Gift of Men
Encyclopedia
The Gift of Men in Middle-earth
refers to a gift
of Ilúvatar to his Younger Children
, which remains a source of some confusion for Tolkien
enthusiasts. The concept includes both mortality and free will
. Below are two interpretations of the nature and extent of the Gift of Men as articulated by Tolkien.
. While the race of Elves would know the most bliss and contentment and would conceive more beauty than any others of the Children of Ilúvatar
, it was decreed by this gift that Men would be the prime instruments of Ilúvatar within Arda
.
Ilúvatar willed that the spirits/hearts of Men are not content within Arda, and find no rest therein, and therefore seek beyond the world and its confines. They are not bound to the Circles of the World, as the Elves and all other creatures of Arda are bound to the Earth. The spirits of Men truly leave the physical world, and do not return. Thus their fates are completely sundered from that of the Elves, who do not die until the world dies, unless slain by violence or ill chance, or by wearying at the last of the passage of centuries. But as the years grow long and Time wears, even the Valar will come to envy the gift of Ilúvatar to the race of Men, that of liberation from the physical world, and the inevitability of loss and sorrows that must come with this existence within Arda.
Moreover, it is also a consequence of this true spiritual freedom of not being bound to either the ordinance of Fate, or the confines of the World that the spirits of Men do not dwell long in Arda, and after what seems to be a very short time to the immortal Elves, men age, grow weary, and die.
However, a key aspect of this gift of living within Arda for a short time was a virtue instilled into the race of Men to be motivated to create destinies for themselves amidst the powers and chances of the world. Men were able to shape their lives beyond the Music of the Ainur, which rules the fates of all other things in Arda. Men may choose to live in tune with the themes of the Music that created Arda, or be indifferent to it, or live in defiance of it.
Ilúvatar understood that Men would not always use this gift of freedom in harmony with the world, and would stray often. But he knew that in their time, Men would continue to order their lives within Arda and by their "operation everything should be, in form and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last and smallest" (The Silmarillion
). Thus Men would become the implements by which Ilúvatar's plans for Arda will be realised in the ages to come.
The Gift, as originally bequeathed, was not something that Men feared. Though they loved their lives within Arda, they relinquished their spirits gracefully, almost gladly, and seemed to pass into a peaceful sleep, never to wake again in this life. But their souls
go to a place unknown to the wisest of Elves or even the Valar.
However it is written that when the Second Music of the Ainur is played, after the Dagor Dagorath
, the spirits of Men shall be included in this even greater theme, when all of the players will know and understand their part and its relation to the whole, and be tributary to its beauty and glory.
brought with it a perversion of the original intent of the Gift of Ilúvatar, and brought fear out of hope, and tainted the Gift. Men began to fear and despise the gift, and began to view it not as liberation, but as damnation. It brought about in the race of Men a kind of self-loathing, and a denial of the basic nature of their being as the children of the All-Father Eru Ilúvatar. Instead they viewed themselves as flawed in some way and sought to resist this very intrinsic nature of their creation. The result of such actions brought about much anguish on the race of Men through the centuries of the history of Arda.
At least four characters in The Lord of the Rings
are examples of the dangers of either deliberately or unintentionally trying to avoid the Gift of Men. Three of them are transformed into "monsters" by being denied the Gift of Men by sins that they have committed: the Lord of the Nazgûl
(and all of the Nazgûl
), the King of the Dead
, and Sméagol. (Since Sméagol is a Hobbit
-like creature, he is numbered among the Younger Children of Ilúvatar, and as such is entitled to the Gift of Men.) The Nazgûl are made immortal, but also doomed, by the Nine Rings
. The King of the Dead is transformed into a ghost or monster by the curse of Isildur
, because he and his subjects had broken an oath to fight against Sauron
. Long after his natural death, he fulfils his oath, and is released from his condition by Aragorn
. (This presumably also applies to the other Dead.) Sméagol is consumed by the Ring; over the years, its influence transforms him from a Hobbit
-like creature into the freakish Gollum
.
Bilbo Baggins
, like Sméagol, is a Hobbit rather than a Man. Bilbo encounters Gollum in his cave and escapes with the Ring. Being a Hobbit of much better character than Sméagol, Bilbo better resists the negative effects of possessing the One Ring
. He does not age, but has a sense of becoming "thin and stretched." Toward the end of his possession of the Ring, Bilbo begins to show some of the obsessive tendencies of Gollum — calling the Ring "my precious," and showing flashes of dark hostility when asked by Gandalf
to give the Ring to his heir, Frodo
.
