Note – this text was originally published by me on Reddit, for the simple reason that I really wanted feedback and criticism of the idea. The original post can be found here….given the generally positive feedback my theory received, I’ll now happily put my name to it here!
As Tolkien lovers, we are all at least passingly familiar with the “Secret Fire,” thanks to it being mentioned during one of the Legendarium’s most rightly famed moments:
But Gandalf stood firm.
‘You cannot pass,’ he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell.
‘I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.’
The Lord of the Rings, Book II, Chapter 5, ‘The Bridge of Khazad-dûm’, by J.R.R. Tolkien
It takes little effort to uncover what this Secret Fire is that Gandalf refers to – it is the metaphysical spark of “living”, granted in some measure or manner to all living creatures according to Eru Ilúvatar. Other, far more gifted scholars than I, have drawn parallels between this “Secret Fire” and the Christian conception of the Holy Spirit – both are life-giving, seem to be some aspect of the One true God, and are strongly symbolically linked with fire. Indeed, Tolkien himself explicitly referred to the Secret Fire as being synonymous with the Holy Spirit.
So far, so good. However, we then find a stumbling block in our understanding of the Secret Fire – namely, that Tolkien gives us a second name for it. The Flame Imperishable. Indeed, Tolkien uses both names for what seems to be the same concept in the Silmarillion, which seems….odd. Surely such a consummate wordsmith as Tolkien would have a reason for inventing two seperate names for such an important and holy entity? It is out of character for the Professor to bandy words randomly – so, then, why does he have these two seperate names that are (seemingly) used for the same thing? Is it because they are not in fact the same thing? Or is it simply a lack of care on Tolkien’s part?
I first became fully aware of this problem thanks to the “Prancing Pony Podcast”, where this topic came up early on. To summarise briefly, one of the hosts hypothesised that one was an aspect or a part of the other, hence the need for two seperate names – only to retract this idea later, as it did not align with Tolkien’s own writings on the topic. Other Tolkien scholars have also concluded that the Secret Fire and the Flame Imperishable are one and the same, and have been (to the best of my knowledge) unable or unwilling to expand upon why the two different names exist.
Since then, I’ve done a little background reading, to see that this topic has come up on this very subreddit previously. Tolkien Gateway also describes them as being synonymous without distinction (and offers a couple of useful sources). I came across a few fringe ideas which had been put forward, all of which missed a fairly significant fact in either the Legendarium or in Tolkien’s worldview.
So, then, are the Flame Imperishable and the Secret Fire the same thing? Well, spoilers….yes, I think so. But I think that everyone has been looking for the wrong thing – for a difference between the two. My hypothesis is that there is no difference, but there is a distinction – and that distinction is both a simple enough one to define, but also significant in how it relates to our understanding of each of these names.
Firstly, it is useful for us to gather up every mention of both the Secret Fire and the Flame Imperishable within the Legendarium…..a surprisingly simple task, as there appear to be few of either! For example, neither is actually explicitly mentioned during “Of Aulë and Yavanna”, despite its obvious bearing upon that tale. In total, I found 2 “Flame Imperishables”, both in Ainulindalë:
Then Ilúvatar said to them: ‘Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will.
…………..
Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Ilúvatar called to them, and said: ‘I know the desire of your minds that what ye have seen should verily be, not only in your thought, but even as ye yourselves are, and yet other. Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be; and those of you that will may go down into it.’
…….and three “Secret Fires”, (including Gandalf’s above-quoted statement in Moria, which is not repeated here, though it does bear weight to my theory).
Then the themes of Ilúvatar shall be played aright, and take Being in the moment of their utterance, for all shall then understand fully his intent in their part, and each shall know the comprehension of each, and Ilúvatar shall give to their thoughts the secret fire, being well pleased.
– Ainulindalë
………..
Therefore Ilúvatar gave to their vision Being, and set it amid the Void, and the Secret Fire was sent to burn at the heart of the World; and it was called Eä.
– Valaquenta
Finally, there is also mention of the “Imperishable Flame (rather than the F.I.”), as well as the “Fire”), also during Ainulindalë. This is something of an outlier, and I’ll return to it below.
To Melkor among the Ainur had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a share in all the gifts of his brethren. He had gone often alone into the void places seeking the Imperishable Flame; for desire grew hot within him to bring into Being things of his own, and it seemed to him that Ilúvatar took no thought for the Void, and he was impatient of its emptiness. Yet he found not the Fire, for it is with Ilúvatar.
Now, what intrigues me is the fact that the only character in the Legendarium who ever, explicitly uses the words “Flame Imperishable” in speech, is none other than Eru Ilúvatar. The (presumably Elvish) scribes always refer to it as the “Secret Fire” just as Gandalf did in Moria. It is only when Eru is actually speaking that it is called the “Flame Imperishable”. Hence, my theory is that both are properly and truly the same thing, but that only Eru calls it (or perhaps even thinks of it) as being the Flame Imperishable. For any other creature, that Fire is indeed somehow Secret, being fundamentally outside of their own power to manipulate or control. Hence, for any creature lesser than the One, it is the Secret Fire – indeed, it would be strange for Eru to ever consider the Flame as being “secret”, as it is (from a Trinitarian viewpoint) an equal and whole part of Eru.
What, then, of the “Imperishable Flame” quoted above? Well, this may be a little more of a stretch. It is possible that this is a remnant from an earlier moment of Tolkien’s subcreation, when he himself had not settled on any such distinction. However, I like to think that this is an indication both of Melkor’s full misunderstanding of the Fire (up to and including the mixed word order of I.F. instead of F.I.), as well as his refusal to believe that it is truly Secret (which is subtly reinforced by the scribe by referring to it as the “Fire” later in that same paragraph) – of course, to Melkor, it is wholly inconceivable that the Fire could be truly Secret, he thinks that it’s just the Really Well Hidden Fire (That I’ll Find And Bend To My Will Any Day Now). Melkor’s failure to understand the nature of the Fire is thus carefully reflected in the way he perceives its naming.
So, that’s my theory – that Tolkien was very careful and deliberate in his use of each name, as we would expect. While both do in fact refer to the same entity, our perception of that entity is radically different to how Eru perceives it, leading to a need for this distinction. Now, I (sadly) do not have access to all of Tolkien’s drafts, especially those of Ainulindalë and Valaquenta. I did my due diligence in History of Middle Earth’sindices, and found nothing to contradict my idea, but it is entirely plausible that I’m mistaken, especially if Tolkien used the two terms more indiscriminately than appear in the published works (especially in his later writings). It’s also possible that I’ve missed a logical beat here, or that there is a stronger theory going around….but, in the absence of any other suggestions, and given the evidence presented above, I hope that it is at least an intriguing idea for some, and may help solve a riddle that has long plagued many fans of Tolkien’s very carefully crafted writings. Thanks for reading!
Tl;dr – The Secret Fire and the Flame Imperishable are wholly and completely identical in Tolkien’s writings. What is different is which characters use which term – Eru calls it the F.I., while literally everybody else (except maybe Melkor) calls it the S.F.
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