Morgoth's Ring (45 page)

Then Yavanna spoke, and though she was the spouse of Aule she leaned rather to Ulmo. 'My lord Aule errs,' she said, 'in that he speaks of Finwe and Miriel as being free in heart and thought from the Shadow, as if that proved that naught that befell them could come from the Shadow or from the marring of Arda. But even as the Children are not as we (who came from beyond Arda wholly and in all our being) but are both spirit and body, and that body is of Arda and by Arda was nourished: so the Shadow worketh not only upon spirits, but has marred the very hron of Arda, and all Middle-earth is perverted by the evil of Melkor, who has wrought in it as mightily as any one among us here. Therefore none of those who awoke in Middle-earth, and there dwelt before they came hither, have come here wholly free. The failing of the strength of the body of Miriel may then be ascribed, with some reason, to the evil of Arda Marred, and her death be a thing unnatural. And that this should appear in Aman seemeth to me as to Ulmo a sign to be heeded.'(12) Then Nienna spoke, who came to Valmar seldom, but sat now upon the left hand of Manwe. 'In the use of Justice there must be Pity, which is the consideration of the singleness of each that cometh under Justice. Which of you Valar, in your wisdom, will blame these Children, Finwe and Miriel? For the Children are both strong and without might. Mandos you hold to be the strongest of all that are in Arda, being the least moved, and therefore you have dared to commit even the Marrer himself to his keeping. Yet I say to you that each fea of the Children is as strong as he; for it hath the strength of its singleness impregnable (which cometh to it from Eru as to us): in its nakedness it is obdurate beyond all power that ye have to move it if it will not. Yet the Children are not mighty: in life they are little, and can effect little; and they are young, and they know Time only.

Their minds are as the hands of their babes, little in grasp, and even that grasp is yet unfilled. How shall they perceive the

[?end] of deeds, or forgo the desires which arise from their very nature, the indwelling of the spirit in [the] body which is their right condition? Have ye known the weariness of Miriel, or felt the bereavement of Finwe?

'Miriel, I deem, died by necessity of body, in suffering [for]

which she was blameless or indeed to be praised, and yet was not given power to resist it: the cost of so great a child-bearing.

And herein I think that Aule perceiveth a part of the truth. The severance of the fea was in Miriel a thing special. Death is indeed death and within the Great Theme cometh from the Marrer and is grievous; but Eru in this death had a purpose of immediate good, and it need not have borne any bitter fruit; whereas Death that comes from the Marrer only is intended for evil, and its healing must await in Hope only, even until the End. But Finwe not understanding death (as how should he?) called Miriel, and she did not return, and he was bereaved, and his natural life and expectation was impaired. Justly he cried:

"Is there not healing in Aman?" That cry could not be unheeded, and what could be done we have done. Wherefore should this be grudged?'

But Ulmo answered her saying: 'Nay! Though I do not condemn, yet still I will judge. Herein I perceive not only the direct will of Eru, but fault in his creatures. Not guilt, yet a failing from the highest which is the Hope of which the King hath spoken. And I doubt not that the taking of the higher road, an ascent that though hard was not impossible, was part of that purpose of immediate good of which Nienna speaketh.(13) For the fea of Miriel may have departed by necessity, but it departed in the will not to return. Therein was her fault, for this will was not under compulsion irresistible; it was a failure in hope by the fea, acceptance of the weariness and weakness of the body, as a thing beyond healing, and which therefore was not healed. But this resolve entailed not only abandoning her own life, but also the desertion of her spouse, and the marring of his. The justification which she urged is insufficient; for by the gift of a child however great, nor indeed by the gift of many children, the union of marriage is not ended, having further purpose. For one thing, Feanaro will be deprived of the mother's part in his nurture. Moreover, if she would return she need bear no more, unless by the renewal of rebirth her weariness were healed.

'Thus Finwe was aggrieved and claimed justice. But when he called her and she did not return, in only a few years he fell into despair. Herein lay his fault, and failing in Hope. But also he founded his claim mainly upon his desire for children, considering his own self and his loss more than the griefs that had befallen his wife: that was a failing in full love.

'The fear of the Eldar, as Nienna hath said, cannot be broken or forced,* and the motion of their will cannot therefore be predicted with certainty. Yet it seemeth to me that there was hope still that after repose in Mandos the fea of Miriel should return of itself to its nature, which is to desire to inhabit a body.

This strange event should issue, rather than in dissolving their union, in the use by Finwe of the patience of full love, and the learning of Hope; and in the return of Miriel, wider in mind, and renewed in body. Thus together they might foster their great son with joined love, and his right nurture be assured. But the fea of Miriel hath not been lett in peace, and by importuning its will hath been hardened; and in that resolve it must remain without change while Arda lasteth, if the Statute is declared.

Thus the impatience of Finwe will close the door of life upon the fea of his spouse. This is the greater fault. For it is more unnatural that one of the Eldar should remain for ever as fea without body than that one should remain alive wedded but bereaved. A trial was imposed upon Finwe (not by Miriel only), and he hath asked for justice, and relief.'

(* By this is meant primarily the fear naked and unhoused. Living, the fear can be deluded; and they can be dominated by fear (of one of great power such as Melkor) and so enslaved. But these things are wicked and tyrannous and are done by Melkor alone among the Valar. They beget only hatred and loathing in the enslaved (which is the sign of inmost and ultimate dissent). To no good purpose can such means be used, for they render all purposes evil.)