Those Men with the greatest understanding treated death as the Gift it was originally intended to be, and when their time came gladly gave themselves up to it. We see this, for example, in the earlier Kings of Númenor
, and Aragorn
also accepted the Gift at the natural end of his life. For most Men, though, the Gift was tainted by Morgoth
, and they came to fear it rather than embrace it. This fear reached its peak in the later years of Númenor
, where even the long life given to the Númenóreans was not enough, and wise men did all they could to try to escape death altogether. In the end, this desperation led to Númenor's destruction
when Ar-Pharazôn led a battle fleet to the Undying Lands, having been convinced by Sauron
's lies that they held the key to the immortality of the Elves.
. Many accept that this tale is not entirely true and may be a result of Men's unwillingness to accept their fate. However, it can be theorised that Men's original fate (before their punishment) was not immortality in Arda
, but the freedom to die at will, rather than being bound by a limited lifespan. This is consistent with the explanation of the Gift of Men, and would explain how it was tainted. The Númenóreans, whose ancestors repented and fought against Morgoth
, were blessed by Ilúvatar not only with long life but also with a limited freedom to die at will: while their lifespans were still finite, they did not have to suffer the effects of old age until the very end, and they could choose to depart before that happened, while they were still healthy in mind and body.
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
refers to a gift
Gift
A gift or a present is the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to...
of Ilúvatar to his Younger Children
Man (Middle-earth)
The race of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, refers to humanity and does not denote gender...
, which remains a source of some confusion for Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
enthusiasts. The concept includes both mortality and free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
. Below are two interpretations of the nature and extent of the Gift of Men as articulated by Tolkien.
A spiritual/theological view of the Gift of Men
The Gift of Men was an act of the supreme being Ilúvatar that set the race of Men apart from the ElvesElf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
. While the race of Elves would know the most bliss and contentment and would conceive more beauty than any others of the Children of Ilúvatar
Children of Ilúvatar
The Children of Ilúvatar is the name given to the two races of Elves and Men in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium because they were created by Ilúvatar, the One God, without the help of the Ainur....
, it was decreed by this gift that Men would be the prime instruments of Ilúvatar within Arda
Arda
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Arda is the name given to the Earth in a period of prehistory, wherein the places mentioned in The Lord of the Rings and related material once existed...
.
Ilúvatar willed that the spirits/hearts of Men are not content within Arda, and find no rest therein, and therefore seek beyond the world and its confines. They are not bound to the Circles of the World, as the Elves and all other creatures of Arda are bound to the Earth. The spirits of Men truly leave the physical world, and do not return. Thus their fates are completely sundered from that of the Elves, who do not die until the world dies, unless slain by violence or ill chance, or by wearying at the last of the passage of centuries. But as the years grow long and Time wears, even the Valar will come to envy the gift of Ilúvatar to the race of Men, that of liberation from the physical world, and the inevitability of loss and sorrows that must come with this existence within Arda.
Moreover, it is also a consequence of this true spiritual freedom of not being bound to either the ordinance of Fate, or the confines of the World that the spirits of Men do not dwell long in Arda, and after what seems to be a very short time to the immortal Elves, men age, grow weary, and die.
However, a key aspect of this gift of living within Arda for a short time was a virtue instilled into the race of Men to be motivated to create destinies for themselves amidst the powers and chances of the world. Men were able to shape their lives beyond the Music of the Ainur, which rules the fates of all other things in Arda. Men may choose to live in tune with the themes of the Music that created Arda, or be indifferent to it, or live in defiance of it.
Ilúvatar understood that Men would not always use this gift of freedom in harmony with the world, and would stray often. But he knew that in their time, Men would continue to order their lives within Arda and by their "operation everything should be, in form and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last and smallest" (The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
). Thus Men would become the implements by which Ilúvatar's plans for Arda will be realised in the ages to come.
The Gift, as originally bequeathed, was not something that Men feared. Though they loved their lives within Arda, they relinquished their spirits gracefully, almost gladly, and seemed to pass into a peaceful sleep, never to wake again in this life. But their souls
Fëa and hröa
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, fëa and hröa are words for "soul" and "body". The plural form of fëa is fëar and the plural form of hröa is hröar...
go to a place unknown to the wisest of Elves or even the Valar.
However it is written that when the Second Music of the Ainur is played, after the Dagor Dagorath
Dagor Dagorath
The Dagor Dagorath is a fictional battle described in the legendarium of J. R. R. Tolkien. As Tolkien's works were conceived as a fictional "forgotten history" of the world, the Dagor Dagorath represents the coming End of the World, and is often referred to as simply "The End"...
, the spirits of Men shall be included in this even greater theme, when all of the players will know and understand their part and its relation to the whole, and be tributary to its beauty and glory.
Avoidance of the Gift of Men
The shadow of the first Dark LordMorgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
brought with it a perversion of the original intent of the Gift of Ilúvatar, and brought fear out of hope, and tainted the Gift. Men began to fear and despise the gift, and began to view it not as liberation, but as damnation. It brought about in the race of Men a kind of self-loathing, and a denial of the basic nature of their being as the children of the All-Father Eru Ilúvatar. Instead they viewed themselves as flawed in some way and sought to resist this very intrinsic nature of their creation. The result of such actions brought about much anguish on the race of Men through the centuries of the history of Arda.
