#elving

Imagine: you are an Ainu. You took part in singing the world into being. You entered into it, clothing yourself in the strange sensation of material body, according to need and fancy. Then you met a creature — a creature that you had no part in making, that was alien to you, but also eerily familiar. You fell in love

Your clothing became an inseparable part of yourself the greatest wonder, and then among the flowers you bore the strangest child for many ages. You were happier than you could imagine back then, before time.

And then your daughter died of love, and you knew you'd soon lose her beyond the ending of time and space and anything you could comprehend. And then your husband died of stubbornness, and part of you knew that him at least you will regain eventually, but this part was inaudible beneath the shattering of your very essence when a part of you was ripped up and faded like old cloth, and you were torn from everything you knew, and you knew that you must go and leave those you love defenseless — or clothe yourself in your grief and despair and become something you weren't made to be.

So you left and mourned.

And, not very long after, while your tears haven't even fully started flowing, there come a couple, and he bears the very thing that got your daughter and husband killed — and in its light, the promise to push away every grief — and she bears the very face of your daughter .

"Naneth!..."

I’ll just vent here for a little bit

Had a little thought about the Valar, mercy, and judgement. (Still think the Valar do a rather poor job of being in charge of things, though i suppose it’s a discussion on its own what ‘in charge’ means in this case.)

I’ve encountered a notion that by releasing Melkor out of his confinement in the Void Manwe executed an act of estel, so it was a good thing actually, because themes and everything. I believe it very well might be a thematical thing, but the way the Valar executed it made it hardly moral or responsible from a leadership point of view. (Again, is it even a valid concern when it comes to Silmarillion, Doom and all? Dunno, just like to think about it.) 

Like, sure, it is incredibly virtuous of you guys to let your mortal enemy go and to believe him when he swears to never again, to give him a chance because everyone deserves one. But what about his victims who you specifically brought to the same place to protect from him? How is it a great idea to let Melkor lose, unsupervised, unchecked? Both Melkor and the Eldar are Valar’s responsibility, but the former they seem to favor more. And by the way, isn’t it clear that the confinement itself might have made Melkor extremely vengeful? Of course he would want revenge, and if he couldn’t touch the Valar themselves, he had the Eldar at hand. That should have been at least plausible for anyone who new Melkor, the rejected jealous child he was. But the Valar are apparently bad both at talking and at empathy, as Eru must have been not a great dad for any of them.

So Melkor does what he does, and as far as I am concerned the whole conundrum is Valar’s responsibility as much as his. 

Now, i thought of other times when the Valar had to seat in judgement. 

First case is Feanor, and frankly it seems to me it was absolutely not the Valar’s business to punish him at all. It doesn’t mean he did no wrong, but it all seems to be an internal Eldar affair which Melkor exploited. And the Eldar already have their own authority, their king. It must be he and them who decide what to do. But the Valar apparently strongly believe it is their right to interfere. I wonder, was there any rule or a law that prohibited weapons and armored assaults the the Valar previously imposed? Did they state that there would be times when their judgement precedes the one of Eldar’s authorities? Because if they didn’t it looks like another case of arbitrary unspoken rules based not on law but on faith, that apply to the flight of the Noldor. Essentially, nobody knows what the Valar’s rules are, but everybody will know once they’re broken. That is abuse. 

At last, Earendil and Elwing. Their case frankly makes me angry. They too broke the rules (finally some clearly spoken rules, though no clear punishment for breaking them), and the judgement was unfairly harsh. They were essentially both removed from the world they knew, parted from their children forever, Elwing was turned into a bird, and an ever solitary mission was imposed on Earendil which he can never abandon or complete. And for what? For them coming to plead for help and mercy. As if they were already guilty somehow. The Valar probably felt they were. 

Now, granted, Melkor was imprisoned for a long time, but he was released and fully pardoned as if nothing happened. And he tried to destroy an entire race. While Earendil just trespassed. And he is still up there in the sky.  

And, granted, I am not discussing any metaphysical reading of this story. Rather I am concerned for the implications it makes because i feel it is important. The Valar are willing to give a chance to one of their own, however fallen he might be; but when it comes to the Eldar, the Valar’s compulsion to judge and punish is without fail.