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sador
Half-elven
Feb 17 2013, 3:25pm
Views: 623
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5.) What do people make of Tolkien’s use of this stock theme?
It is another stock theme of meidaeval literature, which I doubt people in the modern world would know of if not for Tolkien.
Is it merely a convenient device to explain why Thingol remains behind in Middle-earth?
Why would Tolkien want that?
I mean, there are enough explanations for dark-elves in Beleriand already - why bother with giving them so exalted a leader?
Or is Tolkien using the theme with a distinct purpose in mind?
I suspect it is more of a device to explain Luthien - the real reworking of the Edith-dancing-for-John memory.
6.) Is this the sort of thing which most readers pass over as “decoration”?
Readers are already acquainted with LotR, so they tend to expect this sort of thing. Think of The Houses of Healing, and Aragorn's "ennobling" of the name Strider - as if any long, pompous-sounding word in an antique language would not sound grand.
Or is it the sort of thing which gives Tolkien’s legendarium greater depth as well as quasi-historical credibility?
Greater depth - yes.
Historical credibility - um... see squire's response.
Since Tolkien studied precisely this sort of thing in his day job (e.g. the development of dialects in specific regions), is it just his own scholarly interests intruding?
That's surely a part of it; but he worked it in pretty well.
7.) What purpose did Tolkien have in inventing these “Grey Elves”?
As far as I remember, Tom Shippey wrote a long an interesting essay about this.
I think they would impersonate his own private myth of the Elves' fading - he needed being which were near the light-elves, but still well-grounded in Middle-earth, so that there will be those who fade.
Does the rest of the story bear out the concept of an intermediate position for these “Grey Elves”?
I think it does.
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Subject
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User
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Time
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Silmarillion Discussion: Of Thingol and Melian, #2
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NZ Strider
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Feb 12 2013, 1:22am
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La Belle Dame Sans Chimichurri
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squire
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Feb 12 2013, 2:35am
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Perhaps Gov. Sanford demonstrated
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NZ Strider
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Feb 12 2013, 7:48am
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Whose enchantment is it anyway?
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noWizardme
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Feb 12 2013, 6:00pm
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Is it just a "stock theme" though?
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FarFromHome
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Feb 13 2013, 4:31pm
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Love and enchantment
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elevorn
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Feb 13 2013, 8:13pm
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Feminine wiles
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CuriousG
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Feb 14 2013, 1:52am
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posting previous questions here now
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elevorn
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Feb 14 2013, 5:37pm
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Thingol's resume
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CuriousG
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Feb 15 2013, 1:29am
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Late answers
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sador
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Feb 17 2013, 3:25pm
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a few thoughts on several great comments
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telain
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Feb 20 2013, 11:51pm
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Hyperlink to next chapter
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noWizardme
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Feb 21 2013, 10:21pm
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