The Quenta Silmarillion Eucatastrophe-less

[Aiwendil]

Imladris wrote:

The story of the Silmarils is done...so, as a myth, it is also deserving of a eucatastrophe. Yet, in my opinion, it does not have one.

And Firefoot:

I agree very much - there is really no joy in the Quenta Silmarillion.

I must disagree strongly. I would say that there is joy in the Silmarillion and indeed that there is eucatastrophe. And I would not call the Quenta Silmarillion as a whole a tragedy, though it does have tragedy within it.

Is there no joy in Valinor before the making of the Sun? Is there no joy in Doriath during the same time? Is there no joy in the story of Beren and Luthien?

As for a eucatastrophe - the success of Earendil is in my view the quintessential eucatastrophe. Imladris writes:

No offense, but the fact that Earendil made it through to the west only after he regained a silmaril is not much of a eucatastrophe. I suppose that I am mainly upset with the unforgiveness of the Valar...you know what I mean?

What I'm saying is that that one small victory is not enough to make it a Eucatastrophe.

But it is not "one small victory". The ultimate evil being is defeated. All the lands and people that were under his rule are freed. The slaves come forth from Angband. And it is all unforeseen and unexpected. The Valar are not unforgiving - that's the point. It is precisely the mercy of the Valar that defeats Morgoth.

Yes, people die. That shouldn't be too surprising, considering that the subject of much of the tale is a six hundred year long war. And the ending is certainly not unmitigated cheerfulness. But neither is the end of LotR. Personally, I think that the moment when Earendil appears in the sky and battles Ancalagon is the most piercingly eucatastrophic moment in Tolkien's writing.

Edit: Cross-posting with Kuruharan, who makes the same points that I do more concisely.