J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Catholic and his faith framed many of his worldviews. It is through this distinct Catholic prism that he sub-created the epic world of Arda and subsequently, shared it with readers across the globe . In the “The Downfall of Númenór'', Tolkien takes on man’s deepest fears and uses more biblical themes than in many other stories contained in the Legendarium. The Downfall of Númenór can be mistakenly viewed as an allegory of the downfall of man, as portrayed in the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. However, this narrow interpretation does not do justice to the nuance of Tolkein’s storytelling. The Downfall of Númenór calls to mind not one, but many biblical references, and even includes secular works, such as the story of the city of Atlantis by Plato. Indeed, the beauty of The Downfall of Númenór is that it reveals universal truths about humanity and man’s fear of death, that transcend any one religion, worldview, or period of time.
The Númenóreans were descended from the Edain who fought alongside the Elves and Valar against Morgoth during the first age. Morgoth opposed Eru Ilúvatar, the omniscient omnipotent creator of Arda. When the last battle was won, the Valar rewarded the Edain by giving them the beautiful Island of Númenór. Númenór was West of Middle-Earth. It was the closest human civilization to the Undying Lands and separated from the chaos and despair of Middle-Earth. The Númenóreans, in reward for their fight against Morgoth, were given gifts, skills, extended life-spans, and of course, the Island of Númenór. The Númenóreans, having fought beside the Elves, had a special relationship with them for many years. In fact, the first King of Númenór, Elros Tar-Minyatur, was Half-elven.
Unfortunately, as time went by, the Númenorians became jealous of the Elves' immortality. Both Elves and Man were created by the Ilúvatar and are called “the children of Ilúvatar”. To each race Ilúvatar gave a gift. To Elves he gave immortality and to men mortality. The spirits of the Elves were bound to the world but the spirits of Men could depart from it. Even though the Númenóreans received prolonged life spans compared to other men, the Númenóreans remained unsatisfied. In “The Downfall of Númenór, it is said that the Kings of Númenór eventually resented their ancestor for deciding to live as Man. In Tolkien’s world, immortality is understood, but mortality is not. Morgoth used this uncertainty to breed corruption and fear during the last years of Númenór. After the influence of Morgoth and his servant, Sauron, the Númenóreans, now fearful of mortality, rejected Ilúvatar and began to worship Morgoth.
The Númenóreans were descended from the Edain who fought alongside the Elves and Valar against Morgoth during the first age. Morgoth opposed Eru Ilúvatar, the omniscient omnipotent creator of Arda. When the last battle was won, the Valar rewarded the Edain by giving them the beautiful Island of Númenór. Númenór was West of Middle-Earth. It was the closest human civilization to the Undying Lands and separated from the chaos and despair of Middle-Earth. The Númenóreans, in reward for their fight against Morgoth, were given gifts, skills, extended life-spans, and of course, the Island of Númenór. The Númenóreans, having fought beside the Elves, had a special relationship with them for many years. In fact, the first King of Númenór, Elros Tar-Minyatur, was Half-elven.
Unfortunately, as time went by, the Númenorians became jealous of the Elves' immortality. Both Elves and Man were created by the Ilúvatar and are called “the children of Ilúvatar”. To each race Ilúvatar gave a gift. To Elves he gave immortality and to men mortality. The spirits of the Elves were bound to the world but the spirits of Men could depart from it. Even though the Númenóreans received prolonged life spans compared to other men, the Númenóreans remained unsatisfied. In “The Downfall of Númenór, it is said that the Kings of Númenór eventually resented their ancestor for deciding to live as Man. In Tolkien’s world, immortality is understood, but mortality is not. Morgoth used this uncertainty to breed corruption and fear during the last years of Númenór. After the influence of Morgoth and his servant, Sauron, the Númenóreans, now fearful of mortality, rejected Ilúvatar and began to worship Morgoth.
In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve, were given paradise in the Garden of Eden. God gave Adam and Eve one rule in the Garden of Eden: do not eat the forbidden fruit. They were obedient for a time, but eventually, the Devil in the form of a serpent, told them the great lie, that they could become like God if they ate the forbidden fruit. Eve and then Adam, were tempted and ate the fruit. They did not become like God, but worse still, they severed their relationship with God forever. This was the downfall of man. Similarly, the Númenóreans wanted the ability to be immortal. They wanted to be like the Elves and Valar. They also desired to be divine-like, never appreciating the gift of mortality. Instead, they allowed themselves to be manipulated by Sauron just as Adam and Eve were manipulated by the serpent.
