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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Silmarillion, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Unity vs. Division
Fate, Doom, and Free Will
Pride and Arrogance
Greed, Jealousy, and Obsession
Inevitable Loss
Myth and Memory
Summary
Analysis
The first time the sun rises, men wake up in the land of Hildórien in the east of Middle-earth. They stray towards the west, following the sun, and the elves call them the Atani. The land finally wakes from Yavanna’s sleep and blooms as men spread around Middle-earth. Men learn to fear the Valar, who keep to themselves and don’t appear to guide them, but they meet and befriend the Dark elves.
The men awaken as fated and (like the elves when they awoke) fear the Valar who are different from them and rarely present; the Valar’s absence from Middle-earth has made them strangers to an entire race. The men, who awaken as one group, naturally separate and spread around the land.
Themes
In those days, men are similar to the elves in stature and strength, but they are more foolish and frail. The elves don’t know what happens to men after they die, since only Beren ever returned from the dead. Though they become estranged later, men and elves are companions and allies against Morgoth. The children of elves and mortals (Eärendil, Elwing, and Elrond) receive both the beauty of the elves and a choice between the fate of elves or humans.
The narrator mentions the major points of division and unification between men and elves. They become separated in death, since men leave the world when they die, and in time the races will grow apart. Now, however, they are joined in their fight against Morgoth who seeks to divide them, and in future days they will be joined by marriage, when children will be born with the blood of both races.
Themes
