From: Paul S. Person Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: The Beginning of the Dotage of Manwe Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 08:56:29 -0700 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Lines: 43 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: a5.79.23.4a Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 15 Jul 2001 15:50:26 GMT X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.7/32.534 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!pinatubo.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!newsfeed.hanau.net!newscore.gigabell.net!news0.de.colt.net!colt.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:43355 Submitted for your ... whatever. But only on rabt, because I don't have time for both rabt and aft. If you feel this deserves it, it may be copied to aft (or any web site), but I will only see responses on rabt. Not that I expect it to deserve it, no, not at all. The Beginning of The Dotage of Manwe After Melkor was defeated for the second time (that is, after the Whining of Earendel), Aule revealed his solution to the problem of eliminating Angband: fire-spirits. A lot of fire-spirits. Enough to totally destroy it all. Or, as Manwe put, "a bunch of thermonuclear devices which will include all of Angband in the fireball". Whereupon the Valar looked at him and wondered just /what/ he was smoking. And lo, the fire-spirits worked! But the air was poisened with an invisible poison floating in the air, and Yavanna beseeched Manwe to do something before all of Arda became lifeless. And Manwe, even though the beseeching was more like a hissy-fit, summoned his air-spirits (who were accustomed to handling large masses of air, especially hot air), and they confined the poisen and they kept it above the site of Angband until the air was pure -- "until the fallout has reached the ground", as Manwe put it. Whereupon the Valar decided to check Manwe's food to see what, if any, mushrooms he was eating. Then Aule created the Unbreakable Vault, which enclosed all of the remains of Angband and of the poison therein and thereon. And it was surrounded with mighty mountains to keep tourists and treasure-seekers out. But when the world was broken and Numenor disappeared and the lands were changed and, as Manwe put it, "plate tectonics began", the Vault was submerged. Which wasn't really a problem for the first few Ages of the Valar, but eventually it was conveyed ("subducted", said Manwe) to the center of the Earth. "Where", said Manwe, "any residual radiation will simply be added to what is already there and keep the planet warm a bit longer". After which statement the Valar realized that it was not what Manwe was smoking or eating that was causing him to talk this nonsense, but rather that they had, indeed, witnessed the beginning of the Dotage of Manwe.