Music and Magic in Middle Earth - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 10-13-2004, 03:19 AM

Way too rushed at the moment, but I'd like to thank Mithalwen for starting up this thread.

I will try & put something together on this tonight - there are numerous examples of these wizardly duels in the traditional literature - especially in Northern myth- as I mentioed in the Chapter-by-Chapter post that started this off, we find it in the Mabinogion, The Kalevala, The Eddas, & also in various Irish legends. Also, there are various 'magical ballads' depicting a conflict between, say, a young boy & the False Knight on the Road.

The 'Word of Command' is a more difficult concept - is it more than simply the 'topping phrase' in the duel - is it a qualitatively different power in the legends as it is in Middle earth? - I will have to look into this a bit more.

I suppose we can say that the Ainulindale represents this kind of wizardly duel on a cosmic scale - the Ainur loyal to Eru sing their 'spell' & those who side with Melkor sing theirs, but the 'Word of Command' is spoken by Eru - 'Ea!'.

On second thoughts, maybe this is not a subject that can be dealt with in a single post

10-13-2004, 03:19 AM	#3
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Way too rushed at the moment, but I'd like to thank Mithalwen for starting up this thread. I will try & put something together on this tonight - there are numerous examples of these wizardly duels in the traditional literature - especially in Northern myth- as I mentioed in the Chapter-by-Chapter post that started this off, we find it in the Mabinogion, The Kalevala, The Eddas, & also in various Irish legends. Also, there are various 'magical ballads' depicting a conflict between, say, a young boy & the False Knight on the Road. The 'Word of Command' is a more difficult concept - is it more than simply the 'topping phrase' in the duel - is it a qualitatively different power in the legends as it is in Middle earth? - I will have to look into this a bit more. I suppose we can say that the Ainulindale represents this kind of wizardly duel on a cosmic scale - the Ainur loyal to Eru sing their 'spell' & those who side with Melkor sing theirs, but the 'Word of Command' is spoken by Eru - 'Ea!'. On second thoughts, maybe this is not a subject that can be dealt with in a single post __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."