The Broken Scythe Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Roberto Arduini & Claudio A. Testi with a preface by Verlyn Flieger The Broken Scythe Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien Roberto Arduini & Claudio A. Testi (eds.) The Broken Scythe Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien 2012 Cormare Series No. 26 Series Editors: Peter Buchs • Thomas Honegger • Andrew Moglestue • Johanna Schon Editor responsible for this volume: Thomas Honegger Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roberto Arduini & Claudio A. Testi (eds.): The Broken Scythe Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien ISBN 978-3-905703-26-9 Subject headings: Tolkien, J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973 Death and Immortality The Lord of the Rings The Hobbit The Silmarillion Cormare Series No. 26 First published 2012 © Walking Tree Publishers, Zurich and Jena, 2012 All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher Cover illustration The Departure ofBoromir by Anke Eissmann. Reproduced by permission of the artist. Copyright Anke Eissmann (2003). Set in Adobe Garamond Pro and Shannon by Walking Tree Publishers Printed by Lightning Source in the United Kingdom and United States BOARD OF ADVISORS ACADEMIC ADVISORS Douglas A. Anderson (independent scholar) Dieter Bachmann (Universitat Zurich) Patrick Curry (independent scholar) Michael D.C. Drout (Wheaton College) Vincent Ferre (Universite de Paris 13) Thomas Fornet-Ponse (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn) Verlyn Flieger (University of Maryland) Christopher Garbowski (University of Lublin, Poland) Mark T. Hooker (Indiana University) Andrew James Johnston (Freie Universitat Berlin) Rainer Nagel (Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz) Helmut W. Pesch (independent scholar) Tom Shippey (University of Winchester) Allan Turner (Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena) Frank Weinreich (independent scholar) GENERAL READERS Johan Boots Jean Chausse Friedhelm Schneidewind Patrick Van den hole Johan Vanhecke (Letterenhuis, Antwerp) About the editors and contributors Roberto ARDUINI (*1970), president of the Roman Society of Tolkien Studies, is a journalist and independent scholar. He is also a member of Tolkien e dintorni, the Scientific Review Committee for Marietti publisher, and contributed to TheJ.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, ed. Michael Drout, (Routledge University Press, 2006). He edited 77 Kalevala. Poema nazionale finnico (II Cerchio, 2007); together with Claudio Antonio Testi, he edited for Marietti La trasmissione delpensiero e la numerazione degli Elfi (2008), La Falce spezzata. Morte e immortalita inJ.R.R. Tolkien (2009) and Tolkien e la Filosofia (2011). He is one of the authors of La biblioteca di Bilbo (Effata, 2011). Simone BONECHI (*1966), graduated in History at the University of Florence and obtained a PhD in History at the Sacro Cuore University of Milan. He is a passionate reader of Tolkien since the 1980s, a member of the Tolkien Society, and collaborates with the Italian magazine Endore and works for Marietti 1820 as a translator of Tolkien-related studies such as Brian Rosebury s Tolkien: a Cultural Phenomenon. Giampaolo CANZONIERI (*1959) obtained a degree in Computer Science and earns his living in this field. He discovered The Lord of the Rings at the age of fifteen and Tolkien has been part of his life ever since. He is a member of the committee that stands behind the Italian Tolkien e dintorni book series, to which he contributed first by participating in the translation of Tom Shippey's The Road to Middle-earth and then by supervising the translation of Joseph Pearce's Tolkien: Man and Myth and of La Trasmissione delpensiero e la numerazione degli elfi, a collection including J.R.R. Tolkien's "Osanwe-kenta", "Notes on Ore" and "Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals". Lorenzo GAMMARELLI (*1972) contributed in 2003 to the revision of the Italian translations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit In 2005 he was the edi tor of the new Italian editions of Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith ofWootton Major, and in 2007 he translated and edited John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War. He is a member of the scholarly committee for the books series Tolkien e dintorni and collects Tolkien-related books and magazines. Alberto LADAVAS (*1978) graduated in Electronic Engineering in Milan in 2004. He is a Tolkien Society member and member of the scholarly committee for the books series Tolkien e dintornu He is a Tolkien fan since he was 10 years old and growing up he widened his interests from epic and fantastic literature to Northern history and mythology. Franco MANNI (*1960) obtained two degrees in Philosophy and Theology respectively. Since 1999 he has been editing a Tolkienian journal, Endore, and several Tolkien-related books: Introduzione a Tolkien, Tolkien e la Terra di Mezzo, Mitopoiesi, Lettera a un amico della Terra di Mezzo, and the Italian translation of Shippey's Tolkien Author of the Century. He also published two papers in English, one in the Proceedings of the 2005 Birmingham Tolkien Conference, and one in Mallorn. Andrea MONDA (*1966) obtained a degree in Religious Science at Pontifical Gregorian University. His thesis on theological meanings of The Lord of the Rings has been published by Rubbettino Editore under the title LAnello e la Croce in 2008. He works as a teacher of the Catholic religion in the high schools of Rome, the Pontifical Gregorian University, and the Pontifical Lateran University. He has furthermore published, together with Saverio SimoneUi, Tolkien, ilSignore della Fantasia (Frassinelli, 2002) and GliAnelli della Fantasia (Frassinelli, 2004), with Paolo Gulisano IlMondo diNarnia (SanPaolo 2005) and with Giovanni Cucci UArazzo rovesciato. VEnigma del Male (Cittadella Editrice, 2010). Claudio Antonio TESTI (*1967) obtained his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Bologna, is member and cofounder of the Philosophical Institute of Thomistical Studies where he teaches logic and cosmology. His publications (more than thirty articles or books) range from exegetical studies of Thomas Aquinass metaphysics to csssys in formal logic and epistemology: recently the work of J.R.R. Tolkien has become the focus of his studies. He is co-director of the series of Le Quaestiones (concerning Philosophy and Literature) and of the series Tolkien e dintorni, a collection of critical studies and translations concerning Tolkien and the Inklings.