Amazon Studios The Rings of Power is here. We want all Spoilerites to have the best viewing experience possible and have the widest knowledge base about the Second Age of Middle-Earth. This is a weekly Let’s Get Nerdy article series highlighting a different piece of Tolkien I think you need to know about!
In past articles I have answered the question:
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- What Are the Rings of Power?
- What is Númenor?
- What is the Second Age?
- Who are the Harfoots?
- Who is Prince Durin IV?
- What is Khazad-dûm?
- Who is Celebrimbor?
- What is the Last Alliance of Men and Elves?
- Who is Elendil?
- New Pics! Who are Bronwyn and Theo?
- What is Rivendell?
- The Rings of Power First Reactions Are In!
- What is Lindon?
- What are the Nine Human Rings?
- Empire Magazine’s The Rings of Power Covers
- New Character Pictures
- Will Wizards Appear in The Rings of Power?
- New Promo for The Rings of Power
- What is Eregion?
- Leaked! Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- The Rings of Power Teaser Breakdown
- New EW Rings of Power Pictures
- SDCC Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- Who is Isildur?
- The Rings of Power is Here! Read the Reactions
- Who is the Stranger?
- Who is Queen Míriel?
- Who is Ar-Pharazôn?
- What is the broken black blade?
- What is Mordor?
- What is Mithril?
- What are the Silmarils?
- What is Narsil?
- Who founded Númenor?
- Who is Galadriel’s Brother Finrod?
- Rings of Power Adds 15 New Cast Members for Season 2
- Who is Círdan?
- Will Celeborn Appear in The Rings of Power?
- Are Galadriel and Sauron Enemies in Book Canon?
- Who is Narvi?
- Jamie Bisping Cast as Viran
- Will the Harfoots Settle The Shire?
- What to Watch Before The Rings of Power Season 2
- Will We See More Rings in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Will Lord Belzagar Appear in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Who is Diarmid?
- Will Ringwraiths appear in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Will Gil-Galad Lead an Army in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Is the Balrog Durin’s Bane?
- Who is Isildur’s sister Eärien?
- What is Rhûn Where Nori & The Stranger are Headed?
- Will Galadriel Go Dark in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Where are the Southlanders Going?
- Is Durin Still a Prince?
- How Eärien will use the Palantir in The Rings of Power Season 2
- Is the Rings of Power close to canon? Will it get closer in Season 2?
- What is The War of the Elves and Sauron?
- Who are the Three New Rings of Power Cast Members? Ciarán Hinds, Rory Kinnear and Tanya Moodie
- Who are the Three Witches Trying to Rescue Sauron?
- Rings of Power season 2 Reportedly Wraps Filming
- Nenya will Appear in The Rings of Power season 2
- Will We see Shelob in The Rings of Power season 2?
- How Celeborn Could Appear in The Rings of Power season 2
- Will The Rings of Power be at San Diego Comic-Con?
- How are Hobbits and Harfoots Different?
- Who is Galadriel?
- What are Noldor Elves?
- Who are “Durin’s Folk”?
- What are the Seven Dwarf-Lord Rings?
Spoilerites who are frequent readers of Did You Hear? know we’ve spent the past couple weeks exploring the mythology and history of the elves and the dwarves of Middle-Earth. Over the course of this feature series human beings have been woefully underrepresented over the course of our J.R.R. Tolkien studies. I figured I’d get to the biggest question that always crops up as humankind ascends to its position of leadership as custodians of Arda:
How did Human Beings come to Middle-Earth?
Human beings in Middle-Earth, as one suspects in anything written by Tolkien, are known by many names.
In The Third Age of Middle-Earth we recognize them as “Rangers”, “Gondorian”, “Rohirrim”, and more. Going all the way back to their creation they were known as Atani. Atani is a Quenya Elvish word meaning “[Hu]Men”. They are also known as The Second Children of Ilúvatar as he created human beings following his creation of the elven race. Human beings are also sometimes referred to as “The Afterborn” for all the reasons previously stated. Human beings are also also sometimes referred to as Edain, a name given to them by the Elves during The First Age of Middle-Earth after they stood together in battle.
TL;DR Ilúvatar is the closest thing Tolkien created to a God. He is the supreme creator being of everything we know in Middle-Earth. If you want to be metatextual about it, Ilúvatar is arguably the closest thing Tolkien included as a self-insert as he is the ultimate creator as the person putting pen to paper.
Even though, in my opinion, J.R.R. Tolkien’s inserts are Bilbo and Frodo – definitely a hobbit either way – but that is a subject to explore another time.
Ilúvatar created Human Beings in the mysterious “East” of Middle-Earth before they immigrated to some of the places we traditionally think of them being situated. When you remember the time period and common points of view when Tolkien was crafting these tales the notion of the East being a shrouded cradle of life makes sense of his Human Beings.
What is particularly special about human beings in Middle-Earth are the qualities Ilúvatar imbued them with. Human beings literally possess “The Gift of Men”.
What is “The Gift of Men”, Ashley?
I’m so glad you asked!
It’s immortality. It’s the shortness of life and the ability to die. This quality gives human beings a different perspective on everything on Arda and a unique reverence unseen amongst most of their elven peers. Being mortal also places a divide between Middle-Earth’s human beings and the “earth”, or Arda, itself. The elves are tied to the earth in a way that when it comes into a state of decline in The Third Age they undergo an exodus and make their way back to Valinor. Human beings are not bound in the same way. Their ultimate fate is not known.
Human beings can, quite literally, do whatever they want. It’s a level freedom unlike anything the immortal, beautiful elves could ever imagine.
