If they obeyed this summons different opportunities lay before them.(32)The length of time that they dwelt in Waiting was partly at the will of Námo the Judge, lord of Mandos, partly at their own will. The happiest fortune, they deemed, was after the Waiting to be re-born, for so the evil and grief that they had suffered in the curtailment of their natural course might be redressed.
(23) – In A there is no subtitle here, but before ' It must be understood….' There stands the following
'In what has been said concerning names it will be noted that for Finwë, first lord of the Noldor, two wives are named: Míriel and Indis; though it was said that the marriage of the Eldar is permanent and indissoluble. ''
Chapter: ''Of Re-birth and other dooms of those that go to Mandos''(33)
Pages. 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225.
''Now the Eldar hold that to each elf-child a new fëa is given, not akin to the fëar of the parents (save belonging to the same order and nature); and this fëa either did not exist before birth, or it is fëa of one that is re-born. The new fëa, and therefore in their beginning all fëar, they believe to come direct from Eru and from beyond Eä. Therefore many of them hold that it cannot be asserted that the fate of the Elves isto be confined within Arda for ever and with it to cease. This last opinion they draw from their own thought, for the Valar, having had no part in the devising of the Children of Eru, do not know fully the purposes of Eru concerning them, nor the final ends that he prepares for them.
But they did not reach these opinions at once or without dissent. In their youth, while their knowledge and experience were small and they had not yet received the instruction of the Valar (or had not yet fully understood it), many still held that in the creation of their kind Eru had committed this power to them: to beget children in all ways like to themselves, body and indwelling spirit; and that therefore the fëa of a child came from its parents as did its hrondo.(34)
Yet always some dissented, saying: 'Indeed a living person may resemble the parents and be perceived as a blending, in various degrees, of these two, but this resemblence is most reasonably related to the hrondo. It is strongest and clearest in early youth, while the body is dominant and most like the bodies of its parents' (this is true of all elf-children) (35). 'Whereas in all children, though in some it may be more marked and sooner apparent, there is a part of character not to be understood from parentage, to which it may indeed be quite contrary. This difference is most reasonably attributed to the fëa, new and not akin to the parents; for it becomes clearer and stronger as life proceeds and the fëa increases in mastery.'
Later when the Elves became aware of re-birth this argument was added: 'If the fëar of children were normally derived from the parents and akin to them, then re-birth would be unnatural and unjust. For it would deprive the second parents, without consent, of one half of their parentage, intruding into this kin a child half alien.'
Nonetheless, the older opinion was not wholly void. For all the Eldar, being aware of it in themselves, spoke of the passing of much strength, both of mind and of body, into their children, in bearing and begetting. Therefore they hold that the fëa, though unbegotten, draws nourishment from the parents before the birth of the child: directly from the fëa of the mother while she bears and nourishes the hrondo, and mediatelly but equally from the father, whose fëa is bound in union with the mother's and supports it.
It was for this reason that all parents desired to dwell together during the year of bearing, and regarded separation at that time as a grief and injury, depriving the child of some part of its fathering. 'For,' said they 'though the union of the fëar of the wedded is not broken by distance of place, yet in creatures that live as spirits embodied fëa communes with fëa in full only when the bodies dwell together.'
A houseless fëa that chose or was permitted to return to life re-entered the incarnate world through child-birth. Only thus could it return.*.
*(footnote) Save in rare and strange cases: that is, where the body that the fëa had forsaken was whole, and remained still coherent and incorrupt. But this could seldom happen; for death unwilling could occur only when great violence as done to the body; and in death by will, such as at times befell because of utter weariness or great grief, the fëa would not desire to return, until the body, deserted by the spirit, was dissolved. This happened swiftly in Middle-earth. In Aman only was there no decay. Thus Míriel was there rehoused in her own body, as it hereafter told.
For it is plain that the provision of a bodily house for a fëa, and a union of fëa with hrondo, was committed by Eru to the Children, to be achieved in the act of begetting.
