Re: OT: elves and jinn (was Re: [...] THE WORLD OF THE JINN)

--- Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...>
wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 21:01:09 +1300,
> Wesley Parish <wes.parish@...>
> wrote:
>
> > I've put a lot of thought into the matter,
> and Tolkien had also done so
> > apparently, because in the material published
> by his son Christopher, in the
> > book "People of Middle-Earth", if I remember
> correctly, he refers to them
> > becoming invisible, immaterial beings -
> there's also something in the
> > Silmarillion about them being consumed by the
> fire of their spirits over the
> > years, but I can't recall the precise point.
>
> Yes, Tolkien entertained that kind of idea, but
> as far as the time of
> _The Silmarillion_, _The Hobbit_ or _The Lord
> of the Rings_ is
> concerned,
> the Elves have bodies of flesh and blood like
> humans, only that they
> are fairer to behold and immortal.
Though the fact that Frodo is able to see
Glorfindel (or Arwen, in the movie) revealed
rather contradicts the strict flesh-n-blood
interpretation.

Other evidence points to a life form that is not
100% corporal, at least not in the way the other
Peoples are: the faint glimmer from the Company
that Frodo et al. meet in the Shire, that Legolas
can walk lightly on top of the snow that even the
much smaller Hobbits can not walk on.

> And Tolkien's idea about the
> "fading" of the Elves apparently wasn't fixed,
> but underwent revisions
> from time to time.  At times, he thought of the
> Elves becoming
> immaterial spirits, at other times, he
> considered them simply
> leaving this world for the Undying Lands, and
> existing only
> in old tales and distorted memories.
Fair enough. He's allowed to revise.

> > So, technically, the elves as we meet them in
> > the Hobbit and the Lord of the
> > Rings are nature spirits, [...]
>
> I don't think the term "nature spirits" is
> appropriate here.
Agree. Perhaps something on the way to nature
spiritdom...

Also, I am curious. Why do you call your Elves
"Elves" if they are normal humans?

Padraic.



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