Im/Mortal

In a letter he wrote to one of his friends in which he explained "his world", the Middle Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien described humans as having a gift and their Doom: mortality. If you look closely to all of the different mythologies from all over the world, you will see that there is always the seemingly unreachable goal of immortality: the tree of life, the fountain of youth, the ankh, the gods and the angles. Mortality being our weak point is said more than enough times, and what interested me the most in Tolkien's letter was the "gift" part. Is being mortal a gift?

Yes, I believe so. Tolkien also says that elves, like Galadriel or Elrond, are immortal so they have very,very long lifespans, but it's how he said it that matters:

"The doom of the Elves is to be immortal, to love the beauty of the world..."

So, I don't understand. Then is both being mortal and immortal a doom and a gift?

It depends on how you look at it. Elves are immortal, so they never have to give up on the world and leave their loved ones behind, they never have to worry about accomplishing their lifetime goals, making the most of the life they have. But everyone around them die, kingdoms fall, the Middle Earth changes and that is what Tolkien says that hurts them the most. Elves where originally sent to the west of the Middle Earth because they slayed each other over a few precious stones... what's a few stones worth in the face of banishment and fratricide? Right? Right?

[caption id="attachment_257" align="alignright" width="219"] The Light of Valinor[/caption]

The "stones" are Silmarilli and they are extremely rare and beautiful jewels. The Silmarilli were made out of the Light of Valinor, the gem, by the chief artificer of the Elves, Feanor, in case the gem got destroyed. He was right taking this precaution because the Light of Valinor was destroyed by the Enemy, and Valinor (the house of Gods, some kind of Paradise, where the Elves used to live) was darkened, until the light of the sun and the moon were born out of the destruction of this precious gem. Anyhow, these Silmarilli also got stolen by the Enemy, and the sons of Feanor swore to take revenge from anyone, including the gods, who try to claim the Silmarilli. So, they get out of Paradise and off to the north of Middle Earth, and attack the Enemy to get the jewels back, and that is when they slay their own kind, because the Enemy is also Elves. And they Fall, their whole kind, back to Middle Earth, where they were born. After this short history lesson about how elves came to the Middle Earth, let's get back to the subject. The point here was that the reason they ruined their immortality, since if they had stayed in Valinor everyone around them would be immortal and there wouldn't be much of a problem, in the end, it is Paradise, was a couple of gems, envy and revenge.

If you were to become immortal, what would you strive for? Would you try as hard to pass your classes and graduate? Would you be as ambitious at your job to get a promotion? Would you be as eager to build a family? Bilbo seemed pretty happy with the ring, 111 years old and still with the life energy of a 30 year old Hobbit! And he did seem a little reluctant to give up the ring...

But now you're mortal, and you've only got one chance at this whole thing called life. You have only so much to do with it in a time of 100 years at the most. How can you not want to live more, have all the time in the world to accomplish everything you want to do? I would personally love to be a mechanical engineer for 30 years and then a professional musician for 30 years.

Mortality: The envy of Elves, the immortal. One life; 80 years to do the best you can and fill it to the rim with accomplishments and satisfaction, always with something to look forward to (and this includes death), but, you know, why settle for 80 when you can have eternity?

Immortality: The goal of men for many, many thousand years,  a goal which gives eternal life when accomplished, even though it may mean solitude, constant loss and suffering until the end of eternity.

So, which one wins? You decide.