The Elven block.

[Måns]

This is a theory that I have, it may seem quite excentric but I beg you to listen to it before you judge it. The theory is that the elves and elf-friends were in fact the blockers of development in Middle Earth. It is common knowledge that the elves were the fairest, long lived and wisest but they were always the same. Did the elves ever represent any change? No. This is quite well illustrated in the Ainulindalë, especially the early versions that stresses their difference from men. It says that men, though they were short-lived always had a power the elves did not they could take the world a step further. While all elves did was predicted and regulated by the song of the Ainur, as was it with the valar, men had been gifted by Eru with the power of creation. They could use what was in Eä to develop things of their own, good or bad, unseen and unpredicted by the Valar. This is also said to be the most important difference between them and the Valar which made it ahrd for them to communicate and understand eachother.

To the main part of the theory, men always ahd this capability to build and used it early in the beginning. However, when men fled from Morgoth during the wars in the First Age, they came in contact with the elves and suddenly stopped developing, as did those who came under the rule of Melkor, a valier and thus more related to elves than men. No development was made during the entire first age, thoguh this could be partly blamed on the fact that they were quite busy making war on eachother, but, traditionally war has, terribly enough, often meant an acceleration in the development of both society and technology. If we take a step further in the develpoment of men, they, or some of them, learned much of the wisdom that the elves did have, all was predicted in the music but still, it increased their store of wisdom greatly and moved to Númenor. Now, the men left in Middle Earth were still left in their old patterns of lack of knowledge while the men of Númenor developed greatly. This leads me to think that men needed the guidance of the elves in the beginning to start their own progress. After all, the men in Númenor became more and more cunning and advanced while they distanced themsleves more and more from the elves, why could this be? Shouldn't it be the other way around? No, because the elves had only a certain measure of knowledge to give, and when they had given that, they drew men with them in their preserving of a lost glory. Elves always thoguht they were waning which is true for them in ME but rather, they were stuck forever in their immortality as well as their behaviour and technology. I do not say that men became greater during the time in Númenor, they would ahve needed guidance to remain good.

If we take a look at the wars in the third age, they were only of a preserving nature, Gondor never attempted to expand the boundaries of civilisation, by force or otherwise. They held on to what they could and did so pretty well for three thousand years, but still, all the time they waned. That is, I think due to that they had so close relations with the elves, the elves wanted them topreserve an order taht had been, with the learned language Sindarin, classical knowledge and the elvish culture in Genreal. That was not according to the nature of men who went restless and thus their strength did not grow. After the passign of the elves, at alst, men were free from the governing of the elves and developed more rapid than ever, ever growing in strength and advancing rapidly. D we have a pattern ehre? As soon as men were distanced from elves, they went on, from the old, that is true, from the old elvish wisdom and beauty but to knew things that none except Eru could predict.

MånsThis is a theory that I have, it may seem quite excentric but I beg you to listen to it before you judge it. The theory is that the elves and elf-friends were in fact the blockers of development in Middle Earth. It is common knowledge that the elves were the fairest, long lived and wisest but they were always the same. Did the elves ever represent any change? No. This is quite well illustrated in the Ainulindalë, especially the early versions that stresses their difference from men. It says that men, though they were short-lived always had a power the elves did not they could take the world a step further. While all elves did was predicted and regulated by the song of the Ainur, as was it with the valar, men had been gifted by Eru with the power of creation. They could use what was in Eä to develop things of their own, good or bad, unseen and unpredicted by the Valar. This is also said to be the most important difference between them and the Valar which made it ahrd for them to communicate and understand eachother.

To the main part of the theory, men always ahd this capability to build and used it early in the beginning. However, when men fled from Morgoth during the wars in the First Age, they came in contact with the elves and suddenly stopped developing, as did those who came under the rule of Melkor, a valier and thus more related to elves than men. No development was made during the entire first age, thoguh this could be partly blamed on the fact that they were quite busy making war on eachother, but, traditionally war has, terribly enough, often meant an acceleration in the development of both society and technology. If we take a step further in the develpoment of men, they, or some of them, learned much of the wisdom that the elves did have, all was predicted in the music but still, it increased their store of wisdom greatly and moved to Númenor. Now, the men left in Middle Earth were still left in their old patterns of lack of knowledge while the men of Númenor developed greatly. This leads me to think that men needed the guidance of the elves in the beginning to start their own progress. After all, the men in Númenor became more and more cunning and advanced while they distanced themsleves more and more from the elves, why could this be? Shouldn't it be the other way around? No, because the elves had only a certain measure of knowledge to give, and when they had given that, they drew men with them in their preserving of a lost glory. Elves always thoguht they were waning which is true for them in ME but rather, they were stuck forever in their immortality as well as their behaviour and technology. I do not say that men became greater during the time in Númenor, they would ahve needed guidance to remain good.

If we take a look at the wars in the third age, they were only of a preserving nature, Gondor never attempted to expand the boundaries of civilisation, by force or otherwise. They held on to what they could and did so pretty well for three thousand years, but still, all the time they waned. That is, I think due to that they had so close relations with the elves, the elves wanted them topreserve an order taht had been, with the learned language Sindarin, classical knowledge and the elvish culture in Genreal. That was not according to the nature of men who went restless and thus their strength did not grow. After the passign of the elves, at alst, men were free from the governing of the elves and developed more rapid than ever, ever growing in strength and advancing rapidly. D we have a pattern ehre? As soon as men were distanced from elves, they went on, from the old, that is true, from the old elvish wisdom and beauty but to knew things that none except Eru could predict.

Måns