The Good, the Bad, and the Outlawed - Page 6
© Michael Martinez
The Edain themselves had originally fled from Morgoth centuries before, wandering across Middle-earth in search of a refuge where they might be safe. Along the way many Edain had settled down and established new communities, so that only small groups ever reached Beleriand. Therefore, except for the Sindar, the Eldar and Edain who sought refuge on Balar had passed from outlawry to community to outlawry to community. The loss of community in a way purified the outlawed peoples. It was in like a trial by ordeal, where if the accused survived a test of moral purification, whatever they had done before was forgotten and forgiven.
This process of purification was, in fact, recognized by the Valar before the Noldor returned to Middle-earth. The Valar understood that the Elves could sin and fail of their promise. In the Halls of Mandos, the majority of Elves who had died would spend time reflecting on their lives and reconciling themselves to the proper way. If Namo decided they were completely restored to their proper state of mind or well-being, they could live again. When Eonwe greeted Earendil (who was himself an outlaw when he reached Aman, for his community had been destroyed), he mentioned that Earendil had long been looked for. The Valar had known he would come. So they understood that the Noldor would eventually pay for their sins by suffering great tribulations.
Thus, Gil-galad and Cirdan's community on Balar founded a new community which ultimately gave rise to the civilizations of Lindon and Numenor. And from Lindon sprang the communities of Eregion, northern Mirkwood, Lothlorien, and probably others. From Numenor came the communities of Arnor and Gondor and of the Kings' Men in the south (of which only Umbar is named). As Melkor had before them, the Kings' Men established communities which were morally opposed to the community against which they had rebelled (that is, the community of Aman). The Black Numenorean realms were like faint echoes of the Morgothian realm of the First Age.
Yet, despite all the foreshadowing and repetition, there was one outlaw who was never fully restored to community: Beren. Unlike Turin, he did not win full acceptance into any community of Elves and Men after his own people were defeated in war. Beren remained with his father and kinsmen in Dorthonion, retreating slowly southward before the forces of Angband, until his mother led the women and children away south. The community of Ladros, where the Beorians had settled, evaporated from around Beren, and in time he even lost the outlaw community his father had established. Passing south in his mother's footsteps, Beren made his way to Doriath. There he pursued a forbidden love for Luthien, and when she brought him before Thingol's court Beren was not simply a dispossessed human lord, he was an outlaw. Thingol's pride was hurt not only by the fact his daughter had fallen in love with a mortal, but also by the fact that he was a landless, lordless man bereft of any community. Luthien might have done worse if she had fallen in love with a rock.
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