Nightmares & Dreams Anyone?

[Son of Númenor]

I've had some great LotR dreams, but the details elude me now.

Perhaps its only the elvish amongst us who would have this fear, this great ennui? Not that Middle-earth itself is the void, but elves do seem to be chained to endless existence.

That would be such a burden, to be bound to the world of form. That's one thing that's weird about Tolkien's cosmology: a whole race of beings that remains totally, eternally separate from the creator. Two actually, if you count the dwarves. What a boring afterlife they've got to look forward to. How long could one hang out with Aule and hew rocks before starting to wonder, "What's on the other side of the sky?" Maybe those races were a projection of Tolkien's fear of eternal existence as an embodied ego. Talk about a nightmare!

Of course, it doesn't take much to remind one that this life is fleeting, so I identify with Men and Hobbits. Pipe weed can pick up the spirits and food and ale can quiet the mind, but in the end we mortals live each day differently than the timeless Elves ever could: with the knowledge that sunrise and sunset are not forever.