I know all of this is just a goad to get me to write the promised essay on the Vanyar [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]!
Obloquy wisely said
Quote:
But no, I doubt there would be any killing. There would be no duels with Balrogs, and no kinslayings, and no acts of treachery. I guess you're right: they had no life.
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Of course I am an inveterate [and veteran] pro-Vanyarist [despite my Laiquendi nick], and agree 100% with the totality of Obloquy's already quoted post.
The Vanyar > Noldor thread really does cover this debate quite thoroughly though...
One point I would like to add:
Being in Valinor even as a rock would be amazing. The whole place was hallowed i.e. filled with
grace. So were all of the Elves there, as long as they did not actively resisit it. It literally soaked in. So, in short everyone there would have been incredibly fascinating by our normal standards of art, discipline or simply 'presence'.
So what we are really talking about is degrees of high attainment or existence. And within that, much clearly will be preference [based on type and upbringing], but also JRRT makes some moral valuations re: the excessive technocracy and quarrelsomeness of the Noldor that clearly show he felt they were flawed as a House of Elves, despite getting the most press. Morgoth gets the most ink as a Vala too! One could make the same argument that at least he 'did' something compared say to Lorien or Manwe. Obviously the dark side is more active than the light,
superficially, but from my limited experience I can tell you that meditating for many hours a day for a few weeks is far more of an intense journey than travelling in the world [assuming one is not in a war zone that is].
I have had to use my [ again limited] martial art skills before, but as exciting as that may seem it takes hours and days to 'clear' the effects of violence from my mind and heart.
JRRT gives Manwe/Varda and the Vanyar the respective titles of 'highest' because (IMO) they were the most spiritually oriented and in the last analysis our fea is our essence, and it's maturing and growth is what we [ and equally the Elves] are here for. I could get more theological, but I will allow the interested fellow poster follow the plotted trajectory of my thoughts for themselves.
By the way the Vanyar essay is probably only a year or so away {God willing}.
What a beautiful board we have to be able to discuss such things!