LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 02 - The Riders of Rohan

[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwende

I am not so sure that Elven time can be speeded up or slowed down, I think that they perceive time at an entirely different pace to mortals, one outside our easy comprehension. They see the world as Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by as mortal creatures are born, live and die in the mere blink of an eye to them; they see the world as Slow, because they do not count the running years, not for themselves as the great expanse of eternity is infinite.

Yet the purpose of the Elven Rings was to slow the physical effects of time - obviously they couldn't completely halt it, yet they could apparently manipulate it, & wouldn't that desire have arisen because they had the concept of it, & possibly that was due to some innate ability to manipulate their experience of it. Aren't they really trying to make the external world reflect their mental world, match the 'inner' & the 'outer'?

Does this refer to the eventual contraction and inevitable expansion or rebuilding of the universe? Do the Elves experience every universe and hence know what fate will bring? Or will some other creation experience 'the next' universe?

Only if there is a Universe subsequent to this one - why not simply an endless loop, an eternal return?