Perhaps unlike some readers of Tolkien, I for one think it is perfectly valid to interpret much of his work in the light of his Catholic beliefs (which I no longer share). For me, Tolkien’s notion that his legendarium should not explicity contain the Christian mythos does not at all preclude the (to me obvious) fact that the Christian faith is nearly everywhere in Tolkien implicitly pointed to, given space for, and sometimes even symbolized or foreshadowed, whether intentionally or not. So, here goes…
Human Free Will vs. Elvish Free Will and the figure of Turín:
For me, it is inconceivable for Elves not to possess individual freedom of the will. They are listed among the “Free Peoples”. The choices of Elves have repercussions on the future events of the world just as much as the choices of Men do. But Men have the freedom to shape their own destiny above and beyond the confines of the Music while the free will of the Elves operates within a smaller domain: the spacial and temporal confines of Arda, of which only the beginning ages were foreshown in the Music. In other words Men may chose to go to either “heaven” or “hell”, but whatever good or evil Elves do, they stay (until its end) within the World which is neither “heaven” nor “hell”.
There was much that Ilúvatar foreknew that was not in the music. In Catholic doctrine God foreknows what free beings (angels and humans) will chose but that in no way means that God predetermines what they will chose. There is a Catholic meaning for the word “predestination” but it is not the Calvinist one.
In the Legendarium, Men early fell under the dominion of Morgoth. But for JRRT, the Christian mythos concerning the incarnation of God in human nature was the great historical fact lying in the future for Tolkien’s subcreation, which is not an alternative world at all, but just an alternative legendary past of the actual world. Man, though darkened, is destined to become the vessel of Divinity in Human Nature. This is something that was new and outside what was foretold in the Music, but which seems to me to be mysteriously connected with the newness of the theme concerning the children of Ilúvatar. Men who are fallen (and not the Elves) can partake in the ultimate freedom of union with the Divine Nature.
Now to Turín: although he suffered under the specific Curse of Morgoth upon his family (similarly to the way all humanity suffers under the hereditary curse of Adam) he was still nevertheless free to chose his own actions (as Pearly Di the starter of this topic pointed out in the first post.) For both the Legendarium and for Catholicism, darkness and doom, freedom and transcendence are all associated in the mysterious nature of Man.
Turín the man, Turín the compassionate, Turín the murderer, Turín the dragon-slayer, Turín the Swordman of the Sky destined to defeat the Lord of Darkness, Turín the “master of doom by doom mastered”, seems to represent all these dark and light qualities in himself. It is as if he were a figure of both Adam the sinner and Christ the redeemer simultaneously.
So for me, Turín is an allegorical figure. JRRT said that he “cordially” disliked allegory if by allegory we mean a one-to-one correspondence of things consciously intended by the author. But beside allowing room for “applicability” JRRT himself sometimes interpreted his own work allegorically, as he did for example with “Smith of Wooton Major”.
The kind of allegorical interpretation of Tolkien I’m talking about is I hope not so much like that of such works as “Pilgrims Progress” but rather like the ancient Christians interpreted the “Old Testament”. For example, Adam, although a sinner, was in some sense a “type” of Christ, and Christ was called the New Adam. Or the incident of the affliction of the Israelites by serpents and their healing by Moses lifting up the brass serpent was seen as a “type” of sin and redemption. Eg. “He became sin.” “He conquered Death by Death.” But not only the “Old Testament” was seen in this way. The figure of Sigurd and the Dragon (one of the sources for the character of Turín) was long ago carved on church doors because it was seen as a pagan “type” of Christ.
Now, about Finduilas:
In my very speculative view of the story Turín could have freely chosen differently on any one of several occasions, and each time if he had made the better choice he could have escaped the curse of Morgoth. As we know there were three unions of the Edain and the Eldar. It is my view that these unions were destined to be three. But one of the Edain so destined, Turín, freely chose differently (and wrongly) perhaps out of a misplaced loyalty to Gwindor. So, I think that if Turín had married Finduilas, he would have escaped the Curse, and in particular he would not have married his own sister. Furthermore, I imagine that if Turín had wed while in Nargothrond his attitude would have softened, and the bridge over the river Narog would not have been built and Turín might have achieved the death of Glaurung climbing the cliffs of the Narog not the Teiglin. For me the ending with Turín going to the mound of Finduilas to slay himself signifies that he recognized that his “true” love should have been her. In this view of things, the union of Aragorn and Arwen is seen as a kind of replacement which finally fulfills in a later age the destined number of three, an interplay of both freedom and fate.
If I am a non-believer, why am I still so interested in these kinds of psuedo-theological musings? First of all, it’s because even if I do not accept the literal truth of religions, for me they can still have mythopoetic meaning just as other non-historical myths do. Also, on the subject of determinism vs. free will there may be some debate even from a scientific perspective. For example there is the "nature versus nurture" controversy. And there are some scientists who seem to suggest that the laws of physics pre-determine everything that happens and free-will is just an illusion. On the other hand, to me things like string theory or certain aspects of quantum mechanics imply a kind of non-determined freedom in things.
In conclusion, for me the Saga of Turín profoundly reflects the mix of darkness and light within the human heart as well as the mysterious interplay of conditions beyond our control with the choices we we humans make.
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