The Undying Lands

          Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what Tolkien had to say about the elves in his novels (which is not surprising, as I am a avid, die-hard fan of LOTR, and don't think about too much else :), specifically in the Lord of the Rings series. In case you have not read the Lord of the Rings, there are a couple main people groups in the series. First, of course, are the men. Men are just like us, human beings. They are quite average people that populate different parts of Middle-Earth. Next are the dwarves. Dwarves are an interesting folk that are known for their small stature and rather voluminous beards (usually tucked into their belts). The dwarves are respected in Middle-Earth as fantastic miners and forgers. They are loud, proud, and faithful to their kin. But enough about dwarves, next come hobbits. Hobbits, or halflings, are little people (about half our size) that live in the Shire. They are quiet, unobtrusive people, who do not like adventures and find great pleasure in food, a good book, and a warm fire.

To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying,

The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying.

West, west away, the round sun is falling.

Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling,

The voices of my people that have gone before me?

I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me;

For our days are ending and our years failing.

I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing.

          The last people group in Middle-Earth are the elves. The elves are a rather mysterious people. They are tall, slender, beautiful people, who do not die, and who remain a bit of a mystery the whole series long. The elves (as we learn in the Silmarillion, the sequel) were created to live in Tolkien's heaven, Valinor, the land, over the sea. Though the trip to Valinor was not extremely difficult to take, some never went. The rest of their life, though, the elves continued to have a longing for Valinor. The many, many removed children of these elves continued to have that same longing. They simply could not forget it, even after thousands of years. They continued to be drawn to the sea and to what lie beyond it. 

           Anyone who has read the Lord of the Rings knows that the series has many parallels to the Christian walk with God. even though the books were not written as an allegory (unlike pilgrim's progress) it does have a few Christian parallels, like how sin is handed down to us from generations of sinful people, how we are on a journey to destroy it, and how sin takes dominion over us. However, perhaps there are more parallels than just these. Perhaps the elves, who are captivated by the longing for the undying lands, hold some parallel. I may be making a stretch, but maybe when Tolkien wrote about the elves' longing for Valinor, he wanted to mirror our longing for heaven, for our real home. We, like the elves were created for something else, for someone else. Maybe Tolkien mirrored our longing for heaven in the elves' longing for Valinor.

          I guess I just want to make two points: one, that there is always more to a book than meets the eye, and two, do we long enough for God? Do we long for the next world? Sometimes, I think, we get so wrapped up in this world that we don't think about the next one. Are we building up our castles in heaven, and not here on earth? It's so easy to get caught up in the typical lifestyle of just living for our own pleasure on this earth, but when we stop, and remember who we are living for, that can all change. Our whole outlook at heaven can be different. We truly long for heaven. 



There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have desired anything else.”
                                                                                                                       - C.S. Lewis