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Originally Posted by Galadriel55
It all depends on how you define "telepathy". Is it literally "communicating on an invisible level", or is it just "having an invisible/subtle (?) connection".
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Originally Posted by Morthoron
What Legolas feels in Eregion and Fangorn is based on heightened acuity and attentuation with nature, it has nothing whatsover to do with telepathy. The Elves, by their very nature have better hearing, better sight, better acclimation to severe weather and a greater sense of the natural world. He was not "communicating" with nature, rather, he was able to gather an impression of the surroundings.
As far as the "telepathy" aspect of the Elves, there is no evidence it goes beyond the Eldar, as only the truly great Elves (along with Gandalf) were conversing in such a manner. Perhaps it didn't go beyond the Ringbearers themselves.
Edit: I had forgotten about the "Ósanwe-kenta or Enquiry into the Communication of Thought", an eight page postscrips by Tolkien written circa 1960 that explains Elven telepathy. Lammas Pengolodh (the alleged writer of the piece) refers to the Eldar as being in far greater control of their hröa than Men, hence the ability to communicate through the mind, and that the strength of will and leadership ("authority") is one of the principle means of strengthening such communication (hence, the ease with which Galadriel, Elrond, Gandalf and Celeborn, all Eldar or Maia, and natural leaders, can converse together so). It might be conjectured that an authoritarian such as Galadriel could speak to Frodo in such a manner because the One Ring gave him the strength of will to do so.
I've got to read up on this.
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I spent a bit of time yesterday feeding
Ósanwe-kenta into Google. The full essays don't seem to be on line, so I got snippets and second hand reviews. Apparently range is not important. The strength of the more powerful person is more important than the weaker. Urgency can be important. One's mind is by default open to such communication, but one can close off access and such a closure can overcome any effort by the outsider. All minds are essentially similar in nature, but not in power. Valar, Maia and elves have sufficient power to use it effectively, while others would receive rather than initiate. I get the impression that there is a lot more I haven't been able to access.
But getting back to Legolas, the immediate question is whether he got information from Fangorn and Hollin through the traditional five senses of the hröa, or through Ósanwe-kenta and fëa.
I quite appreciate that the five senses of the elves would be acute beyond that of humans. One can see elves picking up subtle nuance of posture, facial expression voice intonation to pick up emotion and intent. Thing is, this requires an entity with both fëa and hröa to have and display emotion, memory and thought. If in Fangorn Legolas had spotted ents or hurons, he might have read their emotions and intents, but how can one read the facial expression of Hollin's rocks?
I would agree that only the more powerful beings could use Ósanwe-kenta well. Legolas, being the son of a king, could well be more adept at it than your typical elf. To limit Ósanwe-kenta to ring bearers only, though, seems far too great a restriction.