Q: Did Faded Elvish Spirits Make Their Ways to Valinor?
ANSWER: In December 2020 a reader submitted the following question about faded Elvish spirits:
I came across this when googling idly a question that entered my mind — “If an Elf remaining behind in Middle-earth faded completely, did his/her fea then return to Valinor at last, so it could rejoin the other Elves and be re-housed?” I didn’t find an answer, and not even precisely on this site (so far), so I’ll submit this as a potential topic for you to explore.
J.R.R. Tolkien sort of answered this question in his personal notes, or essays, that were eventually published in Morgoth’s Ring by Christopher Tolkien. As with all such matters, however, there is room for nuance in your interpretation of the author’s words and intentions. I would say he didn’t fully think things out (as he had no need to).
On the other hand, as people who have read The Nature of Middle-earth will be quick to point out, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote over half a dozen texts (from about 1959 onward) in which he mentioned (in passing or detail) the fading of the Elves, how their lives unfolded, and his thoughts on how the Valar would help the Elves re-house themselves after death (a physical experience of the Elvish body) or fading. His thoughts on these matters were inconsistent because he revisited the topic several times and answered his own questions to himself, evolving the details in so doing.
Tolkien recognized some of the problems and inconsistencies of his earlier decisions about the Elves, including some things he had published in The Lord of the Rings. And as Christopher Tolkien noted in one of his commentaries, J.R.R. Tolkien felt somewhat bound to honor something he had published in future writings. We’ve found a few examples of texts where he abandoned a line of thought after realizing it contradicted something that had already appeared in print (such as Letter No. 155, an unsent draft in which Tolkien attempted to describe the rules of magic before realizing [per end note 2] ‘But the Númenóreans used “spells” in making swords?’).
One point Tolkien never seems to have considered in his private musings is whether the rules of re-embodiment or spiritual movement toward Valinor changed after either the final defeat of Morgoth at the end of the First Age or after the Changing of the World late in the Second Age. He explicitly declares in several texts that after the destruction of Númenór only Elves could go to Aman/Valinor and they did so “in ships specially made and hallowed for this voyage…” (Letter No. 325).
Letter No. 325 is exceptional in that it explains things mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, The Road Goes Ever On, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. In LoTR, Galadriel’s lament in LoTR she implies she cannot return to Valinor. Tolkien explains in The Road Goes Ever On that she was the last of the rebellious leaders of the Noldor, and that at the end of the First Age she had rejected the Valar’s pardon out of pride. In “The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen”, as Aragorn is about to die, he advises Arwen to take ship to Aman; but she says there’s no longer any ship that could take her. And Arwen’s words are echoed in “The Last Ship” in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, where a ship of departing Elves invite a mortal woman named Firiel to join them – but she finds that she cannot because she was “born Earth’s daughter”.
If we could link all the texts in which Tolkien describes Elvish fading and related topics together in a similar fashion, we’d have a much clearer (and precise) picture of what he imagined the rules of Elvish death actually were when he wrote the books. But it may be he was still unclear on some points.
Tolkien’s post-LoTR essays concerning Glorfindel contribute to the confusion. Was Glorfindel reborn or re-embodied? There is in fact no canonical text that explains Glorfindel’s history or the connection between the character in The Lord of the Rings with any pre-LoTR (unpublished) writings, including any version of Quenta Silmarillion or the post-LoTR (half-written) tale “Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin”. The published Silmarillion was Christopher Tolkien’s synthesis of various texts, and “Of the Fall of Gondolin” is one of the most heavily edited parts of The Silmarillion, representing more (or about as much) Christopher’s extrapolation of his father’s intentions or desires as JRRT’s own ideas.
The Rings of Power also complicated things, because most of the Great Rings were made to confer the ability (upon Elves) to see and interact with the Unseen world. This was apparently an ability that Elves who grew up in Aman possessed (or could have with some instruction from the Valar and Maiar, maybe). It does not appear to be an ability possessed by all Elves natively. Gandalf told Frodo that those who had lived in the Blessed Realm lived in “both” worlds (Seen and Unseen) – and Glorfindel was the example provided in the narrative. But if all Elves had possessed this ability there would have been need to confer it via the Rings of Power.
Tolkien also speculated or decided in one essay published in Morgoth’s Ring that Elves who didn’t depart over Sea would eventually fade and become “houseless spirits”, haunting their favorite places in Middle-earth. Men would eventually try to communicate with them via a form of necromancy. Did these spirits remain because they couldn’t travel to Valinor, or because they didn’t want to? It’s not clear.
On the other hand, in several essays Tolkien mentions that Elvish spirits (of the slain) could travel to Valinor, where they were gathered in the Halls of Mandos. This is even stated in The Silmarillion. But that travel is only mentioned in the pre-cataclysmic periods. Also, in one essay Tolkien said that Melkor/Morgoth would intercept dead Elves’ spirits and trap them in Angband. He doesn’t elaborate on what happened to them there.
