Music and Magic in Middle Earth

[Mithalwen]

So much here now to absorb ... but with the wizard's staff, I have come to the conclusion (and this is coincidental rather than a contrived response to the topic title) that it is like a musician's instrument. It does not contain the wizard's power anymore than a violin say contains a great performer's musicality yet they are stymied in expressing that innate ability without the instrument - thus is Gandalf "crippled" at Orthanc.

However the staff in itself is not without importance ..it is not merely a stick and maybe would not be "merely" a stick in the hands of a "layman". I love music, but I was a feeble violinist . I remember that my teacher could make my "grotbox" fiddle sound fab but I could only produce slightly warmer toned squawks from her lovely Italian violin ..... .

I am afraid I don't have the "Letters" but I imagine the wizards and their staffs might well have been a subject of correspondence - does anyone know?


On a lighter note - it has just occured that there is a close resemblance between the "tools of the trade" of wizards and Conductors - the wand or baton or the staff .... perhaps it is jsut as well that Gandalf didn't "do a Lully" when he smote the bridge!!!

[Lalwendë]

is there a 'system' of magic in Middle earth? In other words, did Tolkien have a clear idea of how the magical objects worked, or did he simply make up each individual object, with its own rules of working, & just throw them into the story?

I don't think that there is any system of magic in Middle Earth, just as there is no clear system of belief. But I also don't think that Tolkien was entirely random in what he chose to portary as 'magical'. The spiritual is deliberately left obtuse - rightly so in my opinion as this is how these things are in the 'real' world. There could be no one 'grimoire' on the magic in Middle Earth, although there could easily be several!

There are quite a few intriguing links to the use of magic in Middle Earth, although I'm at quite a loss as to explaining if or why Tolkien would have known or even approved of these links. The ceremonial side of magic, which is reflected in the Wiccan world, is represented in Middle Earth. For example, we see wands being used in the staffs of Gandalf and Saruman. These are used to direct some kind of force, as they are by Wiccans, and when broken, this force cannot be channelled. Swords, which are seen as athmes in Wicca are also invested with spiritual properties. The cauldron can be seen refelected (sorry ) in Galadriel's mirror, which is obviously used for scrying.

For further illustration of these 'tools' of Wiccans, I can recommend going googling for an image of the Magician card of the Rider-Waite tarot pack, which clearly shows these.

Wish I could write some more, but I have raging toothache and haven't eaten for 11 hours - hopefully I'll feel more coherent either tomorrow or after I get the pliers out...