And it slips through our fingers

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

The older one gets the more things that one cares for, change or have vanished for ever, and one tends to remember mostly the good things, and to gloryfy the past. I think the mentality of the Elves in the third age is a bit like those of old people, though their bodily appearance is still unchanged.

I like the analogy of Elves being a little like old people in that they lament the passing of things they have known well. Though with Elves I sometimes think that they experience grief in a wholly different way to how a mortal might experience it. Not only do Elves see the natural world around them changing, they also see or have seen (now they shut themselves off from it) how Men also wither and die.

These things simply cannot be saved in any way, there is simply nothing that they can do about it. When Men see such things wither away then it may bring to mind their own withering and passing, but for Elves, they can only see an eternity where those things will never be seen again. Elves, being detached from Death, I think cannot understand how withering is a part of the world, so their grief is different.

Maybe it is a demonstration of Gandalf's wisdom that he has at least some understanding of how mortality might feel, while the Elves have a different perception. Perhaps it is because Gandalf has received some kind of knowledge from Eru?