Magic in Middle-earth

[blantyr]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Legolas was the only Elf in the Fellowship. Elves are closer to nature, so they communicate on an invisible level.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Well, that one's basically mental telepathy (Tolkien did actually lay down rules for how it worked, though the essay in question was unknown until a few years ago).

I don't want to disagree with either of the above. I just wonder if one might define mental telepathy as the ability to communicate on an invisible level. As so many of the elves other unusual abilities have aspects of telepathy -- communication from fëa to fëa -- it seems to fit.

In Hollin, Legaolas seemed able to communicate with the rocks. In Fangorn, the forest. In more mundane realities, in order to communicate with something, that something ought to have a fairly advanced brain. In Middle Earth, things without brains can acquire fëa, and you can communicate with them. We have already discussed how a land might absorb something of the personality of the people who lived there, or echo in the aftermath of a strong event. I might suggest that this natural bleed of fëa might be a less structured variation of 'craftsmanship,' the putting of a bit of one's self into an item one builds.