Sir Ian as Gandalf

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

So the discrepancy lies with Tolkien who wanted a Brangelina for Lothlorien. (tsk. I shall be flailed for that. Legions of estimable Downers past shall suddenly appear and attack my audacity for criticising The Professor.).

I don't think the Prof. was quite as enamoured of the Eldar as some of his readers (& certainly not as much as the makers/viewers of the movies - hence his 'embalmers' comment. I suspect that Lorien would grow something of a Hotel California experience after a while. Perfect Elven bodies everywhere, & an increasing lack of meaningful conversation to be had - once you'd got tired of being told how great things were in the 'old days' & how things had just gone continually downhill since the First Age - or really since the death of the Trees.. (to quote Marvin the Paranoid Android from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: 'The first ten million years were the worst... & the second ten million years were the worst too....after that things just went down hill.'). Galadriel stated to Celebrimbor that she wanted to live in a land where the flowers & trees didn't die - a frozen, entirely plastic 'perfection'. The disconect between physical perfection & inner ennui, is by far the most interesting aspect of the Elves. They cannot grow old physically, & a reading of the Sil confirms that most of them are equally incapable of growing up.