ELVEN IMMORTALITY AS A

LITERARY-NARRATIVE EXPERIMENT

by Alberto Quagliaroli CM

PREMISE
Through this work I'd like to propose an unusual way of considering some literary creations.
The basic hypothesis is that some authors in their literary creations, consciously or unconsciously,
have made some form of experimental research on the concrete reality of men. To try and
understand if this has happened or it could happen, I chose to compare the method used in the
laboratory scientific experiments with the way some writers operate when they are specially
oriented to discover fundamental elements of human nature.
I will apply, in part, a simple method called 'theory/demonstration' to my research. First I will
expose the basic scheme of the work (1.), then I will show the scheme, and the objectives, on which
lab experiments of the 'so-called' positive sciences are founded (2.), after that I'll suggest an
application of the lab experiments to the theme of Immortality of the mythological Tolkien works
(3.), with peculiar attention to “tests” on elven Immortality (4.). Finally I'll examine the results (5.)
and appraise the method suggested.

1 THE BASIC THEORY

The basic theory I propose is the following one: it is possible that some
literary work, novel or tale, but also myth, legend or sacred text, have been
structured to demonstrate, o try to arrange, a theory explicating some
aspect of the natural or human condition.
The just displayed theory will be applied to Tolkienian Legendarium. So the
applicative hypothesis on which this work lays: Tolkien creating the race of the
Elves (fundamental category of the Legendarium characters), developed
(consciously o in a partially conscious way) in a literary context an experiment
about the effect immortality would have on human type creatures (Elves) and on
relationships that would be established between these immortal creatures and
the Men as mortal creatures.
It should be presupposed that this experiment should be developed respecting

1
the internal coherence principle1 of a literary work. Finally the last precise
statement is: Tolkien's literary experiment should be more similar to a lab
experiment oriented to find an explanatory theory, than to a lab experiment
oriented to demonstrate a preexisting theory; although Tolkien catholic religious
creed shouldn't be underestimated, because it establishes quite explicit principles
about death and immortality of man as God's creature.

2 FROM THE LAB EXPERIMENT TO THE NARRATIVE EXPERIMENT

Now I shortly display the scheme of a normal lab experiment2.
Its components are:
(a) existence of a problem
(b) explanatory hypothesis of the problem, having the purpose of orienting the
experiment (if it is an experiment to discover) or of trying a theory that has to be
confirmed o denied (in the case it would be an experiment to demonstrate)
(c) checked conditions similar to those found in nature in an isolated internal
environment, as far as possible, from outside, to reduce to the minimum the
influence of troubling factors;
(d) a series of pre-arranged constant, independent, and dependent parameters;
(e) repetitions of the experiment with variations of the independent and
dependent parameters to demonstrate the ground of the proposed theories;
briefly, in the empiric science the experiment to demonstrate has the purpose to
prove the validity of a theory finalized to explain a phenomenon; the experiment to
discover has the purpose to find a new theory that explains a phenomenon or for
which the existing theories are shown insufficient or for which no theory exists.
Through the experiment, in both cases one starts from a problem that becomes a
point of departure or to prove a theory or to look out upon a new theory. It should
be noted that for the experiment to discover one or more hypothesis are not
indispensable, having a problem to solve is enough; also, the experiment could be
made only to see “what happens”.

1
This principle has to be considered essential for a good fairy story in the Tolkien mythopoietic theory, cf. On Fairy Stories.
2
For a more systematical treatment I send to: GILLES-GIORELLO (1998) e STOKES (2002), for complete citation: cf.
Bibligraphy of R. Arduini – C. A. Testi (eds.), The Broken Scythe: Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking
Tree Editions, 2012, English translation of the Italian essay in which the present essay was included ( La falce spezzata – Morte e
immortalità in J.R.R. Tolkien, Casa Editrice Marietti S.p.A., Genova-Milano 2009). The present essay doesn't appear in the
English translation (see, also, further in this text).

2
 For checking if a narration could be seen as a narrative experiment, the
questions to answer to are:
(a) which is the existential problem?
(b) what is, in the narration, the hypothesis or the hypotheses, the theory or
the theories, which can explain the existential problem?
(c) is the environment described by the narration assimilable to an internal environment isolated
from the external one and characterized by similar conditions to those found in the living reality3?
(d) which should be the constant, independent and dependent parameters?
For the parameters it is necessary to emphasize the elasticity of the analogy: in the empiric science
experiment parameters can be measured and quantified in mathematical terms, in the narration this
is extremely arduous. For now I make only some theoretic examples of possible transpositions:
 possible constant parameters could be: basic ideas that cannot be disputed during the
narration and are shared by every character or incontestable facts reported by the narrator;
 possible independent parameters could be: sequences of facts of different importance or
ideas of the characters that correspond to conditions they find;
 possible dependent parameters could be: reactions of the characters to sequence of facts of
different importance or modifications of the attitudes of the characters during the narration;
the transposition of this component (d) perhaps is the most serious obstacle to face. It's necessary to
put it in practice, applying it to the literary text to verify its validity.
(e) do any event or test repetition, with variation of independent parameters and corresponding
variation of dependent parameters, exist to find a solution to the existential problem? It all depends
from the individuation of what elements can be considered parameters of the narrative experiment.
3 ELVEN IMMORTALITY AS NARRATIVE EXPERIMENT: THE COMPONENTS
3.1 DEATH AND IMMORTALITY IN THE TOLKIENIAN NARRATIVE
Tokien often underlined that death is one of the principal matters of his Legendarium. It could be
remembered, for example, among Tolkien Letters, the one4 in which Tolkien proposes the
publication of The Lord of the Ring together with The Silmarillion (as it was compiled around 1950,
and that has been refused by Allen & Unwin), to Milton Waldman (Collins publishers). In this letter
Tolkien summarizes very well, and with personal considerations, his work. In the letter Tolkien