In The Nature of Middle-earth a few texts gradually reveal Tolkien’s evolving thought on how fading occurred. The Elves would grow old, retreat into a solitary existence to rejuvenate themselves, and then emerge to participate in the social world again. But this aging and rejuvenation cycling became shorter and faster. Each time the Elves would “fade” a bit until eventually they simply became invisible to mortals. But they appear to have passed through a phase where they retained some semblance of (invisible/unseen) physicality like the Nazgûl, who could be struck by weapons as Merry and Eowyn struck the Lord of the Nazgûl with their swords. So the fading process either changed in Tolkien’s mind or he imagined an intermediate period where the faded Elves were invisible but still bound to the physical world.
It seems unlikely to me they could simply have flown or walked to Valinor, especially after the Changing of the World when a specially hallowed ship was required. But Tolkien seems never to have addressed this point in his considerations. So you must either assume the faded Elves were trapped in Middle-earth or that they found some special grace to pass over Sea (but such an outcome is purely speculative).
A Question about David Day’s Tolkien Bestiary
The same reader also asked this in that message:
and I wonder why The Tolkien Bestiary is noted as being “poorly received”, I think was the phrase? It was one of the earlier Tolkien-related books I ever bought (when brand new) and I still like it very much, not so much for the art, which varies in quality, as for the handy information presented in both editions. perhaps I can find an answer to this here, too.
David Day is notorious among Tolkien fans and scholars for making up facts about Middle-earth. His artwork is fantastic but his books are not faithful to Tolkien. I decided to answer your question here because I’d rather not devote an entire post to basically trash-talking David Day. He is a successful published author and many people love his books. I’ll leave it at that.
See also
Did the Elves Fear Death at All?
Do All Elves Leave Middle-earth?
Do the Nazgûl, Barrow wights, and Dead Men of Dunharrow have Physical Bodies?
Middle-earth Connections: Lore of the Rings (Classic Essay)
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Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
If it is unlikely that faded Elves could have flown or walked to Valinor, does that mean that Elves that died a violent or accidental death after the Change of the World cannot do so either and remained disembodied in Middle-earth forever?
My thinking would be that Elven spirits (without bodies) could go to Valinor without ships, since no physical transportation would be needed. A living Elf, inhabiting a physical body, would need transportation, as it would be unlikely that they could swim that far, even before the world was changed. Thus, the special ships would only be needed for the living.
This seems the most likely case.
I’m not so sure. Think about Amroth and Nimrodel. If they knew they’d just reach Valinor by default, the tragedy is far lessened. Amroth was clearly concerned he would never see Nimrodel again, and Nimrodel did not react like she could just go to Valinor and find his spirt. She apparently faded out of grief.
There’s a distinction to be made, surely.
On the one hand there’s the invisible but still extant being, such as a mortal like Frodo who puts on the One Ring, disappears from sight but remains tangible (for example, Gollum can get hold of him and bite off his finger).
On the other there’s a being who is both invisible and incorporeal (which is a state of being we can vaguely imagine even though we don’t experience it).
What’s become of the latter being’s physical substance we can’t explain except perhaps by a farfetched analogy with the evaporation of liquids into gases. The molecules of the bones, tissues, blood etc have moved further apart so that they no longer “touch” other substances. But they are still linked by subatomic forces – essentially They’ve transformed into a localised packet of energy.
If this is what’s involved in fading, then at first blush there’s no reason to suppose that such a packet couldn’t make its way to Valinor, assuming it still had volition. It wouldn’t need to walk or swim – it could just drift – although it might take a while! Of course, not wishing to stray into Uzi territory, who’s to say that they could not make use of some sort of wormhole to speed up the journey? I don’t think Tolkien was averse to science fiction, even though he disliked modern industry and technology.
Or, the physical substance is no longer bound to the spirit, and has gone “back into circulation”, as part of the larger world.
Michael,
I find it contradictory that the Elves should go to Aman and live there however they are part of Middle Earth in there essence. Yes when Valinor was in the confines of Middle Earth, before the change at the drowning of Numenor that was still the condition of Valinor, however when Valinor was taken out of the confines of Middle Earth that changed. So did Tolkien change his.mibd about the Elves being part of Middle Earth and it’s essence or is it it something he forgot about when he had Valinor taken away from the confines of Middle Earth. Also how can the Elves fade in Middle Earth if the are part of it in their essence? Remember Man went elsewhere after death the Elves either lived on or unless they Died when there body or soul was affected like in Combat, severe Ice and Snow conditions and Finwe’s first wife in Aman
He struggled with these questions up to the end of his life. He didn’t find a satisfactory answer that was consistent with what was already published, and hadn’t yet found a complete answer before he died. At least, his notes don’t seem to indicate as much.