As for this re-birth, it was not an opinion, but know and certain. For the fëa re-born became a child indeed, enjoying once more all the wonder and newness of childhood; but slowly, and only after it had acquired a knowledge of the world and mastery of itself, its memory would awake; until, when the re-born elf was full-grown, it recalled all its former life, and then the old life, and the 'waiting', and the new life became one ordered history and identity. This memory would thus hold a double joy of childhood, and also an experience and knowledge greater than the years of its body. In this way the violence or grief that the re-born had suffered was redressed and its being was enriched. For the Re-born are twice nourished, and twice parented*, and have two memories of the joy of awakening and discovering the world of living and the splendour of Arda.
''* In some cases a fëa re-born might have the same parents again. For instance, if its first body had died in early youth. But this did not often happen; neither did a fëa necessarily re-enter its own former kin, for often a great length of time passed before it wished or was permitted to return.''
Their life is, therefore, as if a year had two springs and though an untimely, frost followed after the first, the second spring and all the summer after were fairer and more blessed.
The Eldar say that more than one re-birth is seldom recorded. But the reasons for this they do not fully know. Maybe, it is so ordered by the will of Eru; while the Re-born (they say) are stronger, having greater mastery of their bodies and being more patient of griefs. But many, doubtless, that have twice died do not wish to return. (36)
Re-birth is not the only fate of the houseless fëar. The Shadow upon Arda caused not only misfortune and injury to the body. It could corrupt the mind: and those among the Eldar who were darkened in spirit did unnatural deeds, and were capable of hatred and malice. Not all who died suffered innocently. Moreover, some fëar in grief or weariness gave up hope, and turning away from life relinquished their bodies, even though these might have been healed or were indeed unhurt. †
† Though the griefs might be great and wholly unmerited, and death ( or rather the abandonment of life) might be, therefore, understandable and innocent, it was held that the refusal to return to life, after repose in Mandos, was a fault, showing a weakness of lack of courage in the fëa.''
Few of these latter desired to be re-born, not at least until they had been long in 'waiting'; some never returned. Of the others, the wrong-doers, many were held long in 'waiting', and some were not permitted to take up their lives again.
For there was, for all the fëar of the Dead, a time of Waiting, in which, howsoever they had died, they were corrected, instructed, strengthened, or comforted, according to their needs or deserts. If they would consent to this. But the fëa in its nakedness is obdurate, and remains long in the bondage of its memory and old purposes (especially if these were evil).
Those who were healed could be re-born, if they desired it: none are re-born or sent back into life unwilling. The others remained, by desire or command, fëar unbodied, and they could only observe the unfolding of the Tale of Arda from afar, having no effect therein. For it was a doom of Mandos that only those who took up life again might operate in Arda, or commune with the fëar of the Living, even with those that had once been dear to them (38).
Concerning the fate of other elves, especially of the Dark-elves who refused the summons to Aman, the Eldar know little. TheRe-born report that in Mandos there are many elves, and among them many of the Alamanyar (39), but that there is in the Halls of Waiting little mingling or communing of kind with kind, or indeed any fëa with another. For the houseless fëa is solitary, by nature, and turns only towards those with whom, maybe, it formed strong bonds of love in life.
The fëa is single, and in the last impregnable. It cannot be brought to Mandos. It is summoned; and the summons proceeds from just authority, and is imperative; yet it may be refused. Among those who refused the summons(or rather invitation) of the Valar to Aman in the first years of the Elves, refusal of the summons to Mandos and the Hall of Waiting is, the Eldar say, frequent. It was less frequent, however, in ancient days, while Morgoth was in Arda, or his servant after him, for them the fëa unbodied would flee in terror of the Shadow to any refuge – unless it were already committed to the Darkness and passed then into its dominion. In like manner even of the Eldar some who had become corrupted refused the summons, and then had little power to resist the counter-summons of Morgoth.
But it would seem that in these after-days more and more of the Elves, be they of the Eldalië in origin or be they of other kinds, who linger in Middle-earth now refuse the summons of Mandos, and wander houseless in the world*, unwilling to leave it (40) and unable to inhabit it, haunting trees or springs or hidden places that once they knew.
