The Dwarves


           
In Youngs’ article on Tolkien, there is a section in which she brings up the story about the Dwarves. Creature that are thought to be as dark creatures because they woke up before the elves who are the Children of Ilúvatar. The dwarves were created by Mahal, also known as Aulë  the Smith. Aulë created the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves all in which came from one unknown mountain somewhere in the darkness of Middle-Earth. This however didn’t help Aulë because he didn’t have the right to give the dwarves independence of life to them or any other creation.  Ilúvatar found out and quickly expressed his disapproval to Aulë about the dwarves, in this conformant Aulë  admitted to having the desire of wanting to create more living things. However, in his remorse he lifted his hammer to destroy the dwarves, but the dwarves beg for mercy. Ilúvatar taking pity among them let them live but they were not to awake before the elves who were intending to be the first born. Since Ilúvatar gave them life they were now considered to be the Adopted Children of Ilúvatar but he ordered Aulë to put them to sleep in their chamber beneath the mountain, for them to awake after the elves who need to wake up first.

In the article, it explains how this might be an element of supersession in the dynamic of early Christians in their writing. In how they would separate the religion of Christianity from its origin of Judaism. This comes back to the idea of why it was such a bothersome for the dwarves to have be awake before the elves who are truly the Children of Ilúvatar, in the other hand the dwarves were not.  Yes, Ilúvatar gave them life but they were still punished for they were created  before another race who had the “right” to be born first because it was the right way for it to happen. Another point that the article makes is how the story of the creation of the dwarves connects more with the idea of racial than religious thinking. They are a completely different race from the elves who are the Children of Ilúvatar meaning they have priority from the others. For the dwarves to have been awaken before them is the sign of darkness and they not knowing their place in their society. This shows as the article states that Middle-Earth is a location of polygenesis.


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