TheValar : Námo - Mandos

NAMES and RELATIONSHIPS

One who has read many of Tolkien’s books will soon discover that he likes to give his characters and places many names. Mandos is no exception. Námo, commonly called Mandos, was one of the eight Aratar of the Valar.  These were the “Exalted Ones” – the most powerful Valar. His common name was derived from the name of his dwelling, Mandos. Námo means “The Judge” as he knew all that would happen and all that had been except for those things Ilúvatar had not yet revealed to him. In the Silmarillion, Mandos’ wife was Vairë the Weaver. She decorated their dwelling with tapestries she wove from the events that had come to be in the world. Mandos and his younger brother Irmo (commonly known as Lórien) were the Fëanturi – the Masters of Spirits. Lórien was the Lord of Dreams. The Silmarillion also states that Mandos’ sister Nienna lived in her own halls in Mandos. She was the Lady of Pity and Mourning and was unmarried. However, in the Book of Lost Tales she is called Fui Nienna: “Mistress of the Dead” and is actually Mandos’ wife, rather than his sister. Vairë is not even mentioned.

Because Mandos was the Lord of the Dead he was sometimes known as Vefántur; “Father of the Dead”. Elves who died or tired of Middle Earth went to the Halls of Mandos (also called the “House of the Dead” or the “Halls of Awaiting”) to reflect on their lives. Men also briefly went to Mandos after death to await their own fate.  Elves could be re-embodied and return to Aman but men had the Gift of Death from Ilúvatar. Only Ilúvatar, Manwë, and Mandos really understood this fate of men.  Dwarves had a legend that they too would go to Mandos after death. They were created by Aulë, and had a separate hall in Mandos. At the end of time, they would serve Aulë by helping him rebuild Arda. As one must imagine, the Halls of Mandos were large. But over the ages, they grew larger to accommodate more of the dead.

MANDOS’ PLACE IN THE MYTHOLOGY

Mandos’ home in Valinor was far from those of the other Valar. He chose to live away from the light of the Sun as he felt there could be no “quiet or peaceful shadow” under its light, according to the Book of Lost Tales, Part 1. However, he did keep a lamp made from the light of Silpion in his hall. This does not mean he was a cruel or uninterested Vala. He just preferred solitude and quiet. However in the Silmarillion, it is merely mentioned that he lives to the west of Valinor, but the whole concept of his desire to live as far away as possible from the brilliance of the Trees of Valinor and the Sun has been dropped, thus making him seem somewhat less distant. He was rather cold to the Eldar, though he wasn’t unfeeling either. In fact, he was distant to both the Eldar and his fellow Valar, physically and otherwise. To be honest, it is difficult to adequately describe Mandos’ image. He was essential to the mythology, as the Lord of the Dead and as (in the Silmarillion) the Doomsayer of the Valar. He was so mysterious, so seemingly unaffected by the events of the world that one feels as though he did not care at all. Yet somehow, under all that “doom and gloom” Mandos is affected by the evil events in Valinor and Middle Earth. Various stories helped in understanding Mandos’ place in the mythology, and are discussed below.

In early versions of Tolkien’s mythology, (i.e. The Book of Lost Tales) Mandos wasn’t seen as a judge – he just had the gift of prophecy. But in the Silmarillion, judgment became one of his attributes along with being the Lord of the Dead.  This is the enduring picture most have of Mandos. In either version of the mythology he didn’t usually speak his dooms unless Manwë bid him to. He was rarely spoken of but the history surrounding him was vital to the mythology of Middle Earth. On the rare occasion when Mandos spoke, his words carried a lot of weight. Since he knew the future he would give warnings on occasion, though they may be cryptic. Of all the dooms (or judgments) Mandos gave, the Curse of Mandos (also known as the “Curse of the Noldor” and the “Doom of Mandos”) was the most important. It was also very involved so an abbreviated version of the story follows, taken from the Silmarillion:

Melkor was jealous of the Elves. He wanted to distance them from the Valar so he began telling them that the Valar wanted them for servants and were using the Elves’ skills for their own gain. One Noldorin elf named Fëanor listened to Melkor’s lies and was swayed by them. Eventually he threatened rebellion against the Valar. At that, Mandos doomed Fëanor to banishment saying he would be sent from the city for twelve years and should use the time to reflect on what he had done. Furthermore, Mandos decreed that after the time of banishment was over, he would forgive Fëanor as long as his brothers agreed to release him as well.

