Quote:
Originally Posted by skip spence
For those yearning for the Elvish lifestyle, I think even Tolkien are quite clear that Men are not really made for that kind of contentment, serenity and harmony with nature. We are restless and the grass is always greener on the other side. Sitting on a lawn in Lorien, reciting poetry and meditating on the beauty of the Mallorn trees would be very nice for a while but sooner or later there would be an itch.
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That's indeed what is rather explicite in there. So possibly, yes - I think that's the point, however: Middle-Earth is "made" for us for rest, renewal, the peace so that one can later return to the buzz of elsewhere. In the in-world perspective, even the spirits of Men leave and nobody knows where, not even the Elves do. The Men are just "guests". So in fact, you are probably right in your idea that if you had to
live in Middle-Earth, some place akin to our world (like the Gondorian Umbar, Minas Tirith or the places teeming with life) might be more up to human taste.
But still - I think even places more "lost" can be nice, like Lórien, if you could find nice enough company there (which is questionable, you would probably need more humans and not only Elves around, their thinking might prove to be too alien in the end after all). But the point of the strength of Men is creating new things, enrichening the world, even though they live in it only shortly - that is what has been amazing the Elves since the dawn of times. So, theoretically, even in a place like Rivendell, I think, a human could find himself feeling comfortable, under the condition that the local population would not hold it against him that he is creating new things, and therefore, of course,
changing things - as we know, change is the thing the Elves do not seem to be very happy with. That is, I think, a bit of the problem with the Undying Lands, too, the reason why mortals can't really live there - a human cannot sit on the grass for a thousand years and be just happy. Eventually, you will feel like you want to
do something. Though, if I think about it, the Elves certainly did not sit there idly all the time either - thinking of Fëanor as the most remarkable example... though, truth be told, the Noldor were in a way also the most "human-like" (also in the bad way), and they did not stay in the end... they had to go through all the suffering in Middle-Earth before they were able to appreciate the return and the peace and the rest again.
Interesting thought, anyway.