• For only those who willingly go to Mandos may be re-born. Re-birth is a grace, and comes of the power that Eru committed to the Valar for the rulling of Arda and they redress of its marriage. It does not lie in the power of any fëa in itself. Only those return whom, after Mandos has spoken the doom of release, Manwë and Varda bless.
Not all of these are kindly or unstained by the Shadow. Indeed the refusal of the summons is in itself sign of taint.
It is therefore a foolish and perilous thing, besides being a wrong deed forbidden justly by the appointed Rulers of Arda, if the Living seek to commune with the Unbodied, though the houseless may desire it, especially the most unworthy among them. For the Unbodied, wandering in the world, are those who at the least have refused the door of life and remain in regret and self-pity. Some are filled with bitterness, grievance, and envy. Some were enslaved by the Dark Lord and do his work still, though he himself is gone. They will not speak truth or wisdom. To call on them is folly. To attempt to master them to make them servants of one own's will is wickedness. Such practices are of Morgoth; and the necromancers are of the host of Sauron his servant.
Some say that the Houseless desire bodies, though they are not willing to seek them lawfully by submission to the judgement of Mandos. The wicked among them will take bodies, if they can, unlawfully. The peril of communing with them is, therefore, not only the peril of being deluded by fantasies of lies: there is peril also of destruction. For on of the hungry Houseless, if it is admitted to the friendship of the Living, may seek to eject the fëa from its body; and in the contest for mastery the body may be gravely injured, even it be not wrestled from its rightful habitant. Or the Houseless may plead for shelter, and if it is admitted, then it will seek to enslave its host and use both his will and his body for its own purposes. It is said that Sauron did these things, and taught his followers how to achieve them.
[Thus it may be seen that those who in latter days hold that the Elves are dangerous to Men and that it is folly or wickedness to seek converse with them do not speak without reason. For how, it may be asked, shall a mortal distinguish the kinds? On the one hand, the Houseless, rebels at least against the Rulers, and maybe even deeper under the Shadow; on the other, the Lingerers, whose bodily forms may no longer be seen by us mortals, or seen only dimly and fitfully. Yet the answer is not in truth difficult. Evil is not one thing among Elves and another among Men. Those who give evil counsel, or speak against the Rulers (or if they dare, against the One), are evil, and should be shunned whether bodied or unbodied. Moreover, the Lingerers are not houseless, though they may seem to be. They do not desire bodies, neither do they seek shelter, nor strive for mastery over body or mind. Indeed they do not seek to converse with Men at all, save maybe rarely, either for the doing of some good, or because they percieve in a Man's spirit some love of things ancient and fair. Then they may reveal to him their forms (though his mind working outwardly, maybe), and he will behold them in their beauty. Of such he may have no fears, though he may feel awe of them. For the Houseless have no forms to reveal, and even if it were within their power (as some Men say) to counterfeit elvish forms, deluding the minds of Men with fantasies, such visions would be marred by the evil of their intent. For the hearts of true Men uprise in joy to behold the true likeness of the Firstborn, their elder kindred, and this joy nothing evil can counterfeit. So spoke Aelfwine] (41)
Chapter: ''Of the Severance of Marriage''
Pages: 225, 226, 227.
Manuscript B
''Much has been said concerning death and re-birth among the Elves. It may be asked: of what effect were these upon their marriage? Since death and sundering of spirit and body was one of the griefs of Arda Marred, it came inevitably to pass that death at times came between two that were wedded. Then the Eldar were in doubt, since this was an evil unnatural. Permanent marriage was in accordance with elvish nature, and they never had need of any law to teach this or to enforce it; but if a 'permanent' marriage was in fact broken, as when one of the partners was slain, then they did not know what should be done or thought.
In this matter they returned to Manwë for counsel, and , as is recorded in the case of Finwë, Lord of the Noldor, Manwë delivered his rulling through the mouth of Námo Mandos, the Judge.
'Marriage of the Eldar,' he said, ' is by and for the Living, and for the duration of life. Since the Elves are by nature permanent in life within Arda, so also is their unmarred marriage. But if their life is interrupted or ended, then their marriage must be likewise. Now marriage is chiefly of the body, but it is nonetheless not of the body only but of the spirit and body together, for it begins and endures in the will of the fëa. Therefore when one of the partners of a marriage dies the marriage is not yet ended, but is in abeyance. For those that were joined are now sundered; but their union remains still a union of will.
