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Originally Posted by Felagund
By virtue, it seems like there are beings of power, even if they are not 'magical' per se. Elrond refers, in the FoTR, to the "power of Rivendell" and the "power of Bombadil's house". I do not see any inherent 'magic' in these two places, but rather that have 'power' by the virtue of their inhabitants. ...
... Or, when Celebrimbor forges the Three, and they are magic, I don't think it is because he makes three pretty trinkets and casts a spell on them, but rather that he imparted a portion of his inherent 'power' into each of them.
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Nice comments, Felagund. One thing I noted is that you say that the Houses of Elrond and Bombadil have instead of magic, a sort of virtue from the righteousness of their character. Sort of a can't blame me for anything, you can't do anything to me? Hmmm. Maybe, but there is still an element of mystery and mystery is where the magic is and truly lies. Perhaps you should read "Leaf by Niggle" if you want some weird fictional magic-like stories by Tolkien.
But how can an evil man have virtue? Down in the nitty-gritty, evil is just doing anything that is necessary to obtain desires of the self, usually to the great detriment of others. Where is a virtue in that?
The definition of 'virtue' (Webster's New Twentieth, Unabridged) is:
1. general moral goodness; right action and thinking; uprightness; rectitude; morality.
2. a particular moral quality regarded as good or meritorious; as, the virtue of generosity; specifically, in philisophy and theology,any of the cardinal virtues or theological virtues.
3. chastity, especially in women.
I think we can disregard the latter, and that leaves with general moral goodness, and a particular quality of goodness. Sauron, Saruman, Morgoth, and any number of other creatures have no such thing.
For another thing, Celebrimbor could not have put a portion of his own power into the rings, or else they would not have been able to be controlled by Sauron. How could Sauron have controlled something that someone else controlled? (Celebrimbor would have had a connection with his three (or was it, 19?) rings, like Sauron had with the One) And then, the rings would only have been as powerful as a fading elf in the Grey Havens. Celebrimbor could not have put magic into the rings that way. As to how they got the magic, I cannot tell right now; I will look into it more deeply.
b_b