Middle Earth: dead

[Dark Lord Sauron]

After three ages of warfare and darkness, Middle Earth is clearly in it's twilight. All three branches of the Elves, including their leaders, have left Middle Earth, with only a few exceptions. The Orcs, without either Sauron or Morgoth to create and guide them, will also slowly disappear from the Earth. The Ents, once a great race, will soon wander around Middle Earth no more, due to the lack of females. Rather, it is only a matter of time before an "age of industry" (as quoted by Saruman in the movie) takes the continent, and the Elves will disappear forever. Tolkein himself once said that Middle Earth would either be in the sixth or seventh age in order to be around the same technological level as the real world. But then, what is so special about Middle Earth?

There are, at the conclusion of the Third Age, six main races. These are the Dwarves, Elves, Ents, Hobbits, Men, and Orcs. As mentioned, three of these races, the Elves, Ents, and Orcs, are in a clear decline, at least on Middle Earth. Dwarves, also, seem to be fairly uncommon and it is likely that they will not again flourish as a major species. The simple reason is that they are perpetually isolated from the rest of the world, forsaking contact with other races in order to stay in their mines. Of course, no species can live in this manner for long and flourish. The destruction of the dwarves living in Moria demonstrated that even where a group of miners try to build a society, they cannot do so successfully, because they are not part of the normal world. While the Dwarves most likely will continue to survive in Middle Earth, it will not be in great numbers.

These six races are the major ones. Of course, there are some minor onces, ranging from Maiar to trolls, but they may be disregarded because their overall importance in the world is not significant. This leaves two races: Hobbits, and Men.

Without a doubt, we may conclude almost immediately that Men are signficantly more powerful, and dominant over the Hobbits. Hobbits once lived in many parts of Middle Earth. Their origins are unknown, and for some reason they are not mentioned in the Simarillion. However, by the Third Age the majority of the Hobbits had settled into one small region of Middle Earth known as the Shire. Here they dwelt, in a small but successful handful of communities. Quick observations would lead to the conclusion that, whilethe Hobbits are not in any state of decline, they have almost no hope of expansion outside of the Shire. With the exit of the four other races, Men dominate around 95% of Middle Earth.

The Kingdoms of Men, however, are all weak. As will be discussed sometime in the next few threads that I create, there will be several discussions on the weakness of Men, and the general twilight of Middle Earth, as the Elves move to Aman. Let us state now, however, that Men, though vastly superior in sheer numbers when compared to Hobbits, are no where near the point where significant social and technological breakthroughs may take place.

Which means, that although Aman is even greater than it has ever been, with the Valar and Maiar residinding there, and most of the Elves having finally come to the continent, Middle Earth, for the next few ages, is still going to be a dark, backwards region of the world.

Of course, this situation can be very easily pinned on the Valar. The Gods used to reside in Middle Earth, when the Lamps still shone. As soon as Melkor came to Middle Earth, however, they packed up and fled to Aman. Why they did this still confuses me. Melkor, while the most powerful of all the Anuir, was obviously no match for the power of the Valar. Still, the Valar gave up on Middle Earth, and waited only for the Elves to awake. Despite the evil of Melkor, the Valar let him rule Middle Earth.

The Valar, however, have yet to be blamed for their misdeeds. Eru, as was well known, created to races, Elves and Men. The Valar welcomed the Elves, allowed them to come to Aman, and supported them during the wars against Morgoth, which were many. The Elves, also, are immortal. In the Simarillion, the Numenorrians have a point when they say that all the Elves, even the traitors, are given the reward of eternal life, while even the greatest of Men eventually die. They are also correct in stating that the Valar do have at least a partial ability to make Men immortal.

However, Men were forsaken by the Valar. They received no offer to come live with the Valar. They were allowed to be enslaved by Morgoth. They never showed themselves to Men. Even Numenor, where the best Men lived, eventually fell because the Valar did not have the decency to allow them to mingle with the Maiar and Valar. And they wonder why Men fear, not worship, the Valar; why many of them turned to darkness.

[Dark Lord Sauron]

It is a result of this turn to darkness that causes the Kingdoms of Men to be backwaters. Numenor, in fact, had to teach the Men of Middle Earth the concept of agriculture, because those Men have no hope of advancing technologically by themselves. With Numenor destroyed, now, I believe that the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Ages will be very long Ages, each lasting several thousand years. This is a result of the damage done to the race of Men.

Therefore, while Aman may flourish, Middle Earth is doomed to spend at least the next several thousand years in darkness. The continent has no hope of advancing to where even the Elves were in the Second Age. The Valar are almost as guilty of this as Morgoth. Unless the Valar recognize that Men are also the Children of Eru, the race of Men is indeed, fell.

(PS, 5000 characters is not enough).

[Sister Golden Hair]

You might find Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth interesting, if you haven't read it. It talks in detail about Men, their Gift of death, and the Valar and the marring of the world. Very interesting reading.

[Laurelyn]

I;m sure it is, SGH. Sure wish I had a copy.

[Elf Girl]

Originally posted by Laurelyn
I;m sure it is, SGH. Sure wish I had a copy.

Me too.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Aww, See, now everyone know how I feel without "Letters"

Seriously though, you should get "Morgoth's Ring" if any of the HoMe series. It is wonderful.

[Artanis]

Dark Lord Sauron: In "Morgoth's Ring" you will find explanation to why Maiar and Valar could not mingle with Men, although the Elves could. Basically it is because of the very different nature of the spirits of Elves compared to the spirits of Men. The Elves were made to resemble the Ainur, only lesser in stature and power. The spirits of the Elves were made to exist within Arda as long as it existed. Men on the other hand could not live in bliss in Aman. Their spirits were not created to endure long life within Arda, and they would be tortured by the longevity of the life of their bodies in Aman.

Also, the mortality aspect of the nature of Men was a gift from Eru, the ability to escape from the world.

As to why the Valar didn't make war upon Melkor in the Beginning of days, you are welcome to join in the Silm discussion project thread, Ch1 Of the beginning of days, in the Silmarillion forum.