3
Thus, living reality should correspond to the narrative experiment as the external environment corresponds to the lab
experiment. Usually a narration describes reality more or less well, but it isn't reality. One could ask some more specific
questions: does the text of a narration describe existential conditions and events of the experience of human concrete life? and are
quite enough realistic the reactions to such events? These questions will be set if it will be necessary.
4
J.R.R. TOLKIEN, The letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, H. Carpenter - C. R. Tolkien, Harper Collins Publishers, London 1995,
Letter 131.

3
gives some guidelines to 'apply'5 his personal literary creation.
Anyway all this stuff is mainly concerned with Fall, Mortality, and the Machine. With Fall inevitably, and that
motive occurs in several modes. With Mortality, especially as it affects art and the creative (or as I should say,
sub-creative) desire which seems to have no biological function, and to be apart from the satisfactions of plain
ordinary biological life, with which, in our world, it is indeed usually at strife.

In this text Mortality isn't properly the death of beings who give up their life, but it seems similar to
a concept akin to decadence. Tolkien, in the same letter, describes the principal creatures of The
Silmarillion; he begins from the Valar, outlined as angelic powers and with characteristics of the
high mythology and great 'sectoral' powers upon creation and evidently immortal; after that he
describes the two akin races of Elves and Men with more or less the same bodily structure, but
radically different in their relationship with death; in Elves ordinarily it's possible to die only
because of violence or spontaneous renouncement to a living terrestrial body, in Men death is
always an ineluctable destiny. This fundamental difference between two races, that are similar for
many others aspects (at least considering them from outside of Tolkien Sub-Creation), come out
from every relationship and every comparison between Elves and Men.
From what I have said I think it would be easy to recognize the fundamental role of Mortality and
Immortality in Tolkien's Legendarium. So, it is already possible from now, to catalog the question
mortality/immortality as an existential problem investigated in the narration ((a) factor of the
experiment).
To increase the basis of my hypothesis about the experiment, I should mention a passage of the
letter 181 (of 1956) of Tolkien6:
In this mythological world the Elves and Men are in their incarnate forms kindred, but in the relation of their
'spirits' to the world in time represent different 'experiments', each of which has its own natural trend, and
weakness.
And it cannot miss another precious quotation, from the essay On Fairy-Stories:
Fairy-stories are made by men not by fairies. The Human-stories of the elves are doubtless full of the Escape
from Deathlessness. [...] Few lessons are taught more clearly in them than the burden of that kind of immortality,
or rather endless serial living, to which the “fugitive” would fly. For the fairy-story is specially apt to teach such
things, of old and still today7.

5
See J.R.R. TOLKIEN, The letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, H. Carpenter - C. R. Tolkien, Harper Collins Publishers, London 1995,
Letter 203: “That there is no allegory does not, of course, say there is no applicability. There always is. And since I have not made
the struggle wholly unequivocal: sloth and stupidity among hobbits, pride and [illegible] among Elves, grudge and greed in
Dwarf-hearts, and folly and wickedness among the 'Kings of Men', and treachery and power-lust even among the 'Wizards', there
is I suppose applicability in my story to present times”. See also letter 215 from the same book: “ I have no didactic purpose, and
no allegorical intent. (I do not like allegory (properly so called: most readers appear to confuse it with significance or
applicability) but that is a matter too long to deal with here.)”
6
J.R.R. TOLKIEN, The letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, H. Carpenter - C. R. Tolkien, Harper Collins Publishers, London 1995,
Letter 181.
7
J.R.R. TOLKIEN, On Fairy Stories, paragraph “Recovery, escape, consolation”; see also the chapter by Roberto Arduini
(“Tolkien, Death and Time: the Fairy Story within the Picture”) in R. Arduini – C. A. Testi (eds.), The Broken Scythe: Death and
Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking Tree Editions, 2012.

