O tirnîf
Foresight is a curious thing to study in Tolkien’s legendarium. Both elves and men are mentioned as having varying degrees. But how powerful is foresight? Can they chose what they see and when? Is it Ilúvatar or the Valar speaking directly through them?
Perhaps the two most famous incidents of foresight do not occur in the Lord of the Rings, but directly affect it. The first is Glorfindel’s prophecy, which follows here:
It is said that… the Witch-king himself appeared, black-robed and black-masked upon a black horse. Fear fell upon all who beheld him; but he singled out the Captain of Gondor for the fullness of his hatred, and with a terrible cry he rode straight upon him. Eärnur would have withstood him; but his horse could not endure that onset, and it swerved and bore him far away before he could master it. Then the Witch-king laughed… …But Glorfindel rose up then on his white horse, and in the midst of his laughter the Witch-king turned to flight… Eärnur now rode back, but Glorfindel, looking into the gathering dark, said: ‘Do not pursue him! He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall.’ These words many remembered…
Many amend this prophecy to “not by the hand of Man can he fall”, and speculations such as “if Boromir fought the Witch-king, who would win?” are quickly ended by “The Witch-king, naturally. Men can’t kill him.” Of course, remembering the words of Glorfindel, we know that indeed a Man could kill him, if given the right weapons (the Barrow-blade). But a man would not kill him. Therefore, if Boromir did fight the Witch-king, and happened to be wielding a Barrow-blade of Arnor, it is possible that Boromir would win, and the prophecy would be something like “not by the hand of a King, nor a King’s son, shall he fall”. The events to come affect the prophecy, not the other way around. There shall be more discussion on this later.
The second is the words of Malbeth the Seer. On two occasions is he mentioned, once in the Lord of the Rings:
[Aragorn] “ ‘…Listen! This is the word that the sons of Elrond bring to me from their father in Rivendell, wisest in lore: Bid Aragorn remember the words of the seer, and the Paths of the Dead.’
“ ‘And what may be the words of the seer?’ said Legolas.
“ ‘Thus spoke Malbeth the Seer, in the days of Arvedui, last king at Fornost,’ said Aragorn:
- Over land there lies a long shadow,
- westward reaching wings of darkness.
- The Tower trembles; to the tombs of the kings
- doom approaches. The Dead shall awaken;
- for the hour is come for the oathbreakers:
- at the Stone of Erech they shall stand again
- and hear there a horn in the hills ringing.
- Whose shall the horn be? Who shall call them
- from the grey twilight, the forgotten people?
- The heir of him to whom the oath they swore.
- From the North shall he come, need shall drive him:
- he shall pass the Door of the Paths of the Dead.”
– The Lord of the Rings, The Passing of the Grey Company
Here we find the seer’s words in poetic form. If that is indeed the way the seers spoke, then it seems clear that words have been placed in their mouths. If they saw ahead by their own choosing, they would undoubtedly have just said what they saw. Here they say what they heard. Again, there will be more discussion on this once the references are examined.
Now many would say “Two isolated incidents, and only one of the two foresighted was a seer. That won’t tell us much. Were there any other prophecies, or any other seers?” Many would agree as to more prophecies, those who knew the books, and perhaps the Silmarillion, even relatively well. But I don’t believe most would recognize the existence of another seer. “Probably,” they would say, “Seer was just a title given to Malbeth because of his great foresight.” This may be true. But Malbeth was not the only one given the title of seer:
[Amidst the conquest of Gondolin by Morgoth] Then said the King: ‘Great is the fall of Gondolin”, and men shuddered, for such were the words of Amnon the prophet of old…”
Ah… so there is another seer (called a prophet in this case). In the note on this passage Christopher Tolkien refers us to the first volume of Lost Tales, where we read the following out of his comments on Flight of the Noldoli:
…In The Silmarillion (p. 87) there is a suggestion that the speaker of the Prophecy of the North was Mandos himself ‘and no lesser herald of Manwë’, and its gravity, indeed its centrality in the mythology, is far greater; here there is no suggestion of a ‘doom’ or ‘curse’, but only a foretelling. This foretelling included the dark words ‘Great is the fall of Gondolin’. It the tale of The Fall of Gondolin (but in an interpolated sentence very possibly later than the present tale) Turgon, standing upon the stairs of his palace amid the destruction of the city, uttered these same words, ‘and men shuddered, for such were the words of Amnon the prophet of old’. Here Amnon (rather than Amnos as in the present text, itself an emendation from Emnon) is not a place but a person (the servant of Vefántur who uttered the prophecy?). In the little notebook referred to above occurs the following jotting: ‘Prophecy of Amnon. Great is the fall of Gondolin. Lo Turgon shall not fade till the lily of the valley fadeth.’ In some other notes for the Lost Tales this takes the form: ‘Prophecy of Amnon. “Great is the fall of Gondolin” and “When the lily of the valley withers then shall Turgon fade”.’ In these notes Amnon might be either a place or person. The ‘lily of the valley’ is Gondolin itself, one of whose Seven Names was Losengriol, later Lothengriol, which is translated as ‘flower of the vale or lily of the valley’.
Some interesting notes on etymology and the evolution of the legendarium, but nothing really important to our case. It is interesting to note that the prophecy survived from the beginning of the script until the end, meaning it wasn’t just an idea Tolkien thought of while writing and just wrote it in to make the story more interesting. If it survived three drafts, than it was intentional. Because the Fall of Gondolin includes very early material (some of the earliest, in fact), it is questionable whether or not it is the author’s “final intent”. But we do know now that Tolkien had ideas about this from the very beginning.
So, we now have two seers (or prophets). Are there any more? I don’t believe I have ever seen a mention of another. But there are many more mentions of foresight… far too many to mention in this article.
More concerning Prophets. It appears that they are both recognized as prophets by those quoting or listening. They are not just called “the foresighted”. In my opinion, the recognition of the names mean that they were specifically chosen or recognized as prophets.
Perhaps we should look at Tolkien’s influences, primarily the Anglo-Saxons and the Bible. I don’t think there are any references in the former before or after their Conversion to Christianity. But in the latter we see many instances of prophets.
The primary difference is that in the Old Testament it does not appear that any are gifted with prophecy except for the prophets (or seers). These were men specially chosen by God for a unique purpose, namely, to bring his word to the people. What is more, prophecy was usually not “on the moment”; God said to them to go and deliver his message instead of just giving them the message at the appropriate time.
Now, we must consider, at least with the case of Malbeth, who put the words into his mouth? Did Malbeth feel a forewarning and compose the poem? If the poem was given directly to him, it is doubtful that it was some “force” in the air that gave the elves premonition. There are, most obviously, two options as to who gave Malbeth his words. The first would be the Valar. The other would be Ilúvatar himself.
This essay is unfinished.