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Originally Posted by Inziladun
The Elves, to a much lesser extent, also had powers that appeared to Men to be 'magical'. Those also were abilities derived from the nature of their being and could be transferred to others.
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Yes, I think its more of a case of "you either have it or you don't". Unless you want to completely give yourself up, and become totally in the dominion of your overlord (in which case you a sort of an extension of them) then you can't gain magic. And then it isn't your own gain.
Look at the Drúedain. They can't even pass on their normal ("non-magical) tracking abilities to normal men:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by UT, The Drúedain
They had a marvellous skill as trackers of all living creatures, and they taught to their friends what they could of their craft; but their pupils did not equal them
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So I don't really think that people could teach others "magic". Staying with the same theme, remember that the posssibly magical statues of the Drúedain were coveted by many?
Things like this just make me think that the people in Tolkien's world either had the power/magic (in which case it wasn't magical to them) or didn't (which is why they viewed it as "magic").