Quote:
Originally Posted by Idril
Where is this place Mandos sends the souls of the Edain?
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The Edain go to one of the halls in Mandos, "whence none can escape, neither Vala, nor Elf, nor
mortal Man. Vast and strong are those halls" [Sil, p. 52] but unlike the Elves they are not summoned, or given a choice to come back. Only one instance in Beren occured where someone was brought back. I'm not sure if those halls are actually part of Aman though. Then again since the souls of Elves are bound to the world maybe they are. It is said, "the sons of Men die indeed, and
leave the world" and that "Death is their fate, the gift of Illuvatar, which as Time wears even the Powers shall envy." [p. 38] Some like Finrod debated Man's fate but it is said, "What may befall their spirits after death the Elves know not. Some say that they too go to the Halls of Mandos; but
their place of waiting there is not that of the Elves, and Mandos under Illuvatar alone save Manwe knows wither they go after the time of recollection in those silent halls beside the Outer Sea." [p. 121]
Among the Edain of old there was the belief that Melkor had corrupted their nature because in their beginnings they were not short lived. "Men are not now as they were, nor as their true nature was in the beginning." [MR, p. 309] This was probably due to Melkor causing strrife that these legends came about. Andreth was one of the Wise among the Edain and she was learned in the lore of the houses of Beor and of
Marach who say, "plainly that Men are not by nature short-lived, but have become so through the malice of the Lord of the Darkness... the Wise among Men say: 'We were not made for death, nor born ever to die. Death was imposed upon us.'... we knew that in our beginning we had been born
never to die...
born to life everlasting, without any shadow of any end." [p. 309, 314]. She said that the difference between death for the Eldar and Men is that, "dying we die, and we go out to no return... an uttermost end... it is abominable; for it is also a wrong that is done to us." [p. 311] Finrod claimed that such a thing would be an amazing feat, "to
change the doom of a whole people of the Children, to
rob them of their inheritance: if he could do that in Eru's despite, then greater and more terrible is he by far than we guessed... to doom the deathless to death, from father unto son, and yet to leave to them the memory of an inheritance taken away, and the desire for what is lost:
could the Morgoth do this?... I do not believe your tale.
None could have done this save
the One... How did ye anger Eru?" [p. 312-313]. Finrod said that the Eldar percieve that, "the
fëar of Men are
not, as are ours,
confined to Arda, nor is Arda their home." [p. 315] Finrod said they are guests in Arda, like one visiting a country seeing new things, whereas Arda was the home of the Eldar, and they live in that country and always must.