Thread: Gandalf's Ring
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Old 03-10-2003, 02:40 PM   #16
eledhwen
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Sting

I agree that the ring does not loose any of its power with time. The elves might slowly bwe loosing their power, but that has to do with their nature as elves and not with their rings.
As for the forebodings of Gandalf there are lots of people in middelearth who have forebodings in one form or another.
However, generally speaking the more powerful the person, the more aware the person is of the power and truth of his/her forebodings.
I think that writing in a mythic universe, and being aware of the narrative conventions of myths Tolkien uses forebodings as a literary device which is a vital tool to give the right feeling of fate or "doom" to what he writes.
And also I think that it is perfectly fair to just write of the origin of the various visions as Eru. he is the all powerfull source of everything, being the almighty creator.
If you wish to justify it otherwise, you might argue that Gandalf as a Maiar hails from beyond the confines of the world, and as such might have some insight into the future from the original song og Iluvatar...
In fact from the way he is described in Valaquenta he might even be the source of a good few of the forebodings which abound in the Silmarillion??
"...he walked among them unseen [...] and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promtings of wisdom that he put into their hearts."

anyway, that was my two pennies worth...
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