'Nay!' said Vaire suddenly. 'The fea of Miriel is with me. I know it well, for it is small. But it is strong; proud and obdurate. It is of that sort who having said: this I will do, make their words a doom irrevocable unto themselves. She will not return to life, or to Finwe, even if he waiteth until the ageing of the world. Of this he is aware, I deem, as his words show. For he did not found his claim on his desire for children only, but he said to the King: my heart warns me that Miriel will not return while Arda lasts. Of what sort the knowledge or belief may be that he would thus express, and whence it came to him, 1 know not. But fea perceiveth fea and knoweth the disposition of the other, in marriage especially, in ways that we cannot fully understand. We cannot probe all the mystery of the nature of the Children. But if we are to speak of Justice, then Finwe's belief must be taken into account; and if, as I judge, it is well-founded, not a fantasy of his own inconstancy, but against his will and desire, we must otherwise assess the faults of these two. When one of the Queens of the Valar, Varda or Yavanna, or even I, departeth for ever from Arda, and leaveth her spouse, will he or nill he,(14) then let that spouse judge Finwe, if he will, remembering that Finwe cannot follow Miriel without doing wrong to his nature, nor without forsaking the duty and bond of his fatherhood.'

When Vaire had spoken, the Valar sat long in silence, until at length Manwe spoke again. 'There is reason and wisdom in all that has been said. Truly, in the matter of the Children we approach mysteries, and the key to their full understanding was not given to us. In part the Children are indeed one, or maybe the chief, of those "new things" of which Aule hath spoken.*

Yet they came into Arda Marred, and were destined to do so, and to endure the Marring, even though they came in their beginning from beyond Ea. For these "new things", manifesting the finger of Iluvatar, as we say: they may have no past in Arda and be unpredictable before they appear, yet they have thereafter future operations which may be predicted, according to wisdom and knowledge, since they become at once part of Ea, and part of the past of all thar followeth. We may say, therefore, that the Elves are destined to know "death" in their mode, being (* Meaning that though they appeared in the Great Theme, they were introduced by Eru himself, not mediated by any of the Ainur; and even so they were not fully revealed to the Ainur.)

sent into a world which contains "death", and having a form for which "death" is possible. For though by their prime nature, unmarred, they rightly dwell as spirit and body coherent, yet these are two things, not the same, and their severance (which is

"death") is a possibility inherent in their union.

'Aule and Nienna err, I deem; for what each saith in different words meaneth this much: that Death which cometh from the Marrer may be one thing, and Death as an instrument of Eru be another thing and discernible: the one being of malice, and therefore only evil and inevitably grievous; the other, being of benevolence, intending particular and immediate good, and therefore not evil, and either not grievous or easily and swiftly to be healed. For the evil and the grief of death are in the mere severance and breach of nature, which is alike in both (or death is not their name); and both occur only in Arda Marred, and accord with its processes.

'Therefore I deem that Ulmo is to be followed rather, holding that Eru need not and would not desire as a special instrument of his benevolence a thing that is evil. Wherefore, indeed, should he intrude death as a "new thing" into a world that suffereth it already? Nonetheless, Eru is Lord of All, and will use as instruments of his final purposes, which are good, whatsoever any of his creatures, great or small, do or devise, in his despite or in his service. But we must hold that it is his will that those of the Eldar who serve him should not be cast down by griefs or evils that they encounter in Arda Marred; but should ascend to a strength and wisdom that they would not otherwise have achieved: that the Children of Eru should grow to be daughters and sons.

'For Arda Unmarred hath two aspects or senses. The first is the Unmarred that they discern in the Marred, if their eyes are not dimmed, and yearn for, as we yearn for the Will of Eru: this is the ground upon which Hope is built. The second is the Unmarred that shall be: that is, to speak according to Time in which they have their being, the Arda Healed, which shall be greater and more fair than the first, because of the Marring: this is the Hope that sustaineth. It cometh not only from the yearning for the Will of Iluvatar the Begetter (which by itself may lead those within Time to no more than regret), but also from trust in Eru the Lord everlasting, that he is good, and that his works shall all end in good. This the Marrer hath denied, and in this denial is the root of evil, and its end is in despair.

'Therefore, notwithstanding the words of Vaire, I abide by that which I said first. For though she speaketh not without knowledge, she uttereth opinion and not certainty. The Valar have not and must not presume certainty with regard to the wills of the Children. Nor, even were they certain in this one case concerning the fea of Miriel, would that unmake the union of love that once was between her and her spouse, or render void the judgement that constancy to it would in Finwe be a better and fairer course, more in accord with Arda Unmarred, or with the will of Eru in permitting this thing to befall him. The Statute openeth the liberty of a lower road, and accepting death, countenanceth death, and cannot heal it. If that liberty is used, the evil of the death of Miriel will continue to have power, and will bear fruit in sorrow.

'But this matter I now commit to Namo the Judge. Let him speak last! '

Then Namo Mandos spoke, saying: 'All that I have heard I have considered again; though naught pertinent to judgement hath been brought forward that was not already considered in the making of the Statute. Let the Statute stand, for it is just.

'It is our part to rule Arda, and to counsel the Children, or to command them in things committed to our authority. Therefore it is our task to deal with Arda Marred, and to declare what is just within it. We may indeed in counsel point to the higher road, but we cannot compel any free creature to walk upon it.

That leadeth to tyranny, which disfigureth good and maketh it seem hateful.

'Healing by final Hope, as Manwe hath spoken of it, is a law which one can give to oneself only; of others justice alone can be demanded. A ruler who discerning justice refuseth to it the sanction of law, demanding abnegation of rights and self-sacrifice, will not drive his subjects to these virtues, virtuous only if free, but by unnaturally making justice unlawful, will drive them rather to rebellion against all law. Not by such means will Arda be healed.