Sassafras wrote:Andreth, a wise woman.
I love the very concept of "wise-woman" (even though Andreth herself uses it as term of self-scorn, in her bitterness).
She was wise in thought, and learned in the lore of men and their histories; for which reason the Eldar called her Saelind, 'Wise-heart'.
Of the Wise some were women, and they were greatly esteemed among Men, especially for their knowledge of the legends of ancient days. Another Wise-woman was Adanel, sister of Hador Lórindol.
There is a fragment of a tale told by Adanel Wise-woman about the Marring of men in the Notes attached to the Athrabeth which is remarkable in and of itself. But I will refrain from commenting about it further
at this time.
It is no wonder the Eldar (and particularly Finrod) esteemed Andreth.
He found her more ready to impart her knowledge to him than were most of the Wise among Men. A shadow seemed to le upon them, and there was a darkness behind them, of which they were loth to speak even among themselves. And they were in awe of the Eldar and would not easily reveal to them their thought or their legends. Indeed the Wise among Men (who were few) for the most part kept their wisdom secret and handed it on only to those whom they chose.
We see here the kind of divisions that have been discussed in the Shibboleth thread. But as one of our own Wise-women (who takes her name from this tale) pointed out in that thread, Finrod himself ("the wisest of the exiled Noldor") addresses the power of language in bridging these gulfs:
But why dost though say "mere words"? Do not words overpass the gulf between one life and another? Between thee and me surely more has passed than empty sound? Have we not drawn near at all?
In the most simple terms, I perceive this to be primarily a metaphysical conversation about Tolkien’s controversial concept of Death as a Gift.
I think that is true, Sass. Christopher stated in his commentary:
The Ahtrabeth Finrod ah Andreth perhaps marks the culmination of my father’s thought on the relation of Elves and Men, in Finrod’s exalted vision of the roiginal design of Eru for Mankind; but his central purpose was to explore full for the first time the nature of ‘the Marring of Men’.
But Tolkien himself, in his own remarkable (and crucial, in my opinion, to understanding the work) Commentary on the Athrabeth, says:
Actually, though it deals with such things as death and the relations of Elves and Men to Time and Arda, and to one another, its real purpose is dramatic: to exhibit the generosity of Finrod’s mind, his love and pity for Andreth, and the tragic situations that must arise in the meeting of Elves and Men (in the ages of the youth of the Elves).
It is, first and foremost, a beautifully told Tale of love and loss, and you yourself expressly so well, Sass.
Finrod listen while Andreth bitterly expounds on the fact that Men must die after such short lives while Elves are near immortal. Finrod explains the difference as this; that Men have a shadow behind them but Elves have a shadow before them. That even though Men are guests in the house of Arda they can, and will, depart on to life everlasting (the shadow behind) the Eldar are tied to the history of Arda … when it ends, as end it must, then they will cease to Be. (the shadow before)
I’ve read this Tale many times, and I still can’t say that I have completely wrapped my brain around it. There is so much to say, that if I try to say it all at once, I will simply give up in despair (as I have already come close to doing. So I’m just going to focus on one small portion.
Andreth describes to Finrod’s amazement that Men believe that they themselves were once immortal even as the Elves were. Finrod, however, recognizes that
their ‘immortality’ cannot have been the longevity within Arda of the Elves; otherwise they would have been simply Elves, and their separate introduction later into the Drama by Eru would have no function. ...
At the center of the difference between Men and Elves is the idea that the separation of
fëa and
hröa (roughly but not exactly equivalent to body and soul) is not a natural condition and results not from the original design, but from the “Marring of Arda” by Melkor. The
fëar of the Elves was bound to the Time of Arda. Even when they “die” of grief or wound, by the grace of the Valar they are (with certain exceptions, like Fëanor) allowed to ‘reincarnate’, rejoining
fëa with
hröa. The Elves, however, being bound to Arda, would then all truly die at the End of Arda. Since they knew not what this would mean, they “had a shadow before them.”
The
fëar of Men, on the other hand, left Time altogether at the time of death. Finrod places a very different interpretation on the “disaster” that befell Men in their Marring then Andreth does.
He therefore guesses that it is the fear of death that is the result of the disaster [not death itself]. It is feared because it now is combined with severance of hröa and fëa. But the fëar of Men must have been designed to leave Arda willingly or indeed by desire – maybe after a longer time than the present average human life, but still in a time very short compared with Elvish lives. Then basing his argument on the axiom that severance of hröa and fëa is unnatural and contrary to design, he comes (or if you like jumps) to the conclusion that the fëa of unfallen Man would have taken with it its hröa into the new mode of existence (free from Time). In other words, that ‘assumption’ was the natural end of each human life, though as far as we know it has been the end of the only ‘unfallen’ member of Mankind.
This is a direct reference to the Virgin Mary. I believe also that there is a strong element of this thought in Aragorn’s death, and his subsequent appearance as “an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.” But I make no attempt at this time to expound further on that thought, for very of causing a cerebral explosion.
