Good guys of LOTR clueless?

[Aiwendil]

Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant wrote:

In the book it's stated that they (again Celeborn & others) talked about "all the ages that were gone" or they held council concerning next days. Well, I'd think that there was some mind reading involved.

This is "Osanwe-kenta", discussed in an essay published in one of the Vinyar Tengwars. I think it fits quite well with the account of fear given in Morgoth's Ring. The trick with Osanwe is that each party opens his or her mind willingly.

But as for Galadriel reading Sauron's thought - I don't think we need to doubt this. The quote from HoMe X to the effect that no one can read another person's mind is a technical point. One fea cannot simply overwhelm another and read its thought. But real characters read each other's thoughts all the time. One can listen to another's words, watch another's facial expressions, listen to one's tone of voice, etc. So it is certainly not fundamentally impossible for one person to come to understand another's thoughts. The Rings put Galadriel and Sauron in a sort of constant contact; it is no wonder then that they might be able to discern certain things about each other. What Galadriel could not do is to overwhelm Sauron and obtain direct access to his spirit itself.