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Tolkien at the End of Time;
Alchemical Secrets of
The Lord of the Rings
By Jay Weidner and Sharron Rose
Númenor/Atlantis and The Second
Age of Middle-earth
The history of Tolkien's Second Age is primarily concerned
with the rise and fall of Númenor, a tale that obviously
corresponds to the story of the mythic isle of Atlantis that
is so prominent in alchemical lore. Tolkien weaves this legend
into his tale for a number of reasons but to a great part
due to what he refers to as his 'Atlantis haunting'. In a
letter to W.H. Auden, he describes his tale of Númenor
as a "personal alteration of the Atlantic myth and/or
tradition, and accommodation of it to my general mythology."
He tells him,
"Of all the mythical or 'archetypal' images this
is the one most deeply seated in my imagination, and for many
years I had a recurrent Atlantis dream: the stupendous and
ineluctable wave advancing from the Sea or over the land,
sometimes dark, sometimes green and sunlit." 17
This dream of the great catastrophe that brings on the end
of the Second Age, which haunted Tolkien from childhood, is
given to Faramir of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings.
Here again, Tolkien's design parallels that of Alchemy, for
in the lore it is the fall of Atlantis that ends the Second
Age or Silver Age known as the Age of Ritual.
It is in Númenor/ Atlantis that we first truly encounter
the crucial issue of Death and Immortality, an issue of monumental
importance in both Tolkien's work and the Great Work of Alchemy.
In his cosmogony, Tolkien's deep-seated reflections on this
subject are articulated through the relationship between God/the
One and his Children, the 'First-born' Elves and Men the 'Followers'.
In their creation he gives each race a natural life span that
is unique to their biological and spiritual nature. To the
Elves he gives extraordinary grace, insight, wisdom, and loveliness
of face and form along with a corresponding ability to "conceive
and bring forth more beauty than all my Children."
In addition, the Creator gives them the much-coveted gift
of immortality and states that, "theirs shall be the
greater bliss in this world." 18

But in the end, this precious gift actually
contains their doom. Tolkien tells us,
"The doom of the Elves is to be immortal, to love
the beauty of the world, to bring it to full flower with their
gifts of delicacy and perfection, to last while it lasts,
never leaving even when 'slain', but returning and
yet, when the Followers come, to teach them, and make way
for them, to 'fade' as the Followers grow and absorb the life
from which both proceed."
Although they can be slain and return to the
Blessed Lands, the Elves must remain in the world until the
'end of days', corresponding to the end of the Cyclic Ages
of Time, and do not ultimately die until the world itself
dies. And in this there is a great sorrow and poignancy. For
as Tolkien states, in the end the Elves "live ultimately
only by the thin line of blood that was mingled with that
of Men, among whom it was the only real claim to nobility."
19
From this perspective, in Tolkien's world, at the end of
the day, mortality, which many consider the curse of humanity
is perceived as a crucial gift. In his tale entitled, Of
the Beginning of Days from The Silmarrilion, Tolkien
states,
"It is one with this gift of freedom that the children
of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and are
not bound to it, and depart whither the Elves know not. The
sons of Men die indeed, and leave the world; wherefore they
are called the Guests or the Strangers. Death is their fate,
the gift of Ilúvatar, which as Time wears even the
Powers shall envy. Yet, of old, the Valar declared to the
Elves in Valinor that Men shall join in the Second Music of
the Ainur; whereas Ilúvatar has not revealed what he
purposes for the Elves after the World's end."
From this statement we may infer that it was Tolkien's belief
that even though we are mortal, human beings hold a unique
and powerful position in the cycles of creation. For from
his viewpoint human beings will not only continue to intertwine
their energy and essence with that of the earth until the
end of the current cycle, but will ultimately play a part
in the creation of the next great cycle.
This theme of death and immortality supplies the focal point
for Tolkien's tale of Númenor/Atlantis and the Second
Age. In discussing his tale of the rise and fall of this great
kingdom of Men he tells us that there were three distinct
stages, which have clear parallels in the Atlantian myth.
At the dawn of the Second Age, the good Men who had assisted
the Elves in their battle against Melkor and Sauron were gifted
with great wisdom and an extension of their life-span to that
of three times of most mortals. However, understanding the
innate weakness of Men, the nature of Time and how achievements
in the material world may lead to attachment and corruption,
the gods placed a ban on the Númenóreans; that
they could never set foot on the 'immortal lands' or even
sail towards them.
At first, the Men of Númenor, obedient to the laws
of the Creator, did not attempt to sail West to the 'immortal
lands' but throughout Middle-earth renewing and expanding
their knowledge of the truth and the scope and nature of the
World. All good Númenóreans, like their descendant
the Dúnedain Aragorn, lived in alignment with the laws
of the One and understood that death was not a punishment
but an intrinsic part of the Creator's original design for
them and like Aragorn died of 'free will' when they felt it
was time to do so. 20 Yet, as the Second Age unfolded,
and their knowledge of artistry, craftsmanship, and magic
grew, rather than accept the beauty of this gift with grace
and gratitude, many of the Númenóreans slowly
began to perceive it with revulsion even coveting the gifts
of the immortals. Living on an island, amidst the wide sea,
they became masters of the art of ship-building and sea-craft.
Restricted from sailing Westward to the Blessed Lands of the
immortals, they began to set their sights to the east, south
and north.
Therefore, the Númenóreans journeyed throughout
Middle-earth bringing knowledge of agriculture, tool making,
and more to the Men of Middle-earth, who came to look upon
these tall and long-lived Sea Men as gods. But as their delight
in the nature of their lives grew, so did their desire for
life-everlasting and always at the back of their minds was
a yearning for the undying lands of Elves and gods. And so
their inner turmoil increased and their bliss was diminished.
As their fear of death increased, their wise men spent their
days in seeking out ways to prolong life, but like the ancient
Egyptians, could only discover the art of mummification or
the preservation of dead flesh. They began to build great
tombs and their minds turned with increasing frequency towards
power and wealth in the material world.
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