There is also this thought spoken by Andreth in which she tells of the old legends. And from the ensuing discussion, contemplation on the two natures of hope: The human way of Amdir or ‘looking up’ and the Elvish hope in it’s purest and most sacred form, Estel or ‘trust‘. A trust which requires, no, demands, faith concludes with a thinly veiled affirmation, a belief which no doubt requires Estel ... the belief in divine incarnation and redemption
I’m not even going to attempt to tackle this at this time. I’ll just mention that Finrod also describes the two types of pity that Ath cited so memorably in the Jackson’s Moral Universe Thread.
pity is of two kinds: one is of kinship recognized, and is near to love; the other is of difference of fotune perceived, and is near to pride.
This too I leave for further thought and discussion.
They say,’ answered Andreth: ‘they say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end[/i]….’
Isn’t this a continuation of the Ainulinde?
Never since have the Ainur made any music like to this music, though it has been said that a greater still shall be made before Ilúvatar by the choirs of the Ainur and the Children of Ilúvatar after the end of days.
My impression is that this thinly veiled messianic hope is the closest Tolkien ever comes to Christian dogma. For Eru must solve the paradox of remaining outside Arda whilst simultaneously entering Arda in order to heal the marring.
Here we come to the central idea of the
Athrabeth, one which I can’t claim to fully (or perhaps even partly) grasp. While I try to think it through, I’ll quote some more of Tolkien’s Commentary, in the hopes that it will provide help advance that process, if not for me perhaps for some other wiser soul, who may in turn help me understand better.
Finrod, however, sees now that, as things were, no created thing or being in Arda, or in all Ëa, was powerful enough to counteract or heal Evil: that is to subdue Melkor (in his present person, reduced though that was)
and the Evil that he had dissipated and sent out from himself into the very structure of the world.
Only Eru himself could do this. Therefore, since it was unthinkable that Eru would abandon the world to the ultimate triumph and domination of Melkor (which could mean its ruin and reduction to chaos), Eru Himself must at some time come to oppose Melkor. But Eru could not enter
wholly into the world and its history, which is, however great, only a finite Drama. He must as Author always remain ‘outside’ the Drama, even though that Drama depends on His design and his will for its beginning and continuance, in every detail and moment. Finrod therefore thinks that He will, when He comes, have to be both ‘outside’ and inside; and so he glimpses the possibility of complexity or of distinctions in the nature of Eru, which nonetheless leaves Him ‘The One’.
Since Finrod had already guessed that the redemptive function was originally specially assigned to Men, he probably proceeded to the expectation that ‘the coming of Eru’, if it took place, would be specially and primarily concerned with Men: that is to an imaginative guess or vision that Eru would come incarnated inhuman form. This, however, does not appear in the
Athrabeth
No, it appears in the New Testament. :Q
[My mind is reeling is just from typing those paragraphs]
I can’t leave without a final comment upon this reader’s discovery of the cause for Andreth’s extreme bitterness. It was a revelation to me and I found it deeply, deeply moving.
Across the gulf that divides our kindreds!’ said Andreth, Is there no bridge but mere words? And she wept again.
And then this incredibly poignant moment which literally gave me chills …
'For the doom of Men that has touched thee as a woman, said Finrod. Dost thou think that I do not know? Is he not my brother dearly loved? Aegnor. Aikanar, the Sharp-flame, swift and eager. And not long are the years since you first met, and your hands touched in the darkness. Yet then thou wert a maiden, brave and eager, in the morning upon the high hills of Dorthonion'.
‘Say on! Said Andreth. Say: who art now but a wise-woman, alone, and age that shall not touch him has already set a winter’s grey in thy hair! But say not thou to me, for so he once did!’
The tragedy of her mortal love for an immortal elf who, unbeknownst to her, loved her in his turn yet could not fulfill that love because war was upon the land and Elves do not marry in times of war … and so, Aegnor regretfully turns away from Andreth and turns towards his duty.
And she says to Finrod:
‘Will he be there? Bright and tall with the wind in his hair? Tell him. Tell him not to be reckless. Not to seek danger beyond need’
I found myself so touched by this disclosure of Andreth’s incompleted love and it altered my perception of her increasing bitterness through the conversation … and how Finrod knew and how it tempered and softened his understanding of her railing against the fates, as what she saw as an unequal disparity between Atani and Quendi … and how, at the very end, he leaves her with this final hope …
'But you are not for Arda. Wither you may go may you find light. Await us there, my brother-- and me.
Thank you for sharing this, Sass. Its been long enough since I first read the
Athrabeth that sense of revelation upon learning the source of Andreth’s bitterness has faded. Your words have brought back that emotion, and for that I thank you.
One thing that has always moved me is the platonic love between Finrod and Andreth, despite the history between her and his brother. It is very different then the romantic love between a man and woman; it is the love of two friends who are able to bridge the gulf between them through discourse. It is another kind of a sharing of souls, one which I feel fortunate to experience here at the Hall of Fire.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
I have yet to re-read the new chapter for the Sil discussion! 
)