At least four characters in The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
are examples of the dangers of either deliberately or unintentionally trying to avoid the Gift of Men. Three of them are transformed into "monsters" by being denied the Gift of Men by sins that they have committed: the Lord of the Nazgûl
Witch-king of Angmar
The Witch-king of Angmar, also known as the Lord of the Nazgûl and the Black Captain among other names, is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. In Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, he is the chief of the Nazgûl , the chief servants...
(and all of the Nazgûl
Nazgûl
The Nazgûl are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium...
), the King of the Dead
Dead Men of Dunharrow
The Dead Men of Dunharrow are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium...
, and Sméagol. (Since Sméagol is a Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
-like creature, he is numbered among the Younger Children of Ilúvatar, and as such is entitled to the Gift of Men.) The Nazgûl are made immortal, but also doomed, by the Nine Rings
Rings of Power
The Rings of Power in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium are magical rings created by Sauron or by the Elves of Eregion under Sauron's tutelage...
. The King of the Dead is transformed into a ghost or monster by the curse of Isildur
Isildur
Isildur is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in the author's books The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales....
, because he and his subjects had broken an oath to fight against Sauron
Sauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
. Long after his natural death, he fulfils his oath, and is released from his condition by Aragorn
Aragorn
Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, one of the main protagonists of The Lord of the Rings. He is first introduced by the name Strider, which the hobbits continue to call him...
. (This presumably also applies to the other Dead.) Sméagol is consumed by the Ring; over the years, its influence transforms him from a Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
-like creature into the freakish Gollum
Gollum
Gollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in the author's fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became an important supporting character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings....
.
Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R...
, like Sméagol, is a Hobbit rather than a Man. Bilbo encounters Gollum in his cave and escapes with the Ring. Being a Hobbit of much better character than Sméagol, Bilbo better resists the negative effects of possessing the One Ring
One Ring
The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
. He does not age, but has a sense of becoming "thin and stretched." Toward the end of his possession of the Ring, Bilbo begins to show some of the obsessive tendencies of Gollum — calling the Ring "my precious," and showing flashes of dark hostility when asked by Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
to give the Ring to his heir, Frodo
Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.He is the main protagonist of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He was a hobbit of the Shire who inherited Sauron's Ring from Bilbo Baggins and undertook the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom...
.
Those Men with the greatest understanding treated death as the Gift it was originally intended to be, and when their time came gladly gave themselves up to it. We see this, for example, in the earlier Kings of Númenor
Kings of Númenor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, the Kings of Númenor were Dúnedain men who ruled the kingdom of Númenor. Númenor's twenty-five rulers are listed in simple form at List of rulers of Númenor...
, and Aragorn
Aragorn
Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, one of the main protagonists of The Lord of the Rings. He is first introduced by the name Strider, which the hobbits continue to call him...
also accepted the Gift at the natural end of his life. For most Men, though, the Gift was tainted by Morgoth
Morgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
, and they came to fear it rather than embrace it. This fear reached its peak in the later years of Númenor
Númenor
Númenor is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was a huge island located in the Sundering Seas to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was known to be the greatest realm of Men...
, where even the long life given to the Númenóreans was not enough, and wise men did all they could to try to escape death altogether. In the end, this desperation led to Númenor's destruction
Akallabêth
Akallabêth is the fourth part of the fantasy work The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is relatively short, consisting of about thirty pages.-Synopsis:...
when Ar-Pharazôn led a battle fleet to the Undying Lands, having been convinced by Sauron
Sauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
's lies that they held the key to the immortality of the Elves.
Changing of the Gift
As told in the tale of Adanel, it is believed, as a myth among some Men, that the short life and mortality of Men was not their original fate, but obtained as a result of Divine Punishment for turning away from Ilúvatar's teachings and worshipping MorgothMorgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
. Many accept that this tale is not entirely true and may be a result of Men's unwillingness to accept their fate. However, it can be theorised that Men's original fate (before their punishment) was not immortality in Arda
Arda
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Arda is the name given to the Earth in a period of prehistory, wherein the places mentioned in The Lord of the Rings and related material once existed...
, but the freedom to die at will, rather than being bound by a limited lifespan. This is consistent with the explanation of the Gift of Men, and would explain how it was tainted. The Númenóreans, whose ancestors repented and fought against Morgoth
Morgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
, were blessed by Ilúvatar not only with long life but also with a limited freedom to die at will: while their lifespans were still finite, they did not have to suffer the effects of old age until the very end, and they could choose to depart before that happened, while they were still healthy in mind and body.