Silmarillion - Chapter 17 - Of the Coming of Men into the West

[Lalaith]

Gah, Lommy....apparently I have to spread reputation around, so I'll just have to give you thumbs up here. Your image of Caranthir and Haleth is brilliant.
Anyway, I love this chapter too, I'll go off and re-read it and come back with more comments.

[Galadriel55]

Good point, Lommy! Even though Men are on a much lower level than Elves, they already have virtues, values, and concepts (like pride - Haleth, or truth/lie - Amlach).

[Gazing]

Valinorean Gospel Propagation:

This is a particularly interesting chapter for me. I studied enough anthropology in my youthful college days to become highly sensitized to "First Encounters:" Margaret Mead meets the Samoans, Pizarro says "Allo" to Atahualpa (and shortly later, has him killed), Cortez greets Moctecuzuma II (then shortly later has him killed), Richard Dreyfus shakes paws with a "flying-saucer" passenger (outcome seems less nasty), etc.

So how does Tolkien handle the first encounter of his two "species," Elf and Man?

Tolkien was writing in the period of high racism that marked WWI and WW II, the epoch that saw the flowering glory of the nastiest sort of Social Darwinism, a time of high xenophobia, of nationalistic militarism, and exploitative monopoly-capitalism. This Middle-earth juncture of Man and Elf should (by the standards of the real-world times in which JRRT was writing) have been a complete disaster, "pop," and Finrod Felagund would have gone into the pot; or, alternatively, the lowly, miscreant Men would have been enslaved by the dominant, technologically superior Elves. Instead, Finrod sits down to sing the boys a song...

Ah, no conquest and devastation here, a different sort of "encounter-model" is being followed, is it the "idealized" Victorian Missionary mode that is to be seen as the operative mechanism for Tolkien's Middle-earth first encounter?

This in itself is quite refreshing -- a cultural encounter that does not lead to the inevitable clash/ destruction which our own "real-world" history teaches us to expect. Instead, the "song" Finrod sings to Men (as a cynic might observe) is, of course, a bit of missionary propaganda, a paternalistic chant designed to reveal the "gospel truth" to the untutored savages: "...for the things of which he sang, of the making of Arda, and the bliss of Aman beyond the shadow of the Sea, came as clear visions before their eyes..." (hb version Silmarillion, chpt 17 p.141). But, within the context of this Tolkien tale, I suppose it was indeed the "true gospel" of Middle-earth, and might serve to correct what "lies" may have been planted in the minds of Men by their previous encounters with Morgoth or his emissaries? I think JRRT shows in this chapter that he is decidedly in favour of the Elven interpretation of Middle-earth's cosmic history, of its right-vrs-wrong -- it is his book, after all!

I believe the most important result of this Man-Elf encounter (to Tolkien's way of thinking?) is the act of passing on Truth (heavily capitalized!) to the otherwise, truly agnostic Men (at this point they literally are "without knowledge," agnostic). Can we see a "religious" motivation in all Finrod first does when he meets Men? But, as Tolkien tries to make clear (I think!), this is also an initial, "love at first sight" situation, and it may be this, more than doctrinal propagation, that impels Finrod to first approach Men. "Long Felagund watched them, and love for them stirred in his heart..." (hb Sil. chpt 17, p. 140). Is this merely missionary zeal? Maybe, but I wonder also if we are to see in Finrod the sort of person who is not merely seeking a quota of converts for the revenues (earthly and spiritual) they may eventually raise, but rather, he is the sort of individual that is genuinely, fully convinced of the Truth of his beliefs. Consequently, in passing on these beliefs to the ignorant Men -- is there anything exploitative here? Tolkien, I think, would answer, "no, nothing exploitative." At any rate, I myself tend to see Finrod as an innocent "enthusiast," one who is so filled with Agape through his own belief, that his love immediately spills over to include these Men as potential converts to that same Truth.

But later, does Tolkien "realistically" show us the ugly face of the meeting of two "races," pejorative racism/ xenophobia, especially in the encounters of Turin and Saeros? (hb Sil, p. 199)?

[Galadriel55]

I don't think that anywhere in his works did Tolkien imply that Elves are superior to Men in a racial point of view. I'd say quite the opposite - Men are favoured with the Gift of Iluvatar (no matter what Morgoth turned it into).

As for Turin and Saeros: Saeros tries to prove that he is superior, but he's wrong, and is punished for it. Conclusion: Elves are not superior in that sense.

When Finrod sang to the Men, I don't think he knew yet about the lies that Morgoth told them. He just told them about what there is.

One of the lies that Morgoth used to make the Noldor rebell was that Men would take over. Finrod would be very familiar with them. And now he finally sees Men face to face. And his reaction is the most curious thing in the chapter, even though it's predictable.

Anyone have other ideas? I'm not in the mood for detailed analysis of Finrod right now.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

As a musician I find it interesting that it is music that bridges the gap between two peoples in this story. Nowadays a certain style of music is so often used to define a group with common interests, effectively marking a boundary against all others. This encounter promotes the idea of music as a universal language, a method of furthering understanding that leads to peaceful coexistence, even friendship.