The bible recounts multiple stories where the Israelites, God’s chosen people, turned away from God and rejected Him. A famous example is during Exodus. While Moses went up to Mount Sinai, the Israelites waiting for him in the desert began to doubt that they would ever reach The Promised Land. It is during this time that they melted gold, crafting a golden calf that they began to worship, in clear disobedience to the first commandment of God, “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me.” They rejected God and showed their ingratitude for their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Similarly, the Númenóreans, Ilúvatar’s ‘chosen people’, did not appreciate the blessings that the Valar gave them - the beautiful Island of Númenór, their extended life spans, and the various gifts and skills with which they were blessed.
In the Genesis story of Noah’s Ark, when men turned toward sin, Noah and his family are spared from the great flood on Earth because of their trust and love for God. When the Númenóreans tried to achieve immortality by sailing West, the Island of Númenór was swallowed up in the Ocean and all the Númenóreans perished, except those who were faithful to Ilúvatar.
“The Downfall of Númenór” also uses themes from the story of Babylon in Genesis. In the story of Babylon men erected yet another substitute for God, the Tower of Babel, which was so tall it could reach the heavens. Their desire to reach heaven was yet another sign of man’s desire to be God-like. This angered God, so he caused all the people to begin speaking different languages, impeding their ability to complete the tower because they could no longer understand each other. Similarly, the Númenóreans desired to be Ilúvatar-like and their Island was swallowed up into the Ocean causing them to perish.
Many aspects of “The Downfall of Númenór” have biblical themes, but Tolkien also used ideas from Plato’s classic story about the city of Atlantis. In this story, the people of Atlantis were a great naval power, who over time, declined in morality, and were consequently swallowed up into the Atlantic Ocean. Similarly, the Númenóreas were a great Island of Naval power who were swallowed up by the Ocean when they declined in ethics and turned toward Morgoth. Some parts of the story of Númenór are entirely original. Tolkien’s distinct prose is especially captured in the intricate detail in which he describes life on Númenór in “The Drowning of Anadûne”, “A Description of the Island of Númenór,” and “The Fall of Númenór,” HME 5.
The Downfall of Númenór is not an allegory for any specific story. Instead, Tolkien wrote a mythological metaphor that references many classic stories and draws universal themes about the most profound and existential questions of man. The Downfall of Númenór is steeped in the unique world Tolkien sub-created and is rich with truths about humanity. As Tolkien writes in Mythopoeia, Myth is truth, “Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind.” Tolkien’s world, “The Downfall of Númenór”, and myths in general, are not just as C.S. Lewis said, "breathing a lie through silver," but rather, they are real and true to us now. Mythopoeia refers to the creative human author as "the little maker", who is using the light of Christ’s creation to sub-create and share with other humans. In essence Tolkien is saying sub-creation is a legitimate Creation within God's primary Creation.
As humans we are inherently flawed and we desire to be God-like because we fear death. Death is unknown and terrifying and the sower of fear is the Devil. One of the most important truths revealed in the story is how fear or acceptance of human mortality affects us. The fear-driven Númenóreans who could not accept their mortality, rejected Ilúvatar, and ended up destroying themselves. It is no coincidence that the primary and most powerful moral of Tolkien’s "The Downfall of Númenór" is also the most repeated phrase in the Bible: “Be not afraid.”
The bible recounts multiple stories where the Israelites, God’s chosen people, turned away from God and rejected Him. A famous example is during Exodus. While Moses went up to Mount Sinai, the Israelites waiting for him in the desert began to doubt that they would ever reach The Promised Land. It is during this time that they melted gold, crafting a golden calf that they began to worship, in clear disobedience to the first commandment of God, “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me.” They rejected God and showed their ingratitude for their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Similarly, the Númenóreans, Ilúvatar’s ‘chosen people’, did not appreciate the blessings that the Valar gave them - the beautiful Island of Númenór, their extended life spans, and the various gifts and skills with which they were blessed.
In the Genesis story of Noah’s Ark, when men turned toward sin, Noah and his family are spared from the great flood on Earth because of their trust and love for God. When the Númenóreans tried to achieve immortality by sailing West, the Island of Númenór was swallowed up in the Ocean and all the Númenóreans perished, except those who were faithful to Ilúvatar.
