The Estrangement of Men from Elves

Flammifer

Well-Known Member
When Lindor, in the Hall of Fire says, “To sheep other sheep no doubt appear different. Or to shepherds. But Mortals have not been our study. We have other business.” I think that this is the first time in TLOTR when the reader should think, “Whoa! This sounds wrong. Shouldn’t Elves be either sheep (fellow created incarnates with Mortals), or shepherds (looking after and protecting Mortals), or both?”

Lindor’s statement should cause the reader to wonder if something is ‘wrong’ in the way Elves see themselves in respect to Mortals, or whether Elves are really more different from Mortals than we have assumed?

Of course, if we take account of the passage in ‘The Nature of Middle-earth’, where JRRT writes that the invitation to the Elves to remove to Valinor, “had disastrous consequences in diminishing the Elves of Middle-earth and so depriving Men of a large measure of the intended help and teaching of their “elder brethren”, and exposing them more dangerously to the power and deceits of Melkor.” It becomes clear that the plan of the Valar to remove the Elves to Valinor was wrong, and not according to the design of Eru. The Elves were meant to be both sheep and shepherds.

However, I don’t think we need to refer to ‘The Nature of Middle-earth’ to come to this conclusion. From TLOTR alone, first alerted by Lindor’s comment to Bilbo, I think we can deduce that the Valar were wrong, and that Elves and Men were more estranged in Arda Marred than they were supposed to be.

The Biblical register of the metaphor of ‘sheep and shepherds’ should alert the reader to the significance of Lindor’s statement. But, even if the Biblical reference goes un-noticed, the alert reader should start to wonder if Lindor’s statement is not a red flag, and a warning sign.
 
Not only the estrangement of elves and men but also the estrangement men and Valar, Middle-Earth and Valar and as are result in the very end of the elves and Middle-Earth - as all the elves had to either to sail or to fade. Elves need the guidance of the Valar - men did too, but being bereft of it from the very beginning they learned to go without - with detriment to their understanding and valuing of Arda's natural world. Middle-Earth bereft of Valar's presence became so dominated by men that in the end the elves had to leave it to stay elves.
 
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