Of the Three and the Fading of the elves - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Galin · 03-13-2010, 02:49 PM

While it's true that Tolkien could be making a distinction between 'mightiest' and 'chief', and while I also don't think he necessarily need feel bound by a letter, still, in lettter 131 he noted that the chief power of all the rings alike was the prevention or slowing of decay...

... adding that the Three were supremely beautiful and powerful '... and directed to the preservation of beauty'.

If Tolkien wants to explain how Nenya is the chief and Vilya is the mightiest, he certainly has the creativity to come up with something, but he might just have forgotten what he had published concerning Vilya too, and considering the other questions The Elessar manuscript raises, I might question this detail as well.

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03-13-2010, 02:49 PM	#14
Galin Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,036	While it's true that Tolkien could be making a distinction between 'mightiest' and 'chief', and while I also don't think he necessarily need feel bound by a letter, still, in lettter 131 he noted that the chief power of all the rings alike was the prevention or slowing of decay... ... adding that the Three were supremely beautiful and powerful '... and directed to the preservation of beauty'. If Tolkien wants to explain how Nenya is the chief and Vilya is the mightiest, he certainly has the creativity to come up with something, but he might just have forgotten what he had published concerning Vilya too, and considering the other questions The Elessar manuscript raises, I might question this detail as well.