Having recently read the
"Turin, and the living sword" thread, a question has come to me.
Did any of the objects not only live, but have a mind of their own? And which objects qualified as alive?
There are the elven swords, but what about the silmarils (I'm sure there's some reference somewhere), or Rings of Power (I know there was some debate about the One, but how about others?), or perhaps the Pukel-men (not the people, but the statues that came to life, as told in the UT). And I'm sure there are more.
What was just magical, what was actually alive, and what had a complete mind and will of its own, and even consciousness?