4
In this last quotation it's interesting to underline the expression in italic. The phrase proposes a
mechanism of analysis of human reality not distant from the notion of experiment, probably, more
'to demonstrate' than 'to discover'; anyway an experiment of the kind I'm trying to show in this
work.
Fairy Stories talking about escape from this Deathlessness (especially Tokien's Fairy Stories), are
able to analyze the effects of Immortality and could conclude that it isn't an ideal way of living in
the world. It is possible it would become an unbearable weight or produce a kind of life that risks to
lose purpose or meaning, or simply is not for the terrestrial man.
The last problem, but probably it cannot be resolved definitely, is if the conclusions about effects of
immortality are discovered, demonstrated or only shown as a belief of the author.
3.2 FACTORS OF A POSSIBLE NARRATIVE EXPERIMENT
3.2.1. THE PROBLEM (a)
We have established that the (a) factor, the existential problem, can be identified in the human
mortality, or, more precisely, in the effect of a possible human immortality and in the
information it could offer to deepen the question of mortality.
3.2.2. THE HYPOTHESIS (b)
The second factor (b) would be the hypothesis proposed to solve the problem of mortality, in
studying the effects of immortality. This hypothesis (partially overlapping the factor (a) to the factor
(b)) proposed to deepen the question of mortality should be: which effect could have
immortality on sentient creatures belonging to the human kind?
3.2.3. ENVIRONMENT (C)
The described environment (c) probably is the simplest factor to manage. Narrations, so much more
if fantastic or science fiction ones, are circumscribed to the literary invention, to worlds delimited
by an author, so they can be considered isolated environments. But they must guarantee the internal
coherence, to correspond to the real world they reproduce (it is necessary to start from one's
experience in Primary World to create a fantastic reality). The real world has inflexible laws for its
existence, laws that cannot contradict with each other. According to Tolkien this principle is
described in this way in the essay On Fairy Stories:
Fantasy has also an essential drawback: it is difficult to achieve. Fantasy may be, as I think, not less but more
sub-creative; but at any rate it is found in practice that “the inner consistency of reality” is more difficult to
produce, the more unlike are the images and the rearrangements of primary material to the actual arrangements
of the Primary World. […] Anyone inheriting the fantastic device of human language can say the green sun.
Many can then imagine or picture it. But that is not enough, […]
To make a Secondary World inside which the green sun will be credible, commanding Secondary Belief, will
probably require labour and thought, and will certainly demand a special skill, a kind of elvish craft. Few attempt
such difficult tasks. But when they are attempted and in any degree accomplished then we have a rare

5
 achievement of Art: indeed narrative art, storymaking in its primary and most potent mode8.
Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason; and it does not either
blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity. On the contrary. The keener and the clearer
is the reason, the better fantasy will it make9.

Tolkien compiled the essay On Fairy Stories between the publication of The Hobbit and of The
Lord of the Rings. It is some a kind of methodological program of his narrative style. In a letter 10 (a
draft letter, yet cited by me) Tolkien clearly writes that The Lord of the Rings was a practical
demonstration of ideas he expressed in the essay On Fairy Stories:
Thank you for your letter. I hope that you have enjoyed The Lord of the Rings? Enjoyed is the key-word. For it
was written to amuse (in the highest sense): to be readable. There is no 'allegory', moral, political, or
contemporary in the work at all.
It is a 'fairy-story', but one written - according to the belief I once expressed in an extended essay ' On Fairy-
stories' that they are the proper audience - for adults.

Apart from the brief hint of letter 181 I cited, clearly Tolkien doesn't say a word about the
possibility of narrative or literary experiments; but the need for the Reason, “the inner consistency
of reality”, to have an effective fantasy work, guarantee a proper environment for an experiment:
isolation and conditions similar to primary reality.
3.2.4. PARAMETERS (d)
The constant parameters, could be the basic assumption about immortality of the Elves (and
about correspondent mortality of Men), on the existence of a single Creator and on Ainur,
immortal angelic creatures (data never changed by Tolkien in his Sub-Creation).
The independent variables could be the ways in which this immortality presents itself:
immortality and illness, immortality and violent death, immortality and reincarnation (or
return to life).
I propose as dependent variables, as it regards Elves, their way of acting in absence of any kind
of illness, their way of considering life, how they act and behave if they return to life, their
attitude towards the Creator and other races.
3.2.5. TEST REPETITIONS (e)
The test repetitions should indicate the variation of dependent variables
according to values of independent variables; for example, given a people
immortal and immune to illnesses (independent variable), how his way of acting

8
J.R.R. TOLKIEN, On Fairy Stories, paragraph “Fantasy”; I haven't the essay in an edited book, so I cannot give precise
references.
9
J.R.R. TOLKIEN, On Fairy Stories, paragraph “Fantasy”.
10
J.R.R. TOLKIEN, The letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, H. Carpenter - C. R. Tolkien, Harper Collins Publishers, London 1995,
Letter 181.

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in the world varies in relation with other races11.
Here, there's a sheet (table) that summarize what I have said.

Factors of the experiment Lab experiment Narrative experiment in Tolkien

(a) Existence of the problem Falling bodies The human mortality
(b) Hypothesis
What kind of effects immortality produces on a people of sentient
To discover What law for falling bodies
creatures
Demonstrate the equal acceleration Demonstrate that immortality is not more proper to a people of
To demonstrate
for any falling body sentient creatures than mortality
Void environment, without air
(c) Isolated environment The coherent world created by Tolkien
friction
Discrete qualitative variables (as they could be masculine and
(d) Parameters Quantitative variables
feminine in a sociological research)
Void, thermal radiation, (relative)
Existence of Eru creator of Arda and of the races living in it, elven
Constants stillness of the environment, way in
immortality, human mortality
which bodies are allowed to fall
Mass and shape of the objects, used
in the experiment, subjected to Elven immortality in its different sides: immunity to diseases, way
Independent variables
gravity; and eventually height of the in which their lives end, what can happen after death.
fall
Time of arrival and space covered in Ways in which elves consider themselves and ways in which they
Dependent variables the unity of time of the objects used stay in relation with world and other races mortal and immortal
in the experiment (Valar and Maiar).
Events of the history of Middle-Earth and relationship with the
Tests with different masses and creation and other peoples in which are get involved Elves as
(e) Tests with variation of parameters
shapes of the bodies used immortal creatures, who can die only in certain ways and can
return on Earth in certain occasions

