Tolkien's Influence on Babylon 5

[Ardent]

This issue was raised in another thread on the age of Faramir:

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

If death is supposed to be a gift to the race of man, then why is longevity such an important issue? Why are the "high" supposed to live longer and why is a decrease in life span a sign of weakness or decline?

Originally Posted by Belegorn

To your last enquiry in Appendix A it is said, "their years lessened as their fear of death grew" [p. 354] The decline in their lifespans was in conjunction with their continued rejection of the fate of Men. This is basically the shadow that fell upon Numenor as the Edain, "began to long for the immortality of the Eldar... in the days of Tar-Minastir, eleventh King... the thought of death darkened the hearts of the people." [RotK, p. 353]

The people were not accepting their fates. They grew resentful of the choice of Elros to be a King of Men rather than of the Elves. They thougt they should be given a choice too to decide their fates and many of them wanted to be immortal as the Elves were. Keep in mind how far this dread of death went; they began sacrificing people to Melkor in the hope that they could be released from death ...

This is the theme of the B5 episode 'Deathwalker' [season1:9] where there is a serum for immortaily created by killing others. Deathwalker's purpose in creating it was to set races against each other, an act of revenge against her own fate.

It also relates to something said by John Cleese's character in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still:
"It's only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve."