tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395948500312534280.post3589072164673526147..comments2024-02-25T01:48:45.848-07:00Comments on Mr. Center's Wall: A QUESTION OF FAITH AND VANITY via The Lord of the RingsJoseph Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00090686611405364311noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395948500312534280.post-43299007216554441082010-12-17T19:23:38.974-07:002010-12-17T19:23:38.974-07:00I want to be optimistic about elvish motives, but ...I want to be optimistic about elvish motives, but they all seem so stinking aloof and selfish. Generous and wise to be sure, but is that enough to make them the purportedly celestial beings Tolkein paints them? I feel pretty confident that you're right, and your general statement coincides pretty directly with the vanity portion, but I just want it to be more than that. <br /><br />Regardless, the age of elves is over, and now comes the age of man. Tolkein wrote this with the general intent to create a folklore for Britain. Are we to believe that since we are currently in the age of men, and since there are no elves among us (as far as we know...), and bearing in mind that elves are immortal, that they must just be somewhere else, and they left because their time was just up??<br /><br />I don't know either.Joseph Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00090686611405364311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-395948500312534280.post-69221507468832686342010-12-17T18:29:49.433-07:002010-12-17T18:29:49.433-07:00I have not read it nearly as much as you, so take ...I have not read it nearly as much as you, so take this with a glacier-sized block of salt. <br /><br />It seems to me that the elves are leaving because the nature and forest that they love cannot survive whether men win or whether Sauron wins. It's kind of like how the Shire is not completely saved. No matter what happens, the world as the elves knew it is passing away. And I think this is supposed to be sort of a sad thing less than faith in the goodness/success of Frodo and men. <br /><br />Anyway, that's what I think, but it's always been troublesome for me, too, so I don't know.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11708022607046379611noreply@blogger.com