The application of this scheme will be limited to the narrations edited with Tolkien living (The
Hobbit12 and The Lord of the Rings), adding to them The Silmarillion that is, as it is known, a sort of
synthesis of the history of the Middle-Earth, published posthumous and edited by J. R. R. Tolkien's
son Christopher Tolkien13; I wanted to consider it because it was almost completely written,
structured and organized with the author yet living and, in its final editorial form had been as much

11
I will not consider relationships of Elves with the Creator because they concern more strictly to the faith than to the
existential reality in itself and because Tolkien reduces a lot relationships between Creator and creatures apart from the immortal
Valar.. For a religious reading of the tolkienian opus I cross-reference to: BRIZER (2002), SPIRITO (2003), CALDECOTT (2009) -
see complete Bibliography about these books in R. Arduini – C. A. Testi (eds.), The Broken Scythe: Death and Immortality in the
Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking Tree Editions, 2012.
12
In The Hobbit there aren't very much data to use for the application of the present work. The Hobbit is more a fable than a
Fairy-Story, so it isn't appropriate investigating the great theme of mortality, as, on the contrary, it is possible in The Silmarillion
and The Lord of the Rings. See also RATELIFF (2007 pp. 720-723) – cf. about this book Bibliography in R. Arduini – C. A. Testi
(eds.), The Broken Scythe: Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking Tree Editions, 2012.
13
The complete attribution to J.R.R. Tolkien of The Silmarillion is discussed; but as for the very rich content of the book
about the question of immortality and for the fact that anyway it has a complete and harmonized with others published narrations
shape, I cannot exclude it from the present work; I leave the question about full attribution of it to Tolkien to specialized scholars.
About the editing of The Silmarillion, see: FLIEGER-HOSTETTER (2000), WITTINGHAM (2007) e the recent KANE (2009) – see
complete Bibliography about these books in R. Arduini – C. A. Testi (eds.), The Broken Scythe: Death and Immortality in the
Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking Tree Editions, 2012.

7
as possible harmonized with the other complete narrative works (The Hobbit14 and The Lord of the
Rings). The cross-references to the Letters or to HoME (History of Middle-Earth), edited by the son
Christopher, will not be systematic.

4 ANALYSIS OF THE TESTS RELATED TO ELVEN IMMORTALITY

In this chapter I will try to point out, on the one hand, stories, part of stories or, in some cases,
explanations, which can be considered tests in which independent variables change; on the other
hand I'll try to show which modifications take place in the dependent variables.
4.1 ELVEN IMMORTALITY AS IMMUNITY FROM DISEASES (INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE), AND ITS EFFECTS (DEPENDENT VARIABLE)
In general it's obvious, in The Silmarillion and in The Lord of the Rings, that Elves don't get sick,
but there are other elements to consider15.
Fëanor, the most gifted elf of his people, when is born, in some way consumes his mother's life, so
much that she, first among the Elves, dies of weakness.
A lot of Elves who have crossed the north of the world die among the icy wastes; it isn't clear if they
die of weakness or because of accidents among the frozen wastes.
Other details emerge from the words of the 'dark figure' (probably Mandos), a “loud voice, solemn
and terrible”16, who spoke 'in dark words' to Fëanor and his descent, after the massacre they
perpetrated against the Teleri by the hands of the Noldor because of the quest of the Silmarils
robbed by Melkor:
For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Eä, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain
ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There
long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat
for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a
great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The
Valar have spoken17.

These examples confirm that sickness, intended as microbial infections, isn't a thing to be faced by
Elves, but they tell also that depression, weakness provoked by strain, the psycho-physic-spiritual
decay and the community deterioration, can hurt Elves, and even (but this can be found in other
parts of the Legendarium) they can transform Elves in shadows of their lives. A last example is the
destiny of Elves proud and bloodthirsty of the Fëanor's lineage, that, when they are killed : “There
14
In The Hobbit there aren't very much data to use for the application of the present work. The Hobbit is more a fable than a
Fairy-Story, so it isn't appropriate investigating the great theme of mortality, as, on the contrary, it is possible in The Silmarillion
and The Lord of the Rings.
15
See Giampaolo Canzonieri's chapter (“A misplaced Envy – Analogies and Differences between Elves and Men on the Idea
of Pain”) in R. Arduini – C. A. Testi (eds.), The Broken Scythe: Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking
Tree Editions, 2012.
16
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, Illustrated, Houghton Mifflin, p. 39.
17
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion Illustrated, p. 39.

8
(n.d.r. in the Mandos mansions) long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies...”18
For as the way of living this immunity, Tolkien tells us quite enough about the habits of Elves to let
us understand little much more. Elves make marvelous artifacts (of course they have time for
working...); particularly the Silmarils created by Fëanor, are the most powerful, precious and fine
jewels of the history of the Tolkien Secondary World. Also almost every construction, jewel and
weapon of the Elves has characteristics that Men consider magic; while Elves consider that 'magic'
is a result of a power inherent in the nature of the things, they love and have taken care of for so
much time during their long life. In most cases, they tend to consider other races as inferior: they
call Men, moreover, 'the Sickly', Dwarves 'the Stunted People' (Naugrim, Sindar gave to them this
name). Certainly Elves are great warriors, but Men (the Sickly) and Dwarves (the Stunted People)
aren't less great; Elves have great magic powers, but the Evil, led prior by Melkor, then by his
lieutenant Sauron, can have a more powerful magic. They are intelligent and numerous (in the
beginning) and they rise first in the world, but their number grows less than Men's. So, immunity to
diseases, tends to become one characteristic among others and not a too much enviable and absolute
privilege.
Therefore, if it could be a matter of, ecological equilibrium (so to speak), or functionality of the
stories or coherence of the laws of a Secondary World, immunity from illnesses doesn't appear an
element of big advantage for the Elves in the worldly life.

