[lindil]

We of course read about legolas' sleeplesness in tTT, where he says something to the effect of - wandering in his memory while resting, i.e. he is checking out from the 'real' world to a certain degree at least.

Elves minds are like ours only stronger, w/ the dunedain falling inbetween and royalty amongst the dunedain may well have a more disciplined, powerful and trained mind than non-royal, non-valinorean elves.

Other than 'magic' Elvish[and other] minds can link mind to mind [osanwe] recall 'Arwen watching over Aragorn in her thought' Elrond saying 'all under the shadow is dark to my mind ' or some such. And the beautiful scene in the RotK of the Elven ringbearers [and gandalf and Celeborn] 'sitting looking mind to mind, remembering days that have been and were to come' [paraphrase], this property has been crystalized in the palantiri and in a way in the mirror of Galadriel.

The Maiar and Valar can use osanwe even more freely and naturally. as the connection between their minds and bodies is by nature less sullied w/ 'the flesh' or eating and procreation.

Tolkien's awesome essay 'Osanwe-Kenta' available from the journal Vinyar Tengwar [any google search should turn it up] and is a must have.

Now what does the above digression have to do with sleep of Elves [or maia or dunedain for that matter?]
Much of the majesty of Tolkien's legendarium is that he shows the capabilities of 'the mind' in a much purer form than we see in modern life. To find historical examples we must read the lives of the saints - especially the desert fathers and the eastern Orthodox saints, or look carefully into eatern religion and much more circumspectly into sources so mixed w/ the demonic that i will not name them. However what you will see is that the mind [humans that is] do not HAVE TO: sleep, comminicatre w/ words, and a whole host of what we would consider 'elvish' qualities. This however takes discipline, training and sacrifice. If you spend your time eating pizza and glued to your terminal ot tv 5 hours aday , practicing this stuff for a couple of minutes a day will do nothing.

So one of JRRT's great genius is in showing through the Valar/Eldar/Edain the possibilities of the mind.
manwe being able to communicate w/ Eru directly is I believe one of the few allegories to be found in the Legendarium. We can communicate w/ God [assuming He has anything personal to say to us!] but we must be as Manwe was ruler of an harmonious realm, ourselves. and sit quietly and humbly waiting, and when about our tasks acting 'lawfully' i.e. w/ in the bounds of the commandments , given to preserve our bodies and minds unsullied and pure.

so the not sleeping thing [ of which there are exceptions] such as the aforementioned woodelves in a drunken stupor, and I also came across Amroth in UT's history of Galadriel and Celeborn mentioning that 'as he slept a great storm came up and before he awoke the ship was carried far out too sea'. I imagine that elves would sleep in the sese we are used to when great grief or weariness was upon then that did not leave then enough energy to practice reflection.

Note that Aragorn also goes w/ out sleep for much of the journey to Rivendell and then Lorien.

So the elves in general use their minds 24/7, as do the valar and maia, Men can do this under unusual circumstances or combined w/ special heritage. sorry for the rambling nature of all of that.


lindil