Quenta 12 — Of Men
Chapter 12 of the Quenta Silmarillion
Summary
In the days of the first rising of the Sun, the Secondborn of Ilúvatar, Men, awoke in the east lands of Hildórien, less fair and tall than the Elves but more hardy and swift, and doomed to die. The Eldar held that death is not a punishment but “the Gift of Men”, the means by which the spirits of Men escape at last from the circles of the world. Melkor moved swiftly to the eastern land and brought Men under shadow in the beginning, yet Ulmo and the Elves who still dwelt in Middle-earth could reach them with counsel. The chapter tells how the Dark Elves of the far east met and taught the new people, giving them language and the love of the stars. It closes with the promise that in the end Men shall join in the Second Music of the Ainur, and with the first wandering of the northern kindreds westward toward the lands where the later tale will find them.