4.2 IMMORTALITY OF ELVES, THEIR POSSIBLE VIOLENT DEATH (INDEPENDENT

VARIABLE) AND CONSEQUENCES OF THAT ON ELVEN LIFE (DEPENDENT VARIABLE)
Violent death is the second independent variable proposed; Elves can be beaten-up and killed by
violence. In The Silmarillion, it seems Melkor had kidnapped large numbers of Elves to torture
them causing their degeneration, perhaps to produce Orcs (the well known race of Melkor slaves
which constitutes the biggest part of his hosts), o to get spies (Gondolin will also be discovered
thanks to various cases of human but also Elven espionage), or to draw from them slave
blacksmiths or workers. A crowd of Elves will die in the wars against Melkor and his allies and
slaves. Because of all of this, it cannot be argued Elves are so much privileged; certainly their oldest
works (swords or jewels) have great power, and will be decisive for the struggle against Evil; but
the definitive overthrow of Sauron, the Lord of the Rings, was possible only thanks to the
destruction of the One Ring, and the Elven Rings weren't decisive, helped only in that destruction,
because their creator, the elf Celebrimbor, nephew of Fëanor, had forged them using the 'know-how'

18
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion Illustrated,, p. 39.

9
of Sauron, who, for his part, exploited the knowledge of Celebrimbor to forge his One Ring. These
facts show that Elves, despite their immortality, cannot put aside help from other 'humanoid' 19 races,
mortal and susceptible to diseases races. However, despite all their gifts and immortality over all,
Elves are destined to be overcome by Men 20. Therefore, mortality caused by violence contributes
to reduce Elves to the 'normality' of the world that changes, transforms, decays.
4.3 IMMORTALITY OF ELVES, REBIRTH/RETURN/REINCARNATION (INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE), AND ITS POSSIBLE EFFECTS (DEPENDENT VARIABLE)
It has been written quite enough about reincarnation of Elves, but there's no certainty it should be a
constant law of Tolkien's Secondary World21. In any case, it can be said rebirth is never an important
phenomenon capable of involving a lot of Elves: in Tolkienian narrations such cases are really very
few (Glorfindel, Finrod, Miriel). Overall, it can be said that the dependent variable 'effect of
reincarnation' is a little developed in Tolkienian Legendarium.
4.4 WAYS OF LIVING ELVISH IMMORTALITY IN THE WORLD
The three greater elven Rings of Power, created by Celebrimbor 22 are paradigmatic of the
relationship of Elves with the world. They were very powerful Rings, but one of their most peculiar
characteristics was the capability of preserving things, places, people. To understand the relation
between these Rings and elven immortality, I remember the case of the Hidden Land of Lothlórien
(Lórien) ruled by Galadriel (also, she was a distant, and indirect relative of Fëanor and she was a
Noldor). The kingdom was isolated and defended against Sauron's servants through incessant
overseeing of its inhabitants and the 'magic' (in a human sense), and a part of this 'magic' was the
power of Nenya, the Celebrimbor's Ring worn by Galadriel. Lórien had a peculiar property for
mortal creatures, time seemed not passing, and the seasons followed each other very slowly and
with little changes, so much that it was difficult to differentiate them (and that land wasn't in a
equatorial or tropical climate); moreover non-elvish visitors lost track of time. An important effect
of the theoretically infinite, without diseases, elvish life, was that they liked continuity; they
would have desired the times of the world wouldn't pass so quickly; from their point of view,
things, forests, personal and community experiences should have continued more equal

19
Tolkien surely wouldn't have accepted this adjective, but I use it to facilitate and shorten my exposition.
20
In the Ainulindalë it is said: “And some have said that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment of the Dominion of Men and the
fading of the Firstborn; wherefore, though the Music is over all, the Valar have not seen as with sight the Later Ages or the ending
of the World” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion Illustrated, p. 5). See also the passage of Letter 181, yet cited.
21
See essay by Claudio Testi (“Tolkien's Legendarium as a meditatio mortis”) in R. Arduini – C. A. Testi (eds.), The Broken
Scythe: Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking Tree Editions, 2012.
22
Celebrimbor forged the three elven Rings of Power using the knowledge of Sauron, who presented himself as Lord of
Gifts; fortunately Celebrimbor kept free his Rings from the evil influence of the Sauron's One Ring, though he should hide them
and not be able to face directly Sauron's Ring. With the destruction of the One, the destiny of the three elven Rings was to lose
their powers.

