Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams - Discussion

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by alaklondewen

Her symptoms point toward a schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (delusions, hallucinations, a hint of obsessive compulsive behaviour?), which is a fascinating idea, especially with the mysticism and "madness" driven actions the story has included thus far.

Thanks. I was thinking along the lines of schizoaffective disorder - she definitely has a mood disorder component to her behavior, and not so much of a blunted/flat affect. But I digress. It would be really interesting to try to figure out which of her visions are real and which are delusions, since I think she has been getting some of the real dreams that are floating around as well.

I can revise depending on where everyone is heading...

[littlemanpoet]

If we are serious about Canon, then it seems to me that something as modern sounding as schizo-affective disorder must have some kind of Middle-Earth based source. Pray what could that be?

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

If we are serious about Canon, then it seems to me that something as modern sounding as schizo-affective disorder must have some kind of Middle-Earth based source. Pray what could that be?

Well, I would never think to have anything appear in Middle-earth under that name, of course. That would never work! I think we digressed a little into attempting to diagnose the character.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Celuien

Well, I would never think to have anything appear in Middle-earth under that name, of course. That would never work! I think we digressed a little into attempting to diagnose the character.

But that doesn't answer my question. There has to be some reason why she is the way she is. All her history says is that it happened. How?

[alaklondewen]

That's the question scientists have been researching for years.

However, how would Tolkien explain any developmental, medical, or mental disability or illness? There are of variety of internal, physiological explanations, but the people of middle earth would never know about them. So, maybe we could take a look at how individuals thought of mental illnesses before modern medicine.

Many people explained "madness" as a punishment for some sort of sin by the individual or possibly even their parents. Another explanation they could use would be some major stressor or traumatic event that triggered her symptoms or madness.

These, of course, are just a few suggestions running around in my head.

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

But that doesn't answer my question. There has to be some reason why she is the way she is. All her history says is that it happened. How?

I had an original background that I dropped as too over the top, but I can present it if you like:

Raid on settlement where parents resided led to her mother being sent off to safer quarters, but she became separated from the group and wound up on the way to the Dwimorberg. Search party found her later, dead on the path, with the newborn Sæthryd barely alive next to her. This knowledge opened her to the receipt of evil influence from the mountain and gave her an interest in the Paths of the Dead, which combined to cause her condition. A stepmother then replaces mother in the history given.

Alternately, she could have been haunted by real visions out of the mountain from childhood for unknown reasons and those slowly drove her to her current state. That's plausible since she was under the Dwimorberg when the dead still were there.

Or there could be a family history of mental illness. If we accept the conceit that Middle-earth is a past time period for our world, diseases that exist today exist in the past.

I don't know. If it's not canon enough, I'll scrap the idea. I just thought she was interesting.

[littlemanpoet]

No, it's canon enough. I was just wanting to know how. I like it.

Sorry for being curt today. I will change my tone. Unacceptable, no matter what. Sorry. All's good.

[Orual]

Oh my goodness! I'm so excited! I go back and read the old thread every now and then, and I miss it so much...this is wonderful! It's the perfect time, too. I'm out of school, and, having just made an A in Creative Writing, I'm pumped to write some more!

So a big "hello" to all my old Tapestry friends, and a big "welcome" to all the new-comers!

~Orual (Ravion!)