Oxonmoot 2021

This paper expands on existing analyses of the eschatology of Tolkien’s invented mythology by seeking to understand its relationship to Tolkien's exploration of morality, primarily in The Silmarillion. With consideration given to Tolkien’s medieval and spiritual influences, this paper offers new insights into the text by engaging closely with the often overlooked story of the sons of Fëanor. It finds that this throughline narrative functions as an important vehicle through which Tolkien explores and complicates ideas of morality and mortality, as the narrative treatment of the Fëanorians highlights the complex relationship between morality and processes of death and afterlife, often employed as a reward for heroism or a punishment for evil. It is because of these complexities that The Silmarillion is able to communicate its central emotional thrust: fatalistic faith and Tolkienian eucatastrophe.