10
possible through the ages of the world. It could be as when a very old man lives only of his
memoirs, in the case of a man it is because he is going towards the end of his life and he hasn't
energy and enthusiasm any more to follow the events in the world. In the case of Elves it was
because a lot of things, but especially people they loved, continued to pass, decay and leave the
world, while they were unchanged. The world transformed itself too quickly for the way they
perceived the passing of time23. Here, the great desire to preserve the things most unchanged; the
tendency, through centuries and centuries, to feel ever more the veil of sorrow, to the point of
desiring to abandon Earth and go beyond the sea, where, only for the immortal races (Elves and
Valar), existed the beautiful Undying Lands, unchanging, ruled by the good Valar and Maiar and by
other Elves who lived there from preceding ages, having left the too quickly changing world.
Nonetheless, the sad elven condition in the Undying Lands shines through a lot of Tolkien pages;
the lack of evolution is also a little form of death, but, perhaps, it is so because we cannot see that
condition, but through our sensibility as Men of the Primary World, mortal and susceptible to
diseases exactly like the Men of the Secondary World of Tolkien.
4.5 FINAL STATEMENTS ON THE TESTS OF THE ELVEN IMMORTALITY
I briefly explain why I didn't considered the independent variable 'life after death' for the Elves. The
Halls of Mandos, where every elf ends his life when he dies, is very similar to certain images of the
Biblical sheol or of a lot of other places for corpses in some pagan cultures: an incorporeal and
unproductive life, consisting only in waiting the end of the world once known; the same it is, more
or less, for the possible 'dwindling' of Elves until the definitive development of the Ages of Men.
The life after death of Elves doesn't bring new ideas in comparison to what ancient pagan myths and
legends tried to experiment in 'narrative' ways. There's only the already considered 'return' of some
Elves, but its importance, we have said, is very relative.
Note, finally, that similar repetitions of tests relative to the mortality of the race of Man, instead of
the immortality of Elves, could be introduced. I postpone it to other specific works. For the present
it is enough for me to prove that it is possible to apply, in the form I propose, the scheme of the lab
experiment to a narrative experiment, and for the 'immortality experiment' this is enough.

5 RESULTS OF THE APPLICATION OF THE LAB EXPERIMENT TO

TOLKIENIAN NARRATIVE

From the analysis I made in the last chapter it can be said that a-b-c-d-e factors of the scientific
experiment have been effectively ascribed to immortality as it emerges from the Elves of Tolkienian

23
There is a lot of counter evidence about this fact, I suggest to read a text yet cited, Letters 181; there, it is well explicated
the elven conservatism.

11
narrative. Now we can ask ourselves: have the different tests given adequate results to propose any
useful hypothesis about the problem of human mortality in the Primary World?
Elves, because of their immortality, have a conservative attitude towards the world that surrounds
them (see the case of Lórien); they learned to use time and space available to them very well (see
their dwellings and artifacts, fair and powerful: Silmarils, the three elven Rings, special weapons
etc.). But they need however the contact with the Valars, and with the other people of the earth, they
must defend themselves and can die against the Evil ruled by Melkor, and then by Sauron; some of
them fight with mighty force and violence against Evil, forgetting also the tight race bonds (the
obvious reference is at the massacre perpetrated against the Teleri by the Noldor of Fëanor to reach
the 'supreme good' of the recovery of the Silmarils and the vengeance against Melkor). They tend to
treat other races with contempt, for example Men (the Sickly); but, a lot of times they recognize the
bravery and the importance of mortal Men. Their remote future is, confronted with human destiny, a
sort of prison; they have great power over the world, but they belong much more to the world than
Men do; unlike the Men, Elves must coexist indefinitely with the world: Men after their death have
an open future untied to the world, moreover, in the latest ages of history, they will have a
dominating role on Earth and they will undertake the task to transform the world and to bring it to
his accomplishment.
That this is for a rightful equilibrium of strengths between races or to give credibility to the
relationship among the inhabitants of the Secondary World or for the general coherence of the
Secondary World or for other motives, Elves, endowed with the immortality, despite all, are marked
by experiences similar to those of mortal races.
A world with the existence of an immortality of elven kind would be reasonable therefore, but
man could not maintain all the characteristics that constitute his anthropological
configuration. Man's research and inventive ability should be much more connected and respectful
of nature, it should better integrate itself with the surrounding environment; man certainly would be
more conservative, less violent and evil than our history has accustomed ourselves even if not free
from tyranny and hate; for instance, access to spatial flights, to computer science, to robotics or to
genetic knowledge or to atom would perhaps be acquired slower or even not acquired at all. In
Tolkien's thought, magic and technology were somewhat similar 24; but technology is able of greater
24
See Letters, 131, “Anyway all this stuff (Ed: his narrative creation) is mainly concerned with Fall, Mortality, and the
Machine. With Fall inevitably, and that motive occurs in several modes. With Mortality, especially as it affects art and the creative
(or as I should say, sub-creative) desire which seems to have no biological function, and to be apart from the satisfactions of plain
ordinary biological life, with which, in our world, it is indeed usually at strife. This desire is at once wedded to a passionate love
of the real primary world, and hence filled with the sense of mortality, and yet unsatisfied by it. It has various opportunities of
'Fall'. It may become possessive, clinging to the things made as 'its own', the sub-creator wishes to be the Lord and God of his
private creation. He will rebel against the laws of the Creator - especially against mortality. Both of these (alone or together) will
lead to the desire for Power, for making the will more quickly effective, - and so to the Machine (or Magic). By the last I intend all
use of external plans or devices (apparatus) instead of development of the inherent inner powers or talents - or even the use of

