The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum


Visit The *EVEN NEWER* Barrow-Downs Photo Page

Go Back   The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum > Middle-Earth Discussions > The Books
User Name
Password
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-08-2002, 01:08 AM   #1
Kalimac
Candle of the Marshes
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Flyover Country
Posts: 780
Kalimac has just left Hobbiton.
Eye Elvish Medicine?

Just another minor consideration - the Elves are generally acknowledged to be very good at healing and medicine and so forth (for example, Elrond curing Frodo of his Weathertop wound, or at least ameliorating it if not fully curing it). In the movie Aragorn calls it "Elvish medicine" but I cannot remember for sure whether that particular phrase was in the books or not. Anyway, did the Elves use straight-up medicines or did they effect their cures more spiritually? (Healing the soul, and the body with it - something like that). The reason I'm asking is that since Elves are made for immortality and do not get sick nor die of anything except violence and "declining" - which isn't really a germ-carried illness - why would they develop medicines or cures for illnesses which they never got?

One possibility I thought of was that it may have started when Elves and Men were allied; since men could be wounded and die of illnesses and infections, the Elves might have decided to take advantage of their thousands of years of personal experience with studying herbology and so forth to develop some cures for their friends. This seems a little lacking for some reason, though. Does anyone have any ideas? (Or maybe a passage in Tolkien's writings that I haven't spotted yet? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]). Thank you!
__________________
Father, dear Father, if you see fit, We'll send my love to college for one year yet
Tie blue ribbons all about his head, To let the ladies know that he's married.
Kalimac is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2002, 02:41 PM   #2
Lomelinde
Haunting Spirit
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Ha! Wouldn't you like to know?
Posts: 80
Lomelinde has just left Hobbiton.
Silmaril

Good point. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] The elves probably did develop medicine for healing wounds, seeing as they also could succumb to violence, but since elves were so much more spiritual minded and in tune with the metaphysical than men, they probably leaned toward healing the soul in other instances. Even though elves never got sick, they most likely used their knowledge of herbs, as was mentioned, to help men when they came on the scene later. So I think it was a mixture of all those things you mentioned. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
__________________
The Dwarf breathes so loud I could've shot him in the dark, drunk, blindfolded and hanging upside down from a tree.
Lomelinde is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2002, 03:23 PM   #3
QuickSlash
Wight
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Not here.
Posts: 121
QuickSlash has just left Hobbiton.
Send a message via AIM to QuickSlash Send a message via Yahoo to QuickSlash
White-Hand

I think you're right. Their knowledge of various plants qould make them good healers, and a lot of it was probably done for the soul, like the Lembas. They were more for the mind than the body, I think.
Hey, could it be called "magic" or "elven magic"? I'm not sure if they said it in the books or if I just heard someone say it. I think someone else referred to it like that. I'm curious. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
__________________
We're here and now, but will we ever be again? / 'Cause I have found / All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade, away, again. -Shimmer, Fuel
QuickSlash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2002, 07:11 PM   #4
Nar
Wight
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 228
Nar has just left Hobbiton.
Sting

Luthien and Huan, hound of Valinor, use elvish medicine -- not to mention elf-dog medicine -- to save Beren --the following is from the long poem The Lay of Lethian in The Lays of Beleriand, HoME 3
Quote:
Then Huan came and bore a leaf,/of all the herbs of healing chief,/ ... with broad and hoary blade./ ... The powers of all grasses Huan knew/ ... while Luthien murmuring in the shade/ the staunching song, that Elvish wives/ long years had sung in those sad lives/ of war and weapons, wove o'er him.
Nar is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:39 AM.



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.