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.Their immortality isn't really eternal life but serial longevity.They willcarry their sorrows and joys all their lives: it will become a burden for them.Eru then says: But to the Atani [Men] I will give a new gift. Men receive a special grace different to thatof the Elves.[Sil p.35]Our God gifts to Man the special state of being both matter and spirit.We are different to theangels and it is precisely this difference and future magnanimity that Satan hates. Therefore he [Eru] willed that the hearts of men should seek beyond the world andshould find no rest therein; but that they should have a virtue to shape their life, amidthe powers of the world beyond the Music of the Ainur. The hearts of men in Middle-earth will seek beyond the circles of the world to find deepermeaning, which is another reflection of our world. You have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest inthee. St Augustine.We haven't been made self-complete.We will only find our truefulfilment, completion and potential in Jesus Christ.This power to shape their own lives is free will.Their fate within Middle-earth is not governedby what has been laid out in the Music of the Ainur but they have the freedom to choose theirpath in life; to choose the good or do the evil.All of Ilúvatar's Children have this gift as freerational beings. But Ilúvatar knew that men being set amid the turmoils of the powers of the world,would often stray, and would not use the gifts in harmony. It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space inthe world alive, and are not bound to it, and depart soon whither the Elves know not. "Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar. [Sil p.36]Men shall die after a time within Middle-earth and it is a gift.While the Elves are of a higher nature than men within Middle-earth, men have receivedfrom Ilúvatar, a & higher if un-revealed destiny& outside of Middle-earth [Letters p.286].Their future outside the circles of the world has not been revealed by Ilúvatar.This futureoutside the world that is higher than the Elves is like Man receiving a higher destiny than theAngels in our world.Why is mans future magnanimity greater than that of the angels? Because we can, throughfree will, make a gift of sacrificial love through our bodily flesh.Martyrs do this, as do thosewho suffer and offer it up in love for the redemption of the world.Any act of love whichsacrifices [denies selfishness] is also enveloped in this [cf.Mother Teresa].Why can we do this? Because Jesus, the Word made Flesh, making a gift of Himself in bodyand soul, but broken on the Cross, has raised our co-offering of suffering with His to a DivineLevel [Col 1:24].It becomes a prayer.Many unfortunately never hear or understand thisbeautiful Truth of Christian suffering.Angels cannot do this.53 www.mythictruth.com 54Though of course our future life has been revealed by God through Jesus and in the Church,but as for the fullness of it:"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the heart of man conceived of the richeswhich God has prepared for those who love Him." [1 Cor 2:9]God s mysteries are deeper than we can fully perceive, though we can know certain thingsabout them.In Tolkien s mythology Death is an original gift for Men.It is through Death that men willreceive their higher destiny.Now this is very interesting.This the same for the Christian understanding of death in the bodily sense.Many mistakenly think that Tolkien s death gift for men at the beginning is different from theChristian understanding but it is not.If you haven't read the page First and Last Things , please do so as it gives a fuller account ofthe original gifts Man had in the Garden of Eden from a Catholic perspective.Catholic understanding is that original Unfallen Man [women and men] was immortal, but hislife would still end after a time on earth and he would be assumed body and soul into Heaven.But this original gift of life ending naturally is not the classical understanding of death asrelated to Death resulting from Original Sin.Originally, they would 'fall asleep' if you like, whenthe time was right.They would make an act of trust in the Creator and request to come toHim.They would be assumed into Heaven and their life would end on earth.In a letter from 1958 Tolkien describes how the original death for Men in Middle-earth is muchthe same as for original unfallen Man on earth."It was also the Elvish [& uncorrupted Númenorean] view that a 'good' Man would orshould die voluntarily by surrender with trust before being compelled [as Aragorn did].This may have been the nature of unfallen man; though compulsion would not threatenhim; he would desire and ask to be allowed to 'go on' to a higher state.TheAssumption of Mary, the only unfallen person, may be regarded. like this.[Lettersp.286 footnote]Thus, the original gift of death was to trust and surrender to Eru when the time was right.TheMen of Middle-earth originally had this gift.However, corruption from darkness [Melkor andSauron] caused a disintegration of this gift and men became afraid of it.They feared andrejected it.Men of Middle-earth, through their original gift, will enter into their higher destiny.1.It is the same as Christian understanding because through death a Christian willcome Face to Face with God and receive his/her higher calling: eternal union with theSaviour and Creator.Originally we didn't really die but fell asleep to meet God2.It is also the same because now, for Christians, latter death resulting from originalsin has been vanquished by Christ through the Resurrection.The Lord has raiseddeath to a new level.It no longer has its sting, and is in fact a way back to God, like itoriginally was.Now what is interesting:" is that Tolkien is showing that the original gift was a blessing." but he is also showing that a thing that often seems like a curse to us, namely deathfrom original sin, can also be used as a way of greater good: Resurrection.God is54 www.mythictruth.com 55gift.He donates everything to His Children.God is Father and he provides through allthings.In the Garden of Eden we betrayed our trust in God the Father.TheFatherhood of God as been denied and spat at.Tolkien describes how Melkor twists the Truth about Death for men and uses it to cause fear. But Melkor has cast his shadow upon it [death], and confounded it with darkness, andbrought forth evil out of good, and fear out of hope. [Sil p.36]There are two things here.Melkors twisting of truth begets lies and his incitation of fearcomes from the denial of Love of the Creator.Love drives out all fear, it begets Trust." Men come to believe the lie about death from Melkor and see it as a curse," But they will also begin to deny their trust in the Fatherhood of Eru and the naturalorder and hence fear him and his gift: true death.This is very similar to what happened in the Garden of Eden
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