Are elves bored in Valinor?

[blantyr]

One might get glimpses of Valinor in Rivendell and Lorien. In The Hobbit, when Bilbo returns after the bulk of his adventures, the elves are still singing silly songs which imply adventures are risky and not fun while all along sensible elves have been drinking and singing. In the Fellowship of the Ring the tone of Rivendell is much more somber. Mount Doom is in flames, and it is clear that the last round of adventures just can't be ignored. Still, there were songs in the Chamber of Fire. How can one be bored when there is opportunity to sing?

There might be many interpretations of the elves, and many distinct and diverse elven cultures even within the Tolkien tradition. I have role played variants who value beauty over conflict, and don't have difficulties seeing many of Tolkien's elves sharing such values. In many fantasy environments I've read of and played in, the struggle for power and fascination with conflict is a human flaw rather than an elven trait.

Those who stayed behind in Valinor would be precisely those who rejected the struggle for power and fascination with conflict. I would assume they would generally be less war like and aggressive than the elves one sees in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

[Alfirin]

I think this sounds like a variation of the old "wouldn't Heaven get boring after a while argument". I think the fundamental problem here is assuming that the desire for change and variety is inherent in sentience. This is a very homocentric and more importanty mortocentric concept. As mortal beings who age, we have no choice but to change, and so we psycologically are hardwired to value change, at least most of us are. We need to contranty strive for the theoretical "better" becuse we know we don't have infinite time to get there We humans, especially we modern humand are riddled with a very odd psycological concept called "boredom", we feel a need to be constantly challenged and so find stasis unpleasant. But elves are immortal. They don't need to hurry to reach perfection, they literally have forever to get there. Whne the leave it in part becuse they realized that the perfection the seek can't exist in the flawed middle earth, so they go elsewhere. Valinor is perfection (or as close as you can get to it in Arda). One literally cannot do better, so what would be the point in trying. The only human analog I can think of might be one of those Buddhist monks who are (by the tenents of thier faith) one lifetime away from Nirvana, who literally desire nothing out of the world, and are content to simply sit and meditate without cease until life leaves them and they can join with the great oneness.

[Morthoron]

Well, technically speaking, a large group of Elves did get bored of Valinor -- The Noldor. Not all the Noldor were driven by revenge like Feanor. Galadriel, specifically, yearned for more power than was available to her in the Blessed Realm.