Thursday, December 10, 2009

A Strange Theory

Do any of you think that perhaps Tolkien intended the Silmarillion to be a sort of fictional "extension" to Genesis (it would be between the Fall and Abraham)?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are definite similarities to that part of the tale and Genesis that stood out to me when I read it.

Old Fashioned Liberal said...

Yeah...let's see how far we can take that. Here's a start.

Genesis: Starts with the fall of man and the promise of the Redeemer. By the end of the Bible, man will be Redeemed by being incorporated into Christ by being made a member of the Universal Church. All of creation will be fulfilled in Christ because He is the summit of creation...but do we know how?

Silmarillion: Mentions how the Elves are completely fulfilled in Men, not in themselves. This is like a prophecy of Christ from an Elvish point of view...as part of creation, they too will be Redeemed through Man. Then, the Silmarils, creations of the Elves are declared to be linked both to the Fate of Arda (read: creation?) and to the elements of Air, Water, and Earth. By the end of the book, elves have been linked to Man through marriage and creation has been linked to the Elves through the casting of the Silmarils into the sea, the earth, and the stars. See where I'm going with this...?

calomiro said...

Yes.