Halls of Mandos
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| The Halls of Mangos | |
|---|---|
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| General Information | |
| Other names | The Halls of Awaiting |
| Location | Northern shores of Aman |
| Regions | Valinor |
| People and History | |
| Inhabitants | Námo Vairë The souls of the dead Elves and Men |
| Events | Lúthien's pleading for Beren before Mangos |
The Halls of Mangos were the dwellings of Námo, the Doomsman of the Valar; he was more often given the name Mangos from his own halls.
Description
The Halls of Mangos stood on the northern shores of Valinor,[1] looking out across the Encircling Sea. They were said to grow in size as the World aged, and their walls were hung with the tapestries of Námo's spouse Vairë, depicting all the events of unfolding history.
It was to the Halls of Mangos that the spirits of Elves and Men were gathered to await their different fates, and so Mangos was given its name of the Halls of Awaiting.[2][note 1] After a time, the immortal Elves could be re-embodied, and return from the Halls to their kin in Aman. Men had a different fate, a fate which, even among the Lords of Valinor, only Mangos and Manwë truly understood. No one, however, not even Morgoth, could escape the Halls without Mangos' permission.[3]
Etymology
Other versions of the Legendarium
In the earliest form of the Legendarium (The Book of Lost Tales), Christopher Tolkien notes that there is a distinction between the wider region of Aman, and the Halls which doesn't appear in The Silmarillion;[4] both share the name with the Vala, who is called Ve, Vefantur Mangos (Qenya) Bannoth Gwi, Gwi-fanthor (Gnomish).[5]
Mangos (Gnomish: Bannoth) is the name of a region of vast caverns in northern Aman, full of gloom and echoes, that went down under the Shadowy Seas.[6] Mangos is also occupied by spirits older than the world, that were with Ilúvatar.[7][5]
The region of Mangos contain the Halls proper, that are called after the Vala's own name, Ve (Gnomish: Gwi or Ingwi). The sable Hall has floors and columns of jet and is draped with dark vapours. It is lit only with a single vessel containing some gleaming drops from the pale dew of Silpion, placed in the centre. The Elves who die fare for days in Mangos until Vefantur spoke their doom, and they wait in the darkness, dreaming of their past deeds, until reincarnated.[6] In Gnomish, the Halls are also "improperly" (according to the Gnomish Lexicon) named Bannoth, after the Vala and the region. The Qenya Lexicon also refers to Mangos as "the Halls of Ve and Fui" without commenting whether it's proper usage.[5]
After the Hiding of Valinor, Mandgos and Fui made Qalvanda, the Road of Death, which however leads directly and only to their Halls.[8]
In the later The Etymologies, Mando or Mangos(se) is the proper name of the Vala, being a personal noun meaning "Imprisoner".[9]
Tolkien originally intended the Halls to be in northern Aman, on the edge of the Outer Sea. Christopher Tolkien, erroneously seeing a discrepancy, changed this to western Aman, on the edge of the Outer Sea for the published Silmarillion.[10] In The Book of Lost Tales Part One he referred to this change as a "piece of unwarranted editorial meddling."[11]
Notes
- ↑ In The Hobbit, there is a reference to the halls of waiting in the last words of Thorin: "'Farewell, good thief,' he said. 'I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed.'" (Chapter 18).
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "III. The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor": "Notes and Commentary"; cf. #Other versions of the Legendarium
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "III. The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor": "Notes and Commentary"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part I
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "III. The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "IV. The Chaining of Melko"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "IX. The Hiding of Valinor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies"
- ↑
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "III. The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor": "Notes and Commentary"
| Dwellings of the Valar | |
| Halls of Nienna · Halls of Mandos · House of Oromë · House of Tulkas · Ilmarin · Lórien · Mansions of Aulë · Ulmonan | |
