Quote:
Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc
That's one good point too, however I would not call them "insurance policy" just like that. They, as a theme, are a response to Melkor: they mean life and new creation instead of death and destruction presented by Melkor. In that sense, they are "insurance policy", but partially sort of unknowingly. Just because they are, if we wanted to use some philosophical language, we could say that "life and continuation of creation is Men's essence". However, there is also of course the chance of Men grasping sort of consciously the role of the "insurance policy", meaning that they would really materially oppose Sauron or Morgoth (as it happened). But I think the fundamental truth of what you said lies in the former thing I mentioned.
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Just to chime in here, I agree with
Legate that "insurance policy" gives the wrong connotation, insofar as it suggests a sort of "just in case" response on Eru's part, otherwise undesirable, and a second-best option (the best of course being not to have the incident in the first place). Men are the
second race of Children, but they are not "second-best." It's probably better to think of the as the second stage of a rocket, intended to be boosted to a certain height by the Eldar before thrusting forward with our "purpose" as the Elves fade from sight.