'How then can a marriage be ended and the union be dissolved? For unless this be done, there can be no second marriage. By the law of the nature of the Elves, the neri and the nissi being equal, there can be union only of one with one.(42) Plainly an end can be made only by the ending of the will; and this must proceed from the Dead, or be by doom. By the ending of the will, when te Dead are not willing ever to return to life in the body; by doom, when they are not permitted to return. For a union that is for the life of Arda is ended, if it cannot be resumed within the life of Arda.
'We say that the ending of will must proceed from the Dead, for the Living may not for their own purposes compel the Dead to remain thus, nor deny to them re-birth, if they desire it. And it must be clearly understood that this will of the Dead not to return, when it has been solemnly declared and it is ratified by Mandos, shall then become a doom: the Dead will not be permitted ever ti return to the life of the body.'
The Eldar then asked; 'How shall will or doom be known?' It was answered: 'Only by recourse to Manwë and by the pronouncement of Námo. In this matter it shall not be lawful for any of the Eldar to judge his own case. For who among the Living can discern the thoughts of the Dead, or presume the doom of Mandos?'
Upon this pronouncement of Mandos, which is called the ''Doom of Finwë and Míriel' (43)for reasons to be told, there are many commentaries that record the explanation of points arising from its consideration, some given by the Valar, some later reasoned by the Eldar. Of these the most important are here added:
1. It was asked: 'What is meant by the saying that marriage is chiefly of the body, and yet is both of spirit and body?'
It was answered: 'Marriage is chiefly of the body, for it is achieved by bodily union, and its first operation is begetting is the begetting of the bodies of the children, even though it endures beyond this and has other operations. And the union of bodies in marriage is unique, and no other union resembles it. Whereas the union of fëa in marriage differs from other union of love and friendship not so much in kind as in its closeness and permanence, which are derived partly from the bodies in their union and in their dwelling together.
Nonetheless marriage concerns also the fëar. For the fëar of the Elves are of their nature male and female, and not their hrondor (44) only. And the beginning of marriage is in the affinity of their fëar, and in the love arising therefrom. And this love includes in it, from its first awakening, the desire for marriage, and is therefore like to but not in all ways the same as other motions of love and friendship, even those between Elves of male and female nature who do not have this inclination. It is therefore true to say that, though achieved by and in the body, marriage proceeds from the fëa and resides ultimately in its will. For which reason it cannot be ended, as has been declared, while that will remains.'
2. It was asked: 'If the Dead return to the Living, are the sundered spouses still wedded? And how may that be, if marriage is chiefly of the body, whereas the body of one part of the union is destroyed? Must the sundered be again married, if they wish? Or whether they wish it or no?
(Númellotë wrote: there is a little part that is left, but i won't write it for it was not finished, so I will continue to give you the Original manuscript A and it starts with the answer to the second question! Christopher Tolkien wrote in the foot note that his father probably abandoned it and returned to A)
Original Manuscript A
''It was answered. 'It has been said that marriage resides ultimately in the will of the fëa. Also the identity of person resides in the fëa; and the Dead that return [struck out: will] in time recover full memory of the past; what is more, though the body is more than raiment and the change of body [will not be of no effect >] will certainly have effect upon the reborn. The fëa is the master, and the reborn will come to resemble their former self so closely that all who knew them before Death will recognize them, soonest and most readily the former spouse. Nonetheless, since marriage is also of the body and one body has perished, they must be married again, if they will. For they will have returned, as it were, to that state in their former life when by the motions of their fëar they desired to be married. There will be no question of desiring this or not desiring it. For by the steadfastnesss of the fëar of the Eldar uncorrupted they will desire it; and none of the Dead will be permitted by Mandos to be reborn, until and unless they desire to take up life again in continuity with their past. For it is the purpose of the time in Waiting in Mandos that the unnatural breach in the continuity of the life of the Eldar should be healed, though it cannot be undone or made of no effect in Arda. It follows, therefore, also that the Dead will be reborn in such place and time that the meeting and recognition of the sundered shall surely come to pass, and there shall be no hindrance to their marriage.
