The Dagor Dagorath

[NelyafinweMaitimo]

So, apparently, one of these days, Melkor will burst through the Doors of Night along with the rest of his brood, Feanor and his sons will be released from Mandos, Ar-Pharazon and his men will burst from their earthy prison, and Hurin's family will make a second appearance so they can all have a bloody huge war to end all wars. What does everyone think of this?

[jammi567]

i don't know. i think that it could be possinle, but not likely. because that would be going against the theme of you never really able to get rid of evil totally. Plus, it would go against mens souls going to a place where they can never come back. unless your girlfriend is the best singer the world has ever seen.

[NelyafinweMaitimo]

There's a very good Wikipedia article on this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagor_Dagorath), with references, so I don't have to pull down my volumes of HoME, but Tolkien did expressly state that all the Free peoples, including Men and Dwarves (and perhaps hobbits) would return to fight in this battle.

[jammi567]

okay, but still. and what the hell happens with the elves?

[durinsbane2244]

that wiki article was quite good...:D

[NelyafinweMaitimo]

Elvish spirits are immortal. Those who were not presently on earth would by returned their from the Halls of Awaiting or Lorien.

[Elemmírë]

Well, I think those stories came up fairly early in Tolkien's thought process. I never caught too much of them after the first few volumes of HoME.

The "who knows" nature of a lot of the lore that's going on in Middle-earth really makes me doubt this prophecy. I interpret it as a purely Mannish legend, not really tied in with much in the way of stories passed down by the Eldar (except in a very loose manner), and certainly with no relation whatsoever to anything said by Mandos. Simply because he just doesn't say anything at all if he can help it.

So I think it's Mannish in origin, and that's basically that.

And I love your username, Nelyo. I'm a big Maedhros fan.