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Originally Posted by Eönwë
Well, that is a good point. Though If we're going on about no new technology, we must ask ouselves: What are the Rings of Power? What is the Ring? All technology. They weren't made in the "golden age". And I don't think the palantirs were either. And anyway, if we could go by the path of magic or technology, which would you go by?
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The Rings were made by Sauron and Celebrimbor, a Maia and a 1st Age Elf, at the very beginning of the 2nd Age. Feanor made the Palantiri in the 1st Age. Perhaps because of the Rings, all attempts at new 'technology' among the Elves stopped for 2 Ages, and all efforts by Elrond and Galadriel went into conservation of what was prior to the Rings, and given their immortality, there was no need for biomedical advances or any research whatsoever. How boring it was to be an elf! Sauron dabbled in genetics, but little else, and as
skip spence pointed out, he made no effort at all in improving his arsenal (technology should have been important to Sauron -- he might have been immortal, but his armies were shortlived and poorly clad).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eönwë
Anyway, given the choice between magic and technology, I would go for magic. Much more immediate results. It either works or doesn't. Technology takes years for sometimes even the smallest part of an invention to be developed. And if all the "magic" was actually highly advanced technology, then who could hope to match that later on, and doesn't that prove that things were invented anyway?
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Magic was innate in Middle-earth, either you had it or you didn't. Elves had it, dwarves basically lost it (according to Thorin and Gimli anyway), and men and hobbits never had it. Numenoreans tried a hand at geriatrics, or at least trying to find the fountain of youth in an alchemical sense, but failed, and their ships most likely were based on Teleri design, so they didn't do much technologically speaking.
Oh, and
Macalaure, we forgot to add something in our discussion of real-world chronology as opposed to Middle-earth stagnance. The Real World had its Stone, Bronze, Iron and Steel Ages; whereas, the high cultures of Middle-earth went directly to steel and mithril (although limited in quantity).