While in exile Fëanor created the Silmarils – jewels which contained some of the light from the Trees of Valinor. Melkor coveted the Silmarils. Fëanor would not part with them either to Melkor or the Valar who asked for them when the Trees of Valinor were destroyed. Melkor stole the Silmarils, which enraged Fëanor into swearing an oath, by Ilúvatar, that could not be broken. He vowed that he would pursue any being, Vala or not, who had one of his Silmarils. His sons swore with him, and most of the Noldor were swayed into leaving Valinor with him in his pursuit. One of these was Galadriel.

Choosing to leave Valinor for Middle Earth, Fëanor and the Noldor were visited by a messenger of Manwë who warned that Fëanor’s pursuit of the Silmarils would lead to evil which the Elves could not know at that time. They would receive no help from the Valar in their chase, but neither would the Valar stop them from leaving. When the Noldor got to the coast Fëanor insisted that the Telerian Elves give their swan ships to the Noldor so they could cross to Middle Earth. These ships were as precious to the Teleri as the Silmarils were to Fëanor. When the Teleri refused, the Noldor attacked and killed many of then and stole the ships. As they sailed up the coast, Mandos appeared on a rock and decreed the Doom of Mandos:

“Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained

the land of Aman. For blood shall ys render blood, and beyond Aman ye

shall dwell in Death’s shadow. For though Eru [Ilúvatar] appointed you to

die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain

ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless

spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for

your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should en-

treat for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos

shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and

become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The

Valar have spoken.”

(The Silmarillion, 1977p. 88)

Some of the Noldor returned to Valinor upon hearing the Doom and were pardoned. But Fëanor and the rest went on to Middle Earth.

Mandos held many spirits in his halls over the ages, however there was only one ever who was released and allowed to go back to Middle Earth. This story involving Mandos was included in the Tale of Tinúviel:

Lúthien’s mortal lover, Beren, was killed and went to Mandos. Lúthien then died of grief and followed him. She appealed to Mandos for Beren to be returned to life. She sang a song about the grief and sorrow of both Elves and Men that was so mournful that it moved Mandos to pity. He called Beren forth from his Halls and they all went before Manwë. After Manwë spoke with Ilúvatar, Lúthien was given a choice. She could either live with the Valar where she would forget her grief or she could go back to Middle Earth with Beren where she would become a mortal and die. She chose to remain with Beren and die as a mortal in Middle Earth. Mandos was never again moved to such pity and Lúthien Tinúviel’s song was forever after sung in Middle Earth and in Valinor.

However you call him, Námo or Mandos, was not the most important Vala nor was he mentioned much in any of Tolkien’s books. He began as a reclusive Vala with a gift of prophesy whose pronouncements affected the Noldor, but Mandos himself wasn’t of much importance. As time, and careful editing by Christopher Tolkien, changed the essence of the mythology of Middle Earth, Mandos’ “dooms” became more powerful and made his place in the stories more important. His role was essential to the history of Elves and the mythology of Middle Earth as discussed in The Lord of the Rings and in greater detail in The Silmarillion as well as other books published after Tolkien’s death.

SOURCES:

The Silmarillion:  1977, George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) LTD

The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1: 1983, Ballentine Books.

The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2: 1984, Ballentine Books

The Annals of Arda: http://www.annalsofarda.dk/annals-of-arda/valar-index-table/valar.htm

The Annals of Ard: http://www.annalsofarda.dk/annals-of-arda/valar-index-table/Valar/Lorien.htm

Valarguild: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/valar.html#Mandos