|
Tolkien (of course) was very careful in the words he used. "Loremasters" itself is a translation of ngolmor, derived from the same root as Noldor, denoting "intellect, knowledge, factual and technical expertise."* The greatest of all Loremasters was Feanor- who most certainly wasn't wise in the sense of "prudent, perceptive, possessed of sound judgment;" nor in general were the Noldor (think Exile and Rings of Power). Elrond's mastery is shown in lore- he is Middle-earth's greatest historian, and possibly its foremost doctor. If he's also possessed of sound judgment, that's really a separate thing.
The Wise of the Third Age (the Istari and chief Eldar) again are so denoted in the first sense (the original meaning of wise, from OE witan "to know," from which we also get wit and wizard): but they aren't all "wise" in the second sense. Radagast is something of a clever fool, Saruman we know about, Celeborn doesn't come off as especially 'wise' whatever his wife may say about him, and Galadriel herself took some seven thousand years to achieve 'wisdom', even though "she was a match for the loremasters of the Noldor" already in her youth.
*For many years Tolkien used "Gnomes" as an alternate name for the Noldor, because it evoked Greek gnomos with similar meaning.
__________________
The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.
|