For almost sixty years, JRR Tolkien worked on the stories that would later be compiled as The Silmarillion. [1] Míriel Serindë is a fictional character in these stories. She was the first wife of Finwë, King of the Noldor, and also the first Elf to leave her body out of free will. Chapter six of The Silmarillion describes the great love between these two Elves, the birth of their son Fëanor, and the departure of Míriel’s spirit from her body. How does Roman Catholic teaching understand the relationship between the soul, spirit, and body, and what does it teach about choosing death voluntarily? An important question, given that Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic throughout his life and and his most successful book (The Lord of the Rings) was a fundamentally religious and Catholic work (Letters no. 142).

Tolkien, faith, and Míriel’s story

During the period in which Tolkien wrote The Silmarillion, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was the most important event within the Roman Catholic Church that subsequently shaped the Church’s doctrine on the soul, body and death. However, Tolkien harbored a strong aversion to the changes that followed this Council, as he made evident in various letters. Up until this Council, the Church maintained a single dominant framework from which all theological and philosophical issues were viewed, a framework that corresponds to the period in which Tolkien wrote his Legendarium.

This framework was called Neo-Thomism, a modern revival of the ideas of the medieval theologian St. Thomas Aquinas.[2] This framework emphasizes the harmony between faith and reason and draws heavily on Aquinas’s understanding of human nature.[3] In Neo-Thomist thought, a human being is made of both body and soul. According to this view, the soul is the part of the person that gives life and makes thought, emotion, and choice possible.[4] In this teaching, body and soul need to work together to make one complete human being. The Church also teaches that life comes from God. Committing suicide is seen as an injustice towards God and a grave sin.[5] The Roman Catholic faith therefore also encourages everyone to protect and respect their body and soul.

Does Míriel’s story reflect these Catholic teachings about the unity of body and soul and the rejection of suicide? To answer this question we turn to chapter six of The Silmarillion: Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor. Míriel of the Noldor fell in love with Finwë, King of the Noldor. Living in Aman, or the Blessed Realm, their love was great, as it blossomed during the Days of Bliss.[6] This love led to the birth of their son Curufinwë, also known as Fëanor. However, giving birth left Míriel’s body completely exhausted. She “yearned for release from the labour of living,” meaning she no longer wished to continue life in her weakened state. She then went to the Gardens of Lórien to lay her body to rest, hoping to restore the strength and vitality of her body.[7] During this rest, Míriel’s spirit, or fëa, decided to leave her body and travel to the halls of Mandos, the place where Elven spirits go after their body dies.[8] Míriel herself chose to leave her body, even though her body could have healed had she rested longer. When the Valar learn of Míriel’s act and give her the option to come back to her body and her life, she refuses and accepts the fact she cannot change this choice, having to live in grievance until Arda ends.

The intentional choice of Míriel’s spirit to leave her body and reside in the halls of Mandos contradicts what the Church would proclaim on this subject. As we have seen, following Neo-Thomist thought the Church teaches that a human being is complete when body and soul work together. Tolkien presents a different view. By portraying Míriel as an Elf rather than a human, Tolkien creates a being whose spirit can exist separately from the body. This spirit, equivalent to the human soul, leaves Míriel’s body and intentionally does not return to it. This suggests that Elves are made up of a distinct body and spirit which do not have to be in the same place to make one unified being. Her choice to reside in a place where Elven spirits go after their body has died also raises the question whether she committed suicide. The Church would consider this a grave sin. Míriel chose to avoid continuing her life in pain but also did not kill her body; she merely left it. Tolkien puts Míriel in a grey area when related to the teaching of the Church, not condemning Míriel’s choice as suicide but showing how she suffers so deeply she doesn’t want to live any longer.

Conclusion

Míriel’s story suggests that Tolkien did not fully follow Roman Catholic teaching on the relationship between body, soul, and voluntary death. In Catholic teaching, body and soul form one inseparable human being, and suicide is considered sinful. In contrast, Tolkien portrays Elves as beings whose body and spirit can exist separately. The choice of Míriel’s spirit to leave her body cannot be judged as suicide; Tolkien chooses to focus on the suffering of Míriel, not her death.

Vicky Hoogland is a student of Religious Studies at our faculty.

[1] Tolkien, Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, no. 163.

[2] Murphy, “Thomism 1870-1963,” 665.

[3] Murphy, “Thomism 1870-1963,” 657.

[4] Maher and Bolland, “Soul,” New Advent https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm.

[5] Vander Heeren, “Suicide,” New Advent https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14326b.htm.

[6] Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 63.

[7] Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 63-64.

[8] Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 64.