Tidbits of Curiosity

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

And then threw said elf over the wall.

Tuor the Child-Killer

I think you're pushing that a bit far. Maeglin saw himself as a child, but that's no excuse for high treason, abduction, and the attempted murder of a seven-year-old in front of his mother. It's possible to understand his mindset without buying into it.

hS

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

I think you're pushing that a bit far. Maeglin saw himself as a child, but that's no excuse for high treason, abduction, and the attempted murder of a seven-year-old in front of his mother. It's possible to understand his mindset without buying into it.

hS

True. Maeglin attempted to kill a child too.



However, I too see him as one. By Eldar reckoning, being 190 years old is pretty much an equivalent of a child.



Maybe I am being overly passionate about the whole thing, though....



I think I should change the topic before it gets out of hand.

[Urwen]

What should the new topic be?

[Andsigil]

Originally Posted by Urwen

True. Maeglin attempted to kill a child too.



However, I too see him as one. By Eldar reckoning, being 190 years old is pretty much an equivalent of a child.



Maybe I am being overly passionate about the whole thing, though....



I think I should change the topic before it gets out of hand.

There’s no evidence, to my recollection, that elves matured more slowly than men; they simply lived in their physical prime much longer.

190 year old elf might be young, but he has the accumulated knowledge and presumed wisdom of any 190 year old man.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

There’s no evidence, to my recollection, that elves matured more slowly than men; they simply lived in their physical prime much longer.

190 year old elf might be young, but he has the accumulated knowledge and presumed wisdom of any 190 year old man.

Originally Posted by Laws and Customs of the Eldar

The Eldar grew in bodily form slower than Men, but in mind more swiftly. They learned to speak before they were one year old; and in the same time they learned to walk and to dance, for their wills came soon to the mastery of their bodies. Nonetheless there was less difference between the two Kindreds, Elves and Men, in early youth; and a man who watched elf-children at play might well have believed that they were the children of Men, of some fair and happy people. For in their early days elf-children delighted still in the world about them, and the fire of their spirit had not consumed them, and the burden of memory was still light upon them.

This same watcher might indeed have wondered at the small limbs and stature of these children, judging their age by their skill in words and grace in motion. For at the end of the third year mortal children began to outstrip the Elves, hastening on to a full stature while the Elves lingered in the first spring of childhood. Children of Men might reach their full height while Eldar of the same age were still in body like to mortals of no more than seven years. Not until the fiftieth year did the Eldar attain the stature and shape in which their lives would afterwards endure, and for some a hundred years would pass before they were full-grown.

If you want to lean into the 'child' thing, you could have Maeglin be a late-bloomer, still 20 years shy of full growth when he reached Gondolin. But that's not evidenced in the text, and Silm: Of Maeglin actually implies the opposite.

hS

[Urwen]

All right, change of topic.


Who are your favorite character(s) of Tolkien Legendarium?


Mine should be obvious, and so should the reasons I like each one of them.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Urwen

All right, change of topic.


Who are your favorite character(s) of Tolkien Legendarium?


Mine should be obvious, and so should the reasons I like each one of them.

I don't know, I kinda like most people in their own way. Sometimes I like or dislike people in different chapters (*stares at some hobbits*). Easier to say who I like less.

[Andsigil]

Originally Posted by Urwen

All right, change of topic.


Who are your favorite character(s) of Tolkien Legendarium?


Mine should be obvious, and so should the reasons I like each one of them.

Cirdan the Shipwright.

I keep hoping that someone uncovers an old shipping trunk, under some clutter in an overgrown garden shed in Tolkien's old home, and finds an original, 300 page manuscript by JRR, entitled, The Adventures of Cirdan.

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

Cirdan the Shipwright.

I keep hoping that someone uncovers an old shipping trunk, under some clutter in an overgrown garden shed in Tolkien's old home, and finds an original, 300 page manuscript by JRR, entitled, The Adventures of Cirdan.

I am also hoping to receive more tales about my favorites - specifically Lalaith and Maeglin. They are barely mentioned at all, and then they were both killed off. This injustice needs to be fixed ASAP!


(It'd probably never happen, though, and so I will turn to fanfiction....)

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

There’s no evidence, to my recollection, that elves matured more slowly than men; they simply lived in their physical prime much longer.

There is some evidence of slower bodily maturation (and so on), as already noted in the thread, but Laws and Customs does not appear to be Tolkien's last word on the subject. From Tolkien's notes to NKE:

"(…) nette meant "girl approaching the adult" (in her "teens": the growth of Elvish children after birth was little if at all slower than that of the children of Men). The Common Eldarin stem (wen-ed) wendé "maiden" applied to all stages up to the fully adult (until marriage)."

JRRT, from Vinyar Tengwar 47, texts generally dated 1967-70.

I note also ("they" are the Númenóreans):

"Thus (as the Eldar) they grew at much the same rate as other Men, but when they had achieved "full growth" then they aged, or "wore out", very much more slowly."

JRRT Note 1, The Line of Elros, Unfinished Tales.

Not every relevant citation, but the VT date is the latest I can did up so far.

[Urwen]

I just had a stray thought: what if Gurthang/Anguirely were truly evil? I mean, their maker and all three of their subsequent owners met tragic ends....