Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. The ‘converse of Finrod and Andreth’, published in *Morgoth’s Ring (1993), pp. 303–66.
SYNOPSIS
An introductory section preceding the actual converse states that, although the Elves learned little from Men about their past, they discovered that some Men believed that they were not naturally short-lived, ‘but had been made so by the malice of Melkor’ (Morgoth’s Ring, p. 304). The Elves were not certain whether Men meant by this a general result of the Marring of Arda or a deliberate change in their nature.
Then follows a philosophical debate between the Noldorin Elf Finrod of Nargothrond and Andreth, a Wise-woman of the House of Bëor. A record of this debate, which took place in the First Age during the long Siege of Angband (c. 409), was supposedly preserved in the lore of the Eldar and called in Sindarin (*Languages, Invented) Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. In this Andreth rejects the belief of the Elves that it was through Eru’s design, or as a result of the general marring of Arda, that Men are short-lived. She says that some of the Wise among her people preserve a tradition that Men ‘“were not made for death, nor born ever to die. Death was imposed on us.” And behold! the fear of it is with us always …’ (p. 309). According to their lore, ‘we knew that in our beginning we had been born never to die. And by that … we meant: born to life everlasting, without any shadow of any end’ (p. 314). Finrod suggests that it is not death, but the fear of it, which comes from Melkor, and says that Elves too have died. Andreth points out that Elves do not die unless slain, and may return to life, while all Men die ‘and we go out to no return. Death is an uttermost end, a loss irremediable’ (p. 311). Finrod replies that although the Elves may endure as long as Arda, they do not know their fate beyond its end; and if Melkor has been able to change the very nature of Men, and ‘that in Eru’s despite’ (p. 312), then he is far more powerful than the Elves believed. Finrod suggests that only Eru would be able to do such a thing, and asks what Men did to anger him. Andreth is unwilling to reply.
Finrod and Andreth discuss the manner in which the hröar (bodies, singular hröa) and fëar (spirits, singular fëa) of Elves and Men differ. This leads Finrod to speculate that Eru’s original design for Man was that when his fëa departed from Arda it should ‘have the power to uplift the hröa, as its eternal spouse and companion, into an endurance everlasting beyond Eä, and beyond Time’; and from this he propounds that Men, as ‘heirs and fulfillers of all’, were intended ‘to heal the Marring of Arda, already foreshadowed before their devising; and to do more, as agents of the magnificence of Eru: to enlarge the Music and surpass the Vision of the World’ (p. 318). When Finrod asks Andreth if Men have no hope, she says that some believe that ‘the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end’ (p. 321). Finrod then comments that only Eru has greater power than Melkor, and ‘if He will not relinquish His Work to Melkor, who must else proceed to mastery, then Eru must come in to conquer him’ (p. 322). Towards the end, the conversation having turned to the unfulfilled love between Andreth and Finrod’s brother, Aegnor, Finrod explains that Aegnor turned away from Andreth not for lack of love, but from foresight that he would soon be slain.
The Athrabeth proper is followed by a commentary and lengthy notes, apparently (and unusually) written by Tolkien in his own persona, that is, not presented as a text or edited text deriving from an ‘original’ within the legendarium. The Athrabeth ‘is in fact simply part of the portrayal of the imaginary world of the Silmarillion [*‘The Silmarillion’], and an example of the kind of thing that enquiring minds on either side, the Elvish or the Human, must have said to one another after they became acquainted’ (p. 329). The existence of Elves and the Valar within this world must be accepted as ‘fact’. Tolkien outlines Finrod’s basic beliefs, derived from ‘his created nature; angelic instruction; thought; and experience’ (p. 330), and states how these are affected by his conversation with Andreth. Among matters discussed are the Elvish view of the nature of Mankind, the necessary union of hröa and fëa for incarnates (Elves and Men), and the Elves’ thoughts concerning their own fate at the ending of Arda. It is said that Finrod probably guessed that if Eru were to enter Arda he ‘would come incarnated in human form’ (p. 335), thus hinting at the coming of Christ. The notes, also written in an authorial voice, expand on certain points raised in the commentary, such as the place of ‘Arda’ (now referring to the solar system, but often used loosely so that the name seems to mean Earth) in ‘Eä’ (the universe), Elvish traditions of reincarnation, and so forth, and relate them to the larger legendarium.
One of the notes to the commentary explains Andreth’s unwillingness to say much about the past history and fall of Men:
Partly by a kind of loyalty that restrained Men from revealing to the Elves all that they knew about the darkness in their past; partly because she felt unable to make up her own mind about the conflicting human traditions. Longer recensions of the Athrabeth, evidently edited under Númenórean influence, make her give, under pressure, a more precise answer. Some are brief, some longer. All agree, however, in making the cause of disaster the acceptance by Men of Melkor as King (or King and God). In one version a complete legend [the Tale of Adanel] … is given explicitly as a Númenórean tradition. … The legend bears certain resemblances to the Númenórean traditions concerning the part played by Sauron in the downfall of Númenor. But this does not prove that it is entirely a fiction of post-downfall days. It is no doubt mainly derived from actual lore of the People of Marach, quite independent of the Athrabeth.
An addition to the note comments: ‘Nothing is hereby asserted concerning its “truth” [i.e. the truth of the Tale of Adanel], historical or otherwise’ (p. 344).
According to the attached Tale of Adanel, Men, near the beginning of their history, before any had died, turned away from the Voice which urged them to seek for answers, to the allegiance of a being who offered knowledge and gave many gifts. They revered him and obeyed him when he forbade them to listen to the Voice and ordered them to bow before him as their Master. The Voice then told them that the life it had given them would be shortened, and they began to die and suffer ills. Some rejected the Master but only a few escaped from his followers.
Tolkien also made a glossary or brief index of names and terms appearing in the Athrabeth, with definitions and some etymological information; this too was published in Morgoth’s Ring.
HISTORY
Only part of a preliminary draft (itself probably based on an earlier lost draft) of the manuscript debate of Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth survives, and differs considerably from the finished manuscript. In the draft much of what Finrod deduces during the conversation is presented as being Mannish tradition. Also, whereas in the final text Finrod asks Andreth what Men did to anger Eru and she refuses to reply, in the draft she gives a brief account similar to the Tale of Adanel. Tolkien then made a clear manuscript of the introductory matter and the debate. At some date he detached the beginning of the introduction as a separate text and gave it the title *Aman, and probably at the same time gave the remaining part of the manuscript the title Of Death and the Children of Eru, and the Marring of Men. He later added as another title or subtitle The Converse of Finrod and Andreth, an English rendering of Sindarin Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. Tolkien himself usually referred to the work as simply the Athrabeth.
Two separate amanuensis typescripts were made from the manuscript of the debate, except for introductory matter. Tolkien lightly emended these, and himself typed the introduction on the typewriter he used from the beginning of 1959, making some changes. After the amanuensis typescripts had been made, Tolkien drafted the commentary and notes, and made a typescript of these. The text and commentary of the Athrabeth were preserved in a folded newspaper of January 1960, inscribed ‘Addit. Silmarillion | Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth | Commentary’ and ‘Should be last item in an appendix’ (to The Silmarillion). *Christopher Tolkien is inclined to date the work to 1959, following *Laws and Customs among the Eldar and *The Converse of Manwë and Eru.
CRITICISM