12
destructive power and gives more occasions of supremacy over other people; in the Tolkienian
Secondary World, machines belong more to evil than to good. On the contrary if man maintained
his prerogatives, then immortality, perhaps, would become a further and worse source of evil;
so much to assimilate him more to Melkor, as Eru had predicted about the mortality status of Men:
But Ilúvatar knew that Men, being set amid the turmoils of the powers of the world, would stray often, and
would not use their gifts in harmony; and he said: ''These too in their time shall find that all that they do
redounds at the end only to the glory of my work.' Yet the Elves believe that Men are often a grief to Manw ë,
who knows most of the mind of Ilúvatar; for it seems to the Elves that Men resemble Melkor most of all the
Ainur, although he has ever feared and hated them, even those that served him.25

Briefly resuming, we can say that the most remarkable result of the experiment about
immortality is a sort of lowering of the immortal status. The eternal youth 'mythology' isn't the
key to happiness, it would be only another way of life with its pros and cons, and, rather, it could
be, possibly, less favorable than mortality. We can argue if this result has been wanted by Tolkien as
a christian believer (therefore, if this has been only shown by someone convinced of that, or it was
an experiment to demonstrate a belief), o if exigences of coherence or of 'cogency of the
experiment' have made that result inevitable (that is, it has been objectively demonstrated). The first
case I suggested (Tolkien christian believer that shows his belief) wouldn't totally falsify the theory
of the 'narrative' experiment, but it would put it among the showings rather than among
experimental demonstrations. For the moment I will not deepen what kind of narrative experiment,
to show or to demonstrate, is the Tolkien one. Obviously the first case could be a little too distant
from the analogy of the lab experiment.
Often science fiction narrations talk about everlasting life and its consequences, as far as I'm
concerned I can only suggest to look for other possible narrative experiments on death and
immortality in those works.
Tolkien had spoken a lot of times about death and immortality in the parts of his Legendarium
edited after his death (and written during his whole life), whoever likes to deepen the question has a
great field of research in History of Middle Earth.
Also, to deepen the matter, I suggest to read the recent publication The Broken Scythe: Death and
Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Walking Tree Editions, translation of the Italian book La
Falce Spezzata – Morte e immortalità in J.R.R. Tolkien, Marietti 1820, in which this work was
present, but was not translated in the English edition.

6 EVALUATION OF THE THEORY AND THE METHOD

these talents with the corrupted motive of dominating: bulldozing the real world, or coercing other wills. The Machine is our more
obvious modern form though more closely related to Magic than is usually recognized” .
25
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion Illustrated, p. 16.

13
 6.1 THE TOLKIENIAN NARRATIVE EXPERIMENT: CONSCIOUS, UNCONSCIOUS OR PARTIALLY

CONSCIOUS?

After the practical application of the analogy with the lab experiment, it would seem possible argue
that in some cases the tales can be considered a kind of research and deepening of human nature. It
results from the Letters that, in some occasions, Tolkien has explained that he didn't have idea of
how continuing his most famous novel, The Lord of the Ring; to recognize that, for instance, let us
see some examples:
I hope to see him tomorrow, and read some more of 'the Ring'. It is growing and sprouting again (I did a whole
day at it yesterday to the neglect of many matters) and opening out in unexpected ways26

In another Letter, also, to Christopher Tolkien:

A new character has come on the scene (I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like
him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, the brother of Boromir 27

In a preceding letter (August 1938), in a similar way he said:

I have begun again on the sequel to the 'Hobbit' - The Lord of the Ring. It is now flowing along, and getting quite
out of hand. It has reached about Chapter VII and progresses towards quite unforeseen goals.28

All these statements have in common the conscience of the author to be writing a work in progress
of which he doesn't know the end yet. Tolkien is playing by ear, a thing that writers rarely do.
Usually, writers prepare a scheme of their romances with beginning points and principal stages of
the plot, only later they begin to write the text of the narration. On the contrary, Tolkien seems one
who is telling himself a story discovering the plot little by little. It cannot be denied that Tolkien's
work at least had a strange way of proceeding, that, as it happens, draws his narration near a
research to discover something. This way of proceeding is also in tune with the factors of the lab
scientific research I presented, though opportunely modified for literary exigences.
The functioning of some kind of narrative or myths or legends, could include
some form of demonstration and attempt to explain the deep attitudes of man or
of his mind, but it could be also (without contradicting the preceding function) a
natural way to proceed of our mind, more oriented to discover and solve problems
than that of any other species of our world.
But it is difficult to say if Tolkien was really making any narrative research about mortality. Yet, the
fact that Tolkien had clearly spoken at least one time of an experiment about elven immortality (see
the yet cited Letters 181), can indeed suggest a Tolkien's specific orientation to sound nature and

26
Letters, 64.
27
Letters, 67.
28
Letters, 33.

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consequences of human mortality in the Primary World. Equivalent hypothesis also are:
Tolkien intended to demonstrate his theory on mortality or only to show his personal opinion
about it. Surely he never thought exactly something similar to what I have proposed in this essay,
that is, a conscious narrative experiment as the purpose for his fairy-stories. Nevertheless, he must
have had a partial conscience of searching answers on human mortality, given that in that occasion
he indeed talked about experiments29 in the relationship between 'spirits' of Men and Elves. As a
result of my last conjecture I exclude the idea that Legendarium was a completely unconscious
way to talk about the theme of human mortality.

