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Chapter 23
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
Eärendil rules the elves living at the mouth of the Sirion and marries Elwing. They have two sons, Elrond and Elros, who are called Half-elven. Eärendil longs to both find his parents and beg the Valar to pity the men and elves of Middle-earth. With Círdan’s help, he builds ships and explores the sea, though he doesn’t find Valinor and eventually misses Elwing enough to return to Beleriand.
Eärendil, as the child of an elf and a man, has the power to represent and speak for both races. If he could find Valinor and petition the Valar, he might be the only person able to convince them to save Beleriand from Morgoth. His marriage to Elwing—a union between the heirs to the last elven realms, though now destroyed—unites the Noldor and the Sindar realms.
Themes
When Maedhros learns where Elwing was living, he initially leaves her alone, regretful of his actions in Doriath. Over time, though, his oath begins to torment him, and he sends messages demanding that she return the Silmaril. She refuses, and the remaining sons of Fëanor attack and destroy the exiles of Gondolin and Doriath. Círdan and Gil-galad arrive too late to help them. Amrod and Amras are killed in the battle, and Elwing throws herself into the sea with the Silmaril. Elros and Elrond are taken captive by Maedhros and Maglor.
Maedhros may regret the second Kinslaying when Elwing’s two brothers were killed and Doriath destroyed, but not enough to forsake his oath entirely. The third Kinslaying results, leaving only two remaining sons of Fëanor: Maglor and Maedhros himself. Rather than give the Silmarils to her father’s murderers, Elwing would evidently prefer to die, taking the Silmaril with her and making it impossible for them to fulfill their oath.
Themes
Ulmo carries Elwing out of the water and turns her into a bird with the Silmaril on her breast. She flies out to sea to find Eärendil and falls from the air into his arms, retaking her elven form. They fear for their sons, but Maglor takes care of Elros and Elrond, who grow to love him. Since there’s no hope left in Middle-earth, Eärendil and Elwing sail again to find Valinor. The Silmaril’s light brightens as they travel farther west—with its power, they pass through the Enchanted Isles and reach Valinor.
If there is no hope left in Middle-earth, Eärendil resolves to find hope elsewhere. Ultimately, Eärendil fulfills Ulmo’s prediction about Tuor (that he would bring hope to elves and men—Eärendil, his son, is the hope that Tuor brings), and Ulmo ensures that he has the tools necessary to do so, sending Elwing and the Silmaril to him.
Themes
Eärendil is the first living man to set foot in Valinor. Elwing leaves the ship with him, afraid that they’ll be separated forever if she doesn’t go ashore, but waits on the beach as he searches for the Valar. He passes through the empty city of Tirion and nearly turns back towards the beach before Eönwë, Manwë’s herald, calls him by name and takes him to the council of the Valar. He asks for pardon for the Noldor and mercy for elves and men, and the Valar grant his request.
Though Elwing is often apart from her husband when he sails, she fears a permanent separation that would divide their fates after death. Elven tradition was right—only a selfless representative who begs for mercy on behalf of both elves and men could convince the Valar to intervene in Middle-earth.
Themes
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After Eärendil leaves to look for Elwing, the Valar discuss whether Eärendil is permitted in the undying lands since he’s part human and part Noldo. Manwë decides that Eärendil and Elwing won’t be allowed to return to Middle-earth, but they and their sons will be allowed to choose either the fate of elves or the fate of men. The two of them are summoned back to the Valar and given their choice. Eärendil tells Elwing to choose for both of them, and Elwing chooses the fate of the elves, since Lúthien was an elf.
Eärendil should be doubly barred from Valinor as part of the race of men (who are not permitted) and one of the Noldor (who are banished). Eärendil’s goal to reunite the two continents is successful, as is Elwing’s endeavor to remain with her husband and not be separated from him either by the Valar or by death. Like Lúthien, for their love and courage they are allowed to choose their fates.
Themes
The Valar hallow Eärendil’s ship Vingilot and send it beyond the rim of the world to sail in the “oceans of heaven.” Eärendil sits at the helm with the Silmaril on his brow. It’s visible in the sky in the mornings or evenings as he sails back to Valinor to visit Elwing, who dislikes the dark and cold but learns flight from the birds. When the people of Middle-earth first see Eärendil’s light, they call it Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope. Maedhros recognizes it as a Silmaril, and Maglor tells him to be grateful if it is—now it’s safe from evil and visible for everyone to enjoy.
By bearing the Silmaril in the sky, Eärendil again brings hope to elves and men. He brings hope even to Maglor, who recognizes finally that the Silmarils should be shared, and their light should be accessible to everyone. They aren’t meant to be hoarded and hidden away, despite what Fëanor thought. Nothing good has ever come from trying to conceal and possess them—only the consequences of the doom of the Noldor.
Themes
Morgoth doesn’t expect the assault from the west, assuming that no one would dare to wage war on him again and that he had permanently estranged the Noldor from the Valar. The Valar and the Vanyar prepare for war, and a few of the Teleri sail with them for Elwing’s sake, since she’s a descendant of their own people. The battle of the west and the north is called the Great Battle or the War of Wrath. The remnants of the Three Houses of men fight alongside the Valar’s armies, though other men fight for Morgoth. The Balrogs and most of the orc armies are destroyed.
