[Galin]

Back to the subject at hand... we don't know that there is anything called a 'fourth cycle' for Elves, and for myself, the reader's explanations: that Círdan was really old, or was under stress, and never went to Aman, do not well enough explain why he appears to look aged.

Text on fading refers to Elven spirits consuming their bodies so that they become invisible to men's minds, though they '... may reveal to him their forms (through his mind working outwardly, maybe), and he will behold them in their beauty.' In note 7 to the commentary on the Athrabeth, it is noted that the Elves: '... eventually became housed, if it can be called that, not in actual visible and tangible hroar, but only in the memory of the fea of its bodily form, and its desire for it,...'

In Laws And Customs Tolkien talks about Elven ageing beyond what might be observed, as the text notes that Men deem that the Elves do not grow old in body-- and thus it might be thought that they can have children at any time in the ages of their lives. And what Men deem is not corrected as I read it, rather it is explained that the Elves do age, but in inner ways: '... the impulses and moods of their bodies change. This the Eldar mean when they speak of their spirits consuming them; and they say that ere Arda ends all the Eldalie on earth will have become as spirits invisible to mortal eyes...'

In short they do age, as in: they fade.

In the text Aman once again 'fading' is raised: '... after the vitality of the hroa was expended in achieving full growth, it began to weaken or grow weary. Very slowly indeed, but to all the Quendi perceptibly. For a while it would be fortified and maintained by its indwelling fea, and then its vitality would begin to ebb, and its desire for physical life and joy in it would pass ever more swiftly away. Then an Elf would begin (as they say now, for these things did not full appear in the Elder Days) to 'fade', until the fea as it were consumed the hroa until it remained only in the love and memory of the spirit that had inhabited it.'


To my mind it seems that Tolkien writes about, or refers to, fading enough times. Morgoth's Ring references include (not necessarily exhaustive)...

Page
210 'and the fire of their spirit had not consumed them'
212 'spirits invisible to mortal eyes'
219 '... the body becomes at last, as it were, a mere memory held by the fea.'
224 'Lingerers, whose bodily forms may no longer be seen by us mortals, or seen only dimly and fitfully.'
225 'Then they may reveal to him their forms...'
342 'They eventually became housed (...) not in actual visible and tangible hroar, but only in the memory of its bodily form, and its desire for it.'
427 'thus an Elf would begin to fade (...), until the fea as it were consumed the hroa until it remained only in the love and memory of the spirit...'


It would seem to me fairly notable if Elves who remained young looking for thousands of years in Middle-earth also had a phase of looking aged. And here we have opportunities to describe, or even briefly mention (to make clear, if so), some phase before fading, or describe that fading includes the bodily ageing of Elves.


For myself, I don't think any such phase really existed, with respect to the later legendarium anyway. It doesn't seem to me that the Elvish experience in Middle-earth normally included aged looking Lingerers. But yet Círdan is presented as looking aged, in description published by Tolkien himself, and never revised. So yes, good question!


If Círdan is to be characterized as an exception, I don't see how really old should matter here: if one lives ten thousand years, or twenty, or more, why should it matter if the way an Elf ages means that he or she begins to fade in the body (become invisible to Men, be held in memory), and become a Lingerer.

Stress? Well maybe Tolkien could focus on that somehow, but in my opinion this opens up a somewhat ambiguous door as to 'how much' is enough. Going by the description we have to date, I don't recall that Círdan was ever taken by the Enemy and tortured for years, for example.