6.2 CONGRUITY OF THE METHOD

At the end of this work I make a brief revision of the way in which the method of this research has
been applied. The basic theory has been presented in a simple and innovative form (it seems to me
that no one ever proposed such kind of theory, even as a partial explication of some aspect of
literary works or romances or tales or myths or legends): some literary works are structured and
realized to try and establish or demonstrate, a hypothesis explaining some characteristics of
the human condition.
The proposed theory somewhat circumscribes the investigation field to some narrative works, of
which Tolkien stories are examples, thus it will be applicable to a restricted number of tales, myths,
legends. It cannot have universal validity. This limited validity of the theory has another further
restriction, that can be noted in Tolkien's stories: these tales aren't thought to be primarily
experiments, the application of experimental method concern a specific level of reading of Tokien's
narrative texts, a lot of other ways are possible to interpret his work and to critically and literally
evaluate it. The reading level of the narrative experiment has only the prerogative to be reasonable
on the basis of some reflections written by Tolkien, but I haven't demonstrated neither that it was
the principal level nor that it was the definitive key to reading of Tolkien works.
This second series of thoughts obliges me to warn the reader about the risks of auto-reference of
this work. As author of the research I understand that, for the moment, I haven't the necessary
detachment to evaluate my work in a sufficiently critical way. I can surely say that the application
of the scheme of lab experiment to Tolkienian narrations has been successful, but it is possible that
the choice of factors for the narrative experiment has been made ad hoc (surely, in a unconscious
way, I'd like to assure) to succeed in the research. If it is possible, I invite the readers to attentively
sift the scheme of the research and the way in which it has been conducted. I hope that the
theoretical and experimental plan can be sharpened and that it could be possible to establish its
29
See also a little appendix at the end of this work.

15
effective value.

16
APPENDIX
From the Letter 181 To Michael Straight [drafts] - [Not dated; probably January or February 1956.]
Of course, in fact exterior to my story. Elves and Men are just different aspects of the Humane, and represent the
problem of Death as seen by a finite but willing and self-conscious person. In this mythological world the Elves
and Men are in their incarnate forms kindred, but in the relation of their 'spirits' to the world in time
represent different 'experiments', each of which has its own natural trend, and weakness. The Elves
represent, as it were, the artistic, aesthetic, and purely scientific aspects of the Humane nature raised to a higher
level than is actually seen in Men. That is: they have a devoted love of the physical world, and a desire to
observe and understand it for its own sake and as 'other' - sc. as a reality derived from God in the same degree as
themselves - not as a material for use or as a power-platform. They also possess a 'subcreational' or artistic
faculty of great excellence. They are therefore 'immortal'. Not 'eternally', but to endure with and within the
created world, while its story lasts. When 'killed', by the injury or destruction of their incarnate form, they do not
escape from time, but remain in the world, either discarnate, or being re-born. This becomes a great burden as
the ages lengthen, especially in a world in which there is malice and destruction (I have left out the mythological
form which Malice or the Fall of the Angels takes in this fable). Mere change as such is not represented as 'evil':
it is the unfolding of the story and to refuse this is of course against the design of God. But the Elvish weakness
is in these terms naturally to regret the past, and to become unwilling to face change: as if a man were to hate a
very long book still going on, and wished to settle down in a favourite chapter. Hence they fell in a measure to
Sauron's deceits: they desired some 'power' over things as they are (which is quite distinct from an), to make
their particular will to preservation effective: to arrest change, and keep things always fresh and fair. The 'Three
Rings' were 'unsullied', because this object was in a limited way good, it included the healing of the real damages
of malice, as well as the mere arrest of change; and the Elves did not desire to dominate other wills, nor to usurp
all the world to their particular pleasure. But with the downfall of 'Power' their little efforts at preserving the past
fell to bits. There was nothing more in Middle-earth for them, but weariness. So Elrond and Galadriel depart.
Gandalf is a special case. He was not the maker or original holder of the Ring - but it was surrendered to him by
CÃrdan, to assist him in his task. Gandalf was returning, his labour and errand finished, to his home, the land of
the Valar.
The passage over Sea is not Death. The 'mythology' is Elf-centred. According to it there was at first an actual
Earthly Paradise, home and realm of the Valar, as a physical part of the earth.

17
General index
Premise.................................................................................................................................................1
1 The basic theory...............................................................................................................................1
2 From the lab experiment to the narrative experiment.......................................................................2
3 Elven immortality as narrative experiment: the components...........................................................3
3.1 Death and Immortality in the Tolkienian narrative...................................................................3
3.2 Factors of a possible narrative experiment...............................................................................5
3.2.1. The problem (a).................................................................................................................5
3.2.2. The hypothesis (b).............................................................................................................5
3.2.3. Environment (c)................................................................................................................5
3.2.4. Parameters (d) ..................................................................................................................6
4 Analysis of the tests related to Elven immortality............................................................................7
4.1 Elven immortality as immunity from diseases (independent variable), and its effects
(dependent variable) .......................................................................................................................8
4.2 Immortality of Elves, their possible violent death (independent variable) and consequences
of that on elven life (dependent variable)........................................................................................9
4.3 Immortality of Elves, rebirth/return/reincarnation (independent variable), and its possible
effects (dependent variable)...........................................................................................................10
4.4 Ways of living Elvish immortality in the world......................................................................10
4.5 Final statements on the tests of the elven immortality............................................................11
5 Results of the application of the lab experiment to Tolkienian narrative.......................................11
6 Evaluation of the theory and the method........................................................................................13
6.1 The Tolkienian narrative experiment: conscious, unconscious or partially conscious? ........13
6.2 Congruity of the method.........................................................................................................15
Appendix............................................................................................................................................16

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