Hardly otherwise shall it be when both spouses are slain or die: they will marry again in due time after rebirth, unless they desire to remain together in Mandos.
It was asked: 'Why must be Dead remain in Mandos for ever, if the fëa consents to the ending of its marriage? And what is this Doom of which Mandos speaks?
It was answered: The reason are to be found in what has been said already. Marriage is for life, and cannot, therefore, be ended save by the interruption of death without return. While there is hope or purpose of return it is not ended, and the Living cannot therefore marry again. If the Living is permitted to marry again, then by doom of Mandos will not permit the Dead to return. For, as he as been delcared, one reborn is the same person as before death and returns to take up and continue his or her former life. But if the former spouse were re-married, this would not be possible, and great grief and doubt would afflict all three parties. To speak of the doom of Mandos: These are of three kinds. He utters the decision of Manwë, or of the Valar in conclave, which become binding upon all, even the Valar, when they are so declared: for which reason a time passes between the decision and the doom. In similar manner he utters the decision and purposes of others who are under his jurisdiction, who are the Dead, in grave matters that affect justice and the right order of Arda; and when to spoken these decisions become ''laws'' also, though partaining only to particular persons or cases, and Mandos will not permit them to be revoked or broken: for which reason again a time must pass between decision and doom*.
*In the case of a decision never to return to life by a fëa of the Dead, the least time interval appointed by Mandos was ten Valian Years. During this period the decision could be revoked.
And lastly there are the dooms of Mandos that proceed from Mandos himself, as judge in matters that belong to his office and ordained from the beginning. He is the judge of right and of wrong, and of innocence or guilt (and all the degrees and mingling of these) in the mischances and misdeeds that come to pass in Arda. All those who come to Mandos are judged with regard to innocence or guilt, in the matter of their death and in all other deeds and purposes of their lives in the body; and Mandos appoints to each the manner and the length of their time of Waiting according to this judgement. But his dooms in such matters are not uttered in haste; and even the most guilty are long tested, whether they may be healed or corrected, before any final doom is given (such as never to return again among the Living). Therefore it was said:'Who among the Living can presume the dooms of Mandos?' ''
Page: 236
''This judgement is known as the ''Statute of Finwë and Míriel'', for theirs was the first case, and it was on befalf of Finwë that Manwë's counsel was sought in this matter.''
Pages: 246, 247
''It is right therefore, that this just Statute should be proclaimed, and those that use it shall be blameless, whatsoever follows after. Thus shall the Tale of the Eldar, within the Tale of Arda, be fashioned.
'Hearken now, o Valar! To me foretelling* is granted no less than doom , and I will proclaim now to you things both near and far.
*By which was meant prophecy concerning things which neither reason upon evidence, nor(for the Valar) knowledge of the Great Theme, could discover if swiftly perceive. Only rarely and in great matters was Mandos moved to prophecy.
Behold! Indis the fair shall be made glad and fruitful, who might else have been solitary. For not in death only hath the Shadow entered into Aman with the coming of the Children destined to suffer; there are other sorrows, even if they be less. Long she hath loved Finwë, in patience and without bitterness. Aulë nameth Fëanor the greatest of the Eldar, and in potency that is true. But I say unto you that the children of Indis shall also be great, and the Tale of Ada more glorious because of their coming. And from them shall spring things so fair that no tears shall dim their beauty; in whose being the Valar, and the Kindreds both of Elves and of Men that are to come shall all have part, and in whose deeds they shall rejoice. So that, long hence when all that here is, and seemeth yet fair and impregnable, shall nonetheless have faded and passed away, the Light of Aman shall not wholly cease among the free peoples of Arda until the end.
'When he that shall be called Eärendil setteth foot upon the Shore of Aman, ye shall remember my words. In that hour ye will not say that the Statute of Justice hath borne fruit only in death; and the griefs that shall come ye shall weigh in the balance, and they shall not seem too heavy compared with the rising of the light when Valinor groweth dim.' ''
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