The Halls of Mandos

Something that really caught my attention is how little the Valar seem to involve themselves when it comes to Men. The only Power they were exposed to at the beginning was Morgoth, and while that was true of the Elves, at least the Valar did something about it when they found out. When Men appeared? No help would come from them until someone pleaded for the First and Second born... That’s incredibly unfair. The exiled Noldor screwed up, and then both Men and the Elves who never went to Valinor had to pay too?

Maybe the Valar were afraid of screwing up like they did with the Noldor. Maybe being around Men would be too much for Men’s bodies, like being in Valinor would be too much for them. Maybe they just decided to stay back because they don’t understand Men at all. In any case, it’s unfair suggest falling victim to Morgoth’s influence is Men’s fault, when the Valar stayed back and let that happen.

“I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel”. I wonder at the last bit. It could mean that had she taken the ring and become a Dark Queen, she would have gained a new named, much like Melkor and Sauron. But I think it could have another meaning too.  Maybe Artanis would have taken the ring, and this is her saying she’s not that person anymore, she’s not the one who went into Middle Earth with the desire to rule over realms of her own, the one that followed Fëanor.

Something that’s more evident in this chapter is how there’s a huge difference in the way Elves are portrayed in the Silmarillion compared to what we see in The Lord of the Rings. From fellowship, you get the feeling Elves are this wise immortal beings that can do no wrong. So it’s a little bit of a shock going from there to the Silm, where they are wrong in many occasions, most of the times with catastrophic consequences. It’s like once you read learn First Age stories, it’s impossible to look at Elves the same way. This made me think of Bilbo as we see in Many Meetings. He doesn’t seem to view Elves with the wonder the other hobbits show. In a way, he almost speaks to them as if they were equals. Yes, maybe it’s a combination of his age, personality and experiences, or maybe he’s become immune after being around them for so long. But what if, after learning so much Elven history, just like us, he can’t see them the same way? That’s my new little headcanon.

I thought it was odd how Eru waited so long to confront Aulë about the creation of the Dwarves. Surely Eru must have known what Aulë was doing; was it necessary to wait until the Dwarves were finished?  It got me thinking if maybe this was a test to see if Aulë could go in the same direction as Melkor. It wasn’t until Aulë told Eru his intention was to have pupils he could share his knowledge with that Eru “adopted” the Dwarves. Maybe Eru had to wait until the Dwarves were sentient to test Aulë’s intent, could it be that Eru doesn’t have an insight into the mind of the Valar? If Aulë’s answer had implied in any way that he wanted to have dominion over a race, something Melkor sought, would the other Valar been alerted?

Another thing I found interesting is the mention of the Dwarves’ own beliefs. If The Silmarillion is a compilation of tales written by the Elves, it means that knowledge came from the Dwarves. It could be a sign of the time Elves and Dwarves weren’t enemies. More than that, it implies friendship between the races, because the Dwarves wouldn’t have shared that knowledge with anyone. On the other hand, it could be that the Dwarves were offended by the Elves’ assumption of what happened to them after they died, and they shared a bit of their culture to stop the Elves from thinking something so insulting.