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FarFromHome
Valinor
Feb 13 2013, 4:31pm
Views: 707
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Is it just a "stock theme" though?
[In reply to]
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Can't Post
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What do people make of Tolkien’s use of this stock theme? What I get from it is that there's more going on here than in a straightforward "enchanted king" theme. This isn't just about a king being diverted from his duty by a dalliance - in many ways it reminds me more of the many myths of a human whose relationship with a higher being leads to the birth of a hero (or in this case, heroine).
The Celtic story of Cuchulainn is very similar, if you reverse all the genders - a human princess disappears only to be found a year later living in his hidden palace with the god Lugh, whose child she is carrying. The child, of course, will grow up to be the great hero Cuchullain. Or there's the story of Achilles, the son of a nymph and a human king. Indeed, the story of the conception and birth of Jesus follows a very similar pattern. The thought that the essence of a higher being can enter the human bloodline seems to be deep in the mythic imagination of many people.
I think maybe Tolkien is more interested in this mythic theme than the "enchanted king" theme, although he's blended the two ideas quite cleverly, you might say. From the point of view of the Elves who went to Valinor with his brother, he must have seemed like just an "enchanted king" who fails in his duty. But from the point of view of his descendants who remain in Middle-earth, his fate, perhaps even his higher duty, was to allow the "divine" essence to enter the bloodline of the Elves, and through his daughter, that of Men.
They went in, and Sam shut the door.
But even as he did so, he heard suddenly,
deep and unstilled,
the sigh and murmur of the Sea upon the shores of Middle-earth.
From the unpublished Epilogue to the Lord of the Rings
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User
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Time
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Silmarillion Discussion: Of Thingol and Melian, #2
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NZ Strider
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Feb 12 2013, 1:22am
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La Belle Dame Sans Chimichurri
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squire
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Feb 12 2013, 2:35am
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Perhaps Gov. Sanford demonstrated
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NZ Strider
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Feb 12 2013, 7:48am
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Whose enchantment is it anyway?
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noWizardme
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Feb 12 2013, 6:00pm
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Is it just a "stock theme" though?
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FarFromHome
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Feb 13 2013, 4:31pm
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Love and enchantment
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elevorn
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Feb 13 2013, 8:13pm
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Feminine wiles
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CuriousG
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Feb 14 2013, 1:52am
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posting previous questions here now
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elevorn
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Feb 14 2013, 5:37pm
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Thingol's resume
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CuriousG
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Feb 15 2013, 1:29am
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Late answers
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sador
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Feb 17 2013, 3:25pm
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a few thoughts on several great comments
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telain
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Feb 20 2013, 11:51pm
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Hyperlink to next chapter
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noWizardme
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Feb 21 2013, 10:21pm
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