Morgoth’s pride leads ultimately to his downfall. He has such faith in his own power and such confidence in the ability of his lies to permanently sever the Valar from Middle-earth that he doesn’t conceive of the Valar’s return as even possible. Finally, in spite of all the division Morgoth created, Valinor, Middle-earth, and all the races are united against him.
Themes
Morgoth is afraid to appear in battle personally and sends out his last resort—winged dragons that suddenly drive the Valar back. Eärendil sails in with all the great birds led by Thorondor and battles the dragons in the sky. He kills the dragon Ancalagon and throws him down onto the towers of Thangorodrim, collapsing them. As the sun rises, the dragons are dead and the Valar are victorious.
After his disastrous fight with Fingolfin, Morgoth never again appears personally in battle. Though he sends out all his armies and dark creatures, they’re not enough to combat the power of the Valar, the armies of Beleriand, the eagles, and Eärendil. At the moment of the Valar’s victory, the sun rises, fulfilling Fingon’s rallying cry from the fifth battle: the day has come.
Themes
Morgoth flees into his mines and begs for mercy, but the Valar refuse. They cut his feet from under him and bind him in the same chains he wore during his imprisonment in Valinor. They use his crown to make a collar and give his two Silmarils to Eönwë to guard. Though Morgoth is powerless, the land is irrevocably changed by the war. The River Sirion no longer exists, and there is “confusion and great noise.”
Morgoth abused the Valar’s forgiveness after his first imprisonment—he will not have their mercy this time. His power is gone, and he is a captive once again. Still, the world has been changed by his influence; he has altered the course of history, the lives of its people, and the very shape of the land.
Themes
Eönwë summons the elves of Beleriand to leave Middle-earth. Maedhros and Maglor refuse and, though they don’t want to, prepare to fulfill their oath, asking Eönwë to return the Silmarils. Eönwë answers that their crimes have invalidated their claim to the Silmarils, which will go back to Valinor. Maedhros and Maglor must also go to Valinor and receive the judgement of the Valar if they want the Silmarils. Maglor wants to comply and find peace in Valinor, but Maedhros argues that if the Valar don’t give them the Silmarils, they’ll never fulfill their oath and will be lost to Everlasting Darkness.
The elves are invited once again to join the Valar and live with them in Valinor. Though Maglor would rather seek the mercy of the Valar and rejoin the other elves than continue the cycle of betrayal and bloodshed in their pursuit of the Silmarils, Maedhros believes that their oath is binding, and they are forced to keep it. Eönwë tries to convince them otherwise, but he can’t force them to recognize their folly or avoid the curse of the Noldor.
Themes
Maglor concedes, and the brothers sneak into Eönwë’s camp, kill several guards, and each grab a Silmaril. When the camp wakes up and prepares to fight, Eönwë doesn’t allow anyone to kill Maedhros and Maglor. They escape, but the Silmaril burns Maedhros’s hand, and he realizes that Eönwë is right—his claim to the Silmaril is void and his oath is pointless. In despair, he throws himself into a fiery chasm with the Silmaril. Maglor, unable to bear the pain of holding the Silmaril, throws it into the sea and wanders the beach forever, singing his regret. The Silmarils find their resting places in the air, in water, and in fire.
The fates of Maglor and Maedhros reveal the ultimate result of greed: pain and loss. No single person gets to possess the Silmarils—all the fighting, death, and betrayal amounts to nothing. With the loss of the last two Silmarils, the curse of the Noldor is complete. Maglor and Maedhros have been betrayed for the final time, by the Silmarils for rejecting them and by themselves for allowing themselves to sink so far into evil that the Silmarils will no longer permit their touch.
Themes
The elves of Beleriand settle on the Lonely Isle off the coast of Valinor. The Noldor are pardoned by the Valar and forgiven by the Teleri. Still, not all the elves are willing to leave Middle-earth. Círdan, Celeborn, Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Elrond remain. Though Elrond chooses the fate of the elves, his brother Elros chooses the fate of men, and through him elvish blood (and the blood of a Maia) enters the race of men.
The period after Morgoth’s defeat is one of forgiveness and healing. Those who wish to reunite with the Valar and the elves of Valinor are permitted to do so. Those who wish to remain in Middle-earth among the lands they know, now safe from Morgoth, may stay, and will be welcome in Valinor later. The races of Ainur, men, and elves are bound together permanently in Elros’s descendants.
Themes
Morgoth is banished beyond the world into the Timeless Void under constant guard, and Eärendil keeps watch over the sky. However, the lies that Morgoth placed in the hearts of elves and men can never be destroyed and constantly breed evil. The world’s fall from beauty into darkness is the fate foretold in the Music of the Ainur, and if it will ever be restored, Varda and Manwë haven’t revealed it.
Though Morgoth is physically banished from the world, the evil he created there lives on without him. In the Music of the Ainur, he corrupted the world, and while present there he corrupted its people. The tradition of the elves says that the world will be healed during the second Music of the Ainur, but not even the Valar have seen that far into the future—or, if they have, they haven’t told the elves. The elves persist in their beliefs not because of proof, but because of faith.
Themes
