‘Beyond the Circles of the World’: The Meaning of Death and Immortality as Reflected in Tolkien's ‘Incarnate’ Beings

The paradox of man as a unity of matter and spirit preoccupied the thought and imagination of Tolkien to a deep degree. Indeed, in a number of places, Tolkien identifies the main theme or purpose of his work being an exploration of ‘Death, and Immortality’. By introducing two races within his legendarium that reflect two different ontological relations to the world, Tolkien could explore the subtlety of this paradox that is the current condition of man against other possible relations to shed further light on man's actual relationship with time and eternity. As Tolkien's imaginative work directly engages with the nature of body and soul, and man's experience as embodied spirit, this paper seeks to examine some aspects of Tolkien's anthropology as sketched throughout his work, in order to see what his formulation in the mode of myth can contribute to deepening the principles given in a classical anthropology.