“The Downfall of Númenór” also uses themes from the story of Babylon in Genesis. In the story of Babylon men erected yet another substitute for God, the Tower of Babel, which was so tall it could reach the heavens. Their desire to reach heaven was yet another sign of man’s desire to be God-like. This angered God, so he caused all the people to begin speaking different languages, impeding their ability to complete the tower because they could no longer understand each other. Similarly, the Númenóreans desired to be Ilúvatar-like and their Island was swallowed up into the Ocean causing them to perish.
Many aspects of “The Downfall of Númenór” have biblical themes, but Tolkien also used ideas from Plato’s classic story about the city of Atlantis. In this story, the people of Atlantis were a great naval power, who over time, declined in morality, and were consequently swallowed up into the Atlantic Ocean. Similarly, the Númenóreas were a great Island of Naval power who were swallowed up by the Ocean when they declined in ethics and turned toward Morgoth. Some parts of the story of Númenór are entirely original. Tolkien’s distinct prose is especially captured in the intricate detail in which he describes life on Númenór in “The Drowning of Anadûne”, “A Description of the Island of Númenór,” and “The Fall of Númenór,” HME 5.
The Downfall of Númenór is not an allegory for any specific story. Instead, Tolkien wrote a mythological metaphor that references many classic stories and draws universal themes about the most profound and existential questions of man. The Downfall of Númenór is steeped in the unique world Tolkien sub-created and is rich with truths about humanity. As Tolkien writes in Mythopoeia, Myth is truth, “Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind.” Tolkien’s world, “The Downfall of Númenór”, and myths in general, are not just as C.S. Lewis said, "breathing a lie through silver," but rather, they are real and true to us now. Mythopoeia refers to the creative human author as "the little maker", who is using the light of Christ’s creation to sub-create and share with other humans. In essence Tolkien is saying sub-creation is a legitimate Creation within God's primary Creation.
As humans we are inherently flawed and we desire to be God-like because we fear death. Death is unknown and terrifying and the sower of fear is the Devil. One of the most important truths revealed in the story is how fear or acceptance of human mortality affects us. The fear-driven Númenóreans who could not accept their mortality, rejected Ilúvatar, and ended up destroying themselves. It is no coincidence that the primary and most powerful moral of Tolkien’s "The Downfall of Númenór" is also the most repeated phrase in the Bible: “Be not afraid.”
~Evita
3 comments:
I see the connection between the Downfall of Numenor and the story of Adam and Eve among other biblical references, although I think there is more of a direct, almost allegorical connection with the story of Icarus, which offers a different lesson.
First, let's recap the story of Icarus, as told in Greek and Roman mythology. Icarus and Dedalus, his father, build a prison for the Minotaur at the request of King Minos on the island of Crete. They decide that the best prison is in the shape of a labyrinth, an unescapable maze. Icarus and Dedalus then get imprisoned in the labyrinth and build two sets of wings for them to escape from wax and birds' feathers. They don the wings and escape the island, except as we know, Icarus flies too high, melts the wax of his wings, and spirals back down to earth.
While I can't see an immediate correlation between the setup of Icarus' story and the setup of Numenor, there may still be one, and I'll leave that topic for another time. However, Eru Iluvatar giving men the gift of mortality and the men flouting their gift and pushing it to its limits is in one-to-one correspondence to Dedalus giving Icarus the wings and Icarus flying too close to the sun.
Comparing the two stories, we can see Sauron as a personification of Icarus' arrogance and pride because he is the one to turn men's minds to storm Valinor. And in both cases, the lesson is that hubris kills, both people and civilizations.
-Calder (BC3)
Very nice job illustrating the power of Tolkien's myth-making by the way he draws on multiple myths for his story of Numenor's fall. What might he say about the reality of the story so drawn from the cauldron of stories? Are there only a limited number of stories to draw on? Are all stories part of the same legendarium? How is it that the same themes recur? RLFB
I think you are exactly right to see not one story but many as sources for “The Downfall of Numenor.” The references you point to—Adam and Eve, the golden calf, Noah’s ark, Atlantis—are great examples of sin and its consequences. What is the sin exactly? “We desire to be God-like because we fear death.” Is fear the ultimate motivator of sin? Is it ingratitude? Greed? Pride? All of the above?
Good points about sub-creation and myths as truth. You say that “Tolkien is saying sub-creation is a legitimate Creation within God's primary Creation.” What makes sub-creation legitimate or illegitimate, and what does sin have to do with it? -LB
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