord of the
Rings By Jay
Weidner and Sharron Rose
Númenor/Atlantis and The Second Age of
Middle-earth
The history of Tolkien's Second Age is primarily concerned with
the rise and fall of Númenor, a tale that obviously corresponds to
the story of the mythic isle of Atlantis that is so prominent in
alchemical lore. Tolkien weaves this legend into his tale for a
number of reasons but to a great part due to what he refers to as
his 'Atlantis haunting'. In a letter to W.H. Auden, he describes his
tale of Númenor as a "personal alteration of the Atlantic myth
and/or tradition, and accommodation of it to my general
mythology." He tells him,
"Of all the mythical or 'archetypal' images this is the one
most deeply seated in my imagination, and for many years I had a
recurrent Atlantis dream: the stupendous and ineluctable wave
advancing from the Sea or over the land, sometimes dark, sometimes
green and sunlit." 17
This dream of the great catastrophe that brings on the end of the
Second Age, which haunted Tolkien from childhood, is given to
Faramir of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings. Here again,
Tolkien's design parallels that of Alchemy, for in the lore it is
the fall of Atlantis that ends the Second Age or Silver Age known as
the Age of Ritual.
It is in Númenor/ Atlantis that we first truly encounter the
crucial issue of Death and Immortality, an issue of monumental
importance in both Tolkien's work and the Great Work of Alchemy. In
his cosmogony, Tolkien's deep-seated reflections on this subject are
articulated through the relationship between God/the One and his
Children, the 'First-born' Elves and Men the 'Followers'. In their
creation he gives each race a natural life span that is unique to
their biological and spiritual nature. To the Elves he gives
extraordinary grace, insight, wisdom, and loveliness of face and
form along with a corresponding ability to "conceive and bring
forth more beauty than all my Children." In addition, the
Creator gives them the much-coveted gift of immortality and states
that, "theirs shall be the greater bliss in this world."
18
But in the end, this precious gift actually contains
their doom. Tolkien tells us,
"The doom of the Elves is to be immortal, to love the beauty
of the world, to bring it to full flower with their gifts of
delicacy and perfection, to last while it lasts, never leaving even
when 'slain', but returning and yet, when the Followers come,
to teach them, and make way for them, to 'fade' as the Followers
grow and absorb the life from which both proceed."
Although they can be slain and return to the Blessed
Lands, the Elves must remain in the world until the 'end of days',
corresponding to the end of the Cyclic Ages of Time, and do not
ultimately die until the world itself dies. And in this there is a
great sorrow and poignancy. For as Tolkien states, in the end the
Elves "live ultimately only by the thin line of blood that was
mingled with that of Men, among whom it was the only real claim to
nobility." 19
From this perspective, in Tolkien's world, at the end of the day,
mortality, which many consider the curse of humanity is perceived as
a crucial gift. In his tale entitled, Of the Beginning of
Days from The Silmarrilion, Tolkien states,
"It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men
dwell only a short space in the world alive, and are not bound to
it, and depart whither the Elves know not. The sons of Men die
indeed, and leave the world; wherefore they are called the Guests or
the Strangers. Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar, which as
Time wears even the Powers shall envy. Yet, of old, the Valar
declared to the Elves in Valinor that Men shall join in the Second
Music of the Ainur; whereas Ilúvatar has not revealed what he
purposes for the Elves after the World's end."
From this statement we may infer that it was Tolkien's belief
that even though we are mortal, human beings hold a unique and
powerful position in the cycles of creation. For from his viewpoint
human beings will not only continue to intertwine their energy and
essence with that of the earth until the end of the current cycle,
but will ultimately play a part in the creation of the next great
cycle.
This theme of death and immortality supplies the focal point for
Tolkien's tale of Númenor/Atlantis and the Second Age. In discussing
his tale of the rise and fall of this great kingdom of Men he tells
us that there were three distinct stages, which have clear parallels
in the Atlantian myth. At the dawn of the Second Age, the good Men
who had assisted the Elves in their battle against Melkor and Sauron
were gifted with great wisdom and an extension of their life-span to
that of three times of most mortals. However, understanding the
innate weakness of Men, the nature of Time and how achievements in
the material world may lead to attachment and corruption, the gods
placed a ban on the Númenóreans; that they could never set foot on
the 'immortal lands' or even sail towards them.
At first, the Men of Númenor, obedient to the laws of the
Creator, did not attempt to sail West to the 'immortal lands' but
throughout Middle-earth renewing and expanding their knowledge of
the truth and the scope and nature of the World. All good
Númenóreans, like their descendant the Dúnedain Aragorn, lived in
alignment with the laws of the One and understood that death was not
a punishment but an intrinsic part of the Creator's original design
for them and like Aragorn died of 'free will' when they felt it was
time to do so. 20 Yet, as the Second Age unfolded, and
their knowledge of artistry, craftsmanship, and magic grew, rather
than accept the beauty of this gift with grace and gratitude, many
of the Númenóreans slowly began to perceive it with revulsion even
coveting the gifts of the immortals. Living on an island, amidst the
wide sea, they became masters of the art of ship-building and
sea-craft. Restricted from sailing Westward to the Blessed Lands of
the immortals, they began to set their sights to the east, south and
north.
Therefore, the Númenóreans journeyed throughout Middle-earth
bringing knowledge of agriculture, tool making, and more to the Men
of Middle-earth, who came to look upon these tall and long-lived Sea
Men as gods. But as their delight in the nature of their lives grew,
so did their desire for life-everlasting and always at the back of
their minds was a yearning for the undying lands of Elves and gods.
And so their inner turmoil increased and their bliss was diminished.
As their fear of death increased, their wise men spent their days in
seeking out ways to prolong life, but like the ancient Egyptians,
could only discover the art of mummification or the preservation of
dead flesh. They began to build great tombs and their minds turned
with increasing frequency towards power and wealth in the material
world.
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