We continue with the wonder of the legendary Oxford Professor JRR Tolkien…

* Art

Our author, in the midst of the Great War, is very aware that despite so much suffering and death, there is something important, eternal, beautiful. That is why he will write: “There is something good in this world and it is worth fighting for.”

Those desires inscribed in the human heart to endure, to seek beauty and harmony. And the gift of Art, which surprises, inspires, and grants glimpses of eternity…

He experiences this gift, and he is aware that it is something received, unexpected, freely given, and not even deserved. And it must be a gift for others as well… This is how he perceives it and recounts it in a short story: “Leaf, by Niggle.” Niggle, the artist in the painting, after trying to paint every detail of a leaf from the tree perfectly, and thinking about it, knows that this beauty is not only for himself. There are his neighbors, who need it…

This contrasts sharply with the legacy of Fëanor, the Elf who created the Silmarillion: three precious jewels that contain and reflect the primordial light of Valinor. Driven by his possessive zeal, he “appropriates” them, and through an oath, in a moment of pride and self-absorption, drags his family and the other Noldor Elves into decline, death, and a gradual across generations… All these stories are recounted in “The Silmarillion.”

Art speaks to humanity’s yearning to endure, to leave a mark, perhaps through beautiful works, like those of the Elves, worthy of being remembered, close to the heart. In this way, they can serve as solace and refuge for all who approach them, passing on to future generations as something precious, in the form of tradition, of a gift. Anything that does not follow this path cannot be called Art.

“It is an art that affirms that things are good because they are beautiful.” -JRR Tolkien

* The white shore…

Therefore, the true theme that always lingers in Tolkien’s mind throughout his stories is the death of humankind, along with its yearning for eternity. And to express this, he makes it concrete and divides it into two roots.

The Firstborn, immortal Elves and creative artists, lovers of beauty, with their long years on Earth, yet with a certain nostalgia and sometimes melancholy for that reason. And the Secondborn, Men, “destined to die,” who yearn for that immortality and Elven beauty, that artistic gift, but are not bound to all the Ages of the World… Therefore, they do not have that nostalgia that can lead to despair, as it seems to happen to some Elves, for example, Gilraen, Aragorn’s mother. Bearing the heavy burden of endless years roots within her an unbearable sadness.

Art is Eru-Ilúvatar’s gift to the Elves, and death is his gift to Men, although this may seem shocking at first glance… And in the synthesis of both, our human nature is reflected. Ultimately, they are the two aspects of being human, closely intertwined and interwoven. Our author, a scholar of human anthropology, seeks to unravel the meaning of life and offer light and hope, creating a tapestry of enchanting, moving, desirable, and believable legends, where one finds joy and is touched to tears… And filled with hope.

And he does so from a dark abyss: from his own experience of death, so shocking and painful. The loss of his father when he was very young, in a faraway country; the death of his mother, very young, so determined to raise them and leave them the best and most valuable legacy: a newly discovered faith, even if it meant going against the grain, and the lack of material resources and poverty. And later, the loss of some of his best friends in the trenches of the Great War…

And despite being such a “thorny” and profound subject, “sharp as a sword,” beauty, joy, and hope endures throughout her work. Something unexpected, so difficult to achieve, where her marvelous artistic gift pulses.

Along these lines, in The Lord of the Rings, at the end of The Return of the King, in the Gray Havens, having completed his mission to destroy the Ring, Frodo sets sail. And speaking with Gandalf, he describes what lies beyond…

In the film, this was translated into a moment of imminent battle, in a dialogue between Gandalf and one of the hobbits: Pippin.

Pippin says:

-“I never thought about this ending.

“The end? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path we will all travel. The gray veil of this world lifts, and everything turns to silver crystal. It is then that you see…”

-Which Gandalf? What do you see?

“The white shore. And beyond, the immense green countryside, stretched out before a fleeting dawn.”

-Well, that’s not bad…

“No, not bad at all.”

Regarding death, the Professor writes in Letter 208 of his correspondence: “…Death is not an Enemy!” There is “the horrible danger of confusing true immortality with unlimited serial longevity. Liberation from Time and adherence to It.” He continues: “Confusion is the Enemy’s doing, and one of the main causes of human disaster.”

In this sense, an idea from his friend CS Lewis, with whom he would form the literary group of friends the Inklings, who helped each other so much with their friendship and shared aspirations…, “rescuing” themselves from the tremendous sufferings of the War: “If human beings learned to look into their own hearts, they would know that what they yearn for, and yearn for very keenly, is something that cannot be obtained in this world.”

Tolkien often talked with Lewis about truths and myths, in the classical sense. That is, true stories… This clarified many things in the mind of his friend, an atheist, and helped him to finally discern important matters in his life.

In this regard, the expert Eduardo Segura, in “The Wizard of Words,” speaks about this friendship: “It was about getting together around a good fire and exchanging perspectives on the most varied topics in gatherings that lasted well into the night, and were very entertaining, full of sparkling and ingenious ideas.” The joy of friends…

To be continued…