Arda Kompendium

Men

Atani; the Followers; the Secondborn

peoplemenataniedainfollowerssecondborn

Names

  • Men — “the Followers” (Hildor), the Secondborn; the other race of the Children of Ilúvatar.

  • Atani (Quenya “the Second”, “the Fathers”) — the name within the Silmarillion for the race; among the Elves more strictly the term covers the Edain, the Elf-friends of the First Age (yet the widest sense includes all sons of Men).

  • Edain (Sindarin) — the “Elf-friends” proper: the three houses of Men whom the Elves loved and who dwelt in Beleriand.

The Awakening

Men, unlike the Elves, have no record of their awakening. The Quenta states that they awoke “in the east of Middle-earth, in the days when Melkor’s power was still upon the world”, and that the Elves of Cuiviénen

— the Noldor tradition: Men “came into the world… long after… in the dark”, and that no lore of their origin survives save this: “the Elves say that the Fathers of Men were few… and that the spirit of Men… the Elves know not whither they go”. Their coming, at the dawn of the First Age, was gradual; scattered tribes drifted westward into Beleriand after the breaking of the siege of Angband — historically: the first Men crossed the Blue Mountains (Ered Luin) into Beleriand around the turn of the age, led by Bëor the Old (c. Y.S. 310) — the three houses of the Edain.

The Three Houses of the Edain >

Edain. Among the Elves the term Edain (“the Elf-friends”) is used strictly of the three houses of Men who dwelt in Beleriand (below); in its widest sense it covers the race of Men (Atani) as a whole. The houses are treated on their own pages.

  • The House of Bëor — the first, deep in wisdom; gave the line of Beren and (through Lúthien) the Half-elven.
  • The House of Haleth — the small, fierce house of the woodland hunters of Brethil.
  • The House of Hador — the greatest and most golden; the stock of Húrin and Huor, of Turin and Tuor, and (via Idril and Eärendil) of the kings of Numenor and the Lords of the West.

Nature and Doom

The mysterious element of the mythology: Men are mortal, and “death” is their gift and their mystery. "The spirit of a Man

— the Elves say he is not… bound to the world"; his death is beyond the telling of the Valar; and Tolkien leaves their ultimate fate veiled: “the fate of Men… not revealed… the Valar knew it not”. Their mortality, their brevity and their ungovernable freedom are the counter-gift to Elvish permanence; the great loves and marriages of Elf and Man (Beren/Lúthien, Tuor/Idril) exist only because of this difference, and their issue — the Half-elven — choose which gift to take.

In the Tale

Within the Silmarillion Men first appear as the stubborn allies of the Noldor against Morgoth, their greatest heroes drawn from the house of Hador: Húrin and Huor (who aided in the defense of Gondolin

— they were sheltered there), Túrin Turambar, Tuor (who wed Idril and sired Eärendil), and the line that ends in Elros — first king of Númenor — and Elrond of the half-elven. Their earliest deeds are told in the chapters “Of the Coming of Men into the West”.

Verknüpfte Seiten

The Children of IlúvatarElvesBëorHalethHadorEasterlingsHildórienMiddle-earthThe Nine RingsConcordance — A to ZAdûnaicWestronHobbitsThe Gift of MenThe DrúedainFourth AgeThe AnduinEstoladAthrabeth Finrod ah AndrethQuenta 12 — Of MenQuenta 17 — Of the Coming of Men into the WestBórThe HaradrimÉothéodHouse of BëorHouse of HalethHouse of Hador
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
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