Meeting Elves - How would you have coped?

[Elmo]

If we actually lived in Middle Earth and we came into contact with sentient beings who never aged, never died, knew you great-great-great-great grandfather etc? How would you have reacted? Would you have been a nice, loyal, goody two shoes faithful and just accepted your mortality as your lot in life all would you have got all Black Numenorean?

If I'm to be honest I think I would have been more similar to Phrazon (no human sacrifices though) then say Aragorn or Elendil...

[Raynor]

sentient beings who never aged

Cirdan is described in The Grey Havens as "grey and old". Tolkien comments in various places about the fading of the elves, due to the fire of their fea that consumes their hroa ("Laws and customs of the Eldar"), and due to the marring of Melkor that accelerates this ("Athrabeth").

Originally Posted by Lost Tales, Part One

, whereas the Eldar dwell till the Great End, unless they be slain or waste in grief (for to both of these deaths are they subject), nor doth eld subdue their strenght, except it may be ten thousand centuries, and dying they are reborn in their children....

And considering Cirdan is about the oldest creature yet living in Middle-Earth, he might very wel be grey and old....
I can't really think of how I would have coped with the exitence of Elves, I probaly wouldn't be bothered by it to much though...

[MatthewM]

Why do you see it fit to jump at such a minor correction? You didn't even answer the question, and it is clear what hewhoarisesinmight meant. I don't understand why people are so quick to correct others on such trivial things.

Anyway, for my part, I will answer the question, and to be honest I don't know how I would react. Placing myself in a position as Boromir was in, for example, I would be somewhat freaked out. If I was a little more aware of the culture, like Aragorn was, I would be more calm. Either way though, I would certainly be in awe of the beauty of their surroundings...and would love a good tale of old.

[The 1,000 Reader]

I'd probably think that they were just humans until I noticed the ears. Then I'd think 'Cool, an elf.'

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by The 1,000 Reader

I'd probably think that they were just humans until I noticed the ears. Then I'd think 'Cool, an elf.'

But don't ever call them a Vulcan. Man, they HATE that!

[Isabellkya]

Hm.. I'm not sure how I would cope.. I guess it would all depend on how I was raised.. whether or not I believed them to be myth or actually real.. I guess to actually answer the question; I think I would cope pretty well. I might be taken back by actually meeting them for the first time.. I would probably just see them as another person... who just had a really long life span.

[Liriodendron]

It would depend on the elves.....if they came across as snooty and uncaring, I'd plobably start turning grey/black .....if they (particularly the females ) were warm and caring, despite being perfect, I would probably look up to them and want to get closer.

[narfforc]

If I met an Elf I'd ram my Orc Scimitar through his back, that would teach him not to hug trees.

[Roa_Aoife]

I've always disliked the Elves in general (snobby, self-righteous, arrogant... *grumble grumble*) but, having never been bothered by mortality and the inevitability of death, doubt I would ever turn black.

In my opinion, Elves ought to envy humans. The brevity of our life spans allow us to maintain a sense of wonder. This may be morbid, but ask a terminally ill patient who has come to terms with their diagnoses- life is much sweeter, much more vibrant, when one takes into account that everything could end tomorrow. Or even a few decades, for such a length of time would be insignificant to such long lived beings.

Really, if Elves existed, I would say they ought to be pitied.

[Boo Radley]

Boo Radley meets an Elf while walking along... Let's listen in, shall we?

Elf: "Greetings, Man!"

BR: "Man? What are you, a Hippie?"

Elf: "Err.. no. I am an Elf! Gendolar is my name and I have lived in this land for 5,000 years!"

BR: "5,000 years? Yeah, I'll need to see some ID."

Elf: "What?"

BR: "Nothing. Never mind. So... you're an Elf, eh? Hmmm... so... Orcs, huh. What's up with them, anyways?"

Elf: "What do you mean? They are evil and an abomination unto the land!"

BR: "Kind of like Steeler's fans."

Elf: "What?"

BR: "Nothing. So.. Oh, OK... Stop me if you've heard this one. These three Orcs walk into a bar and they're each carrying a duck under their arm."

Elf: "What?"

[Lalwendë]

How do we know we'd even recognise an Elf if we saw one? And what does one look like anyway? Just a human with pointy ears? I personally think they are so much more than that.

My dad thinks that aliens, if they exist and have come to Earth, live amongst us. His reasoning is that if they can get to this planet then they have superior knowledge and will certainly know that to survive they will realise they must disguise themselves. Maybe Elves are the same? The Istari after all knew to disguise themselves as something unobtrusive, as old men...be careful and take note to be especially nice to pensioners in flat caps and car coats.

[Elmo]

Elves don't actually have pointy ears you know... see I can be a pedant too

An elf could never get into a night club though, even a bouncer wouldn't believe that Gendolar had a driving license which showed he was older than the wheel

[narfforc]

Hi Lal, didn't Stepen King base The Tommy Knockers on a Alien people/Fairy folk story. All over Britain there are stories of Faerie, today they would be called UFO stories'

[Folwren]

An interesting question, to be sure... perhaps a bit pointless, but interesting all the same.

I don't know how I would react. I'm inclined to think I would be very quiet and would listen a lot to what they said, as they spoke to someone else. I don't speak much to people older than I. I've been brought up with all the 'respect your elders' and letting them talk, not interrupting, listening carefully, and all the rest. Even though I'm becoming an adult myself, I still listen a lot, especially when it's an older person.

With an elf, I think it would be fascinating. Have you ever been around an old man who still has all his wits about him? You can learn so much from just listening to what a man like that has to say! And an elf...who doesn't grow old and who doesn't become feeble or looses his mind with age would be amazing.

No, I wouldn't envy their long life.

-- Folwren

[Raynor]

Originally Posted by hewhoarisesinmight

Elves don't actually have pointy ears

A matter not solved so far. In HoME V, Tolkien states:

Originally Posted by Lost Road

The Quendian ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped than [?human].

Subsequent research on the papers, such as those appearing in Vinyar Tengwar #45, confirm that Tolkien was indeed reffering to "human".

[The Might]

Umm...good question
I'd probably envy them a bit, but I'd probably take Tolkien's words into consideration as well. As said in the Silmarillion, the gift of death would be wanted by both Elves and Ainur as the ages pass, and perhaps Tolkien is right in saying that. It is probably something we can't understand as we are only "visitors" here on Earth, but perhaps with the passing of countless ages one would "fade away" slowly.
I'd probably have a lot of questions to ask.

Boo Radley, good point about not calling Elves Vulcans.
Still, I think they would be the type to answer with something more polite such as "Excuse me but I didn't understand thee" rather then "What?"

[Lalwendë]

Course, it also depends on if we're talking about Tolkien's Elves or the 'Elves' you can find if you look hard enough in our own world and open your mind...they're a whole lot more tricksy...

Originally Posted by narfforc

Hi Lal, didn't Stepen King base The Tommy Knockers on a Alien people/Fairy folk story. All over Britain there are stories of Faerie, today they would be called UFO stories'

Sounds interesting, I'll have to look into that one! Apparently at some point in the 50s people stopped seeing fairies and started seeing aliens. Might they be the same thing?

I liked how in Torchwood they managed to combine both in one story, with a little girl finding fairies at the bottom of her garden, which were in fact superhuman and quite sinister beings from the beginning of time itself - that's an episode well worth looking out for.

After God told George that He wanted George to be President, He told me that when I die, I get to go to Middle-Earth. Cool, Huh?
I asked eagerly, Well do you mind if I kill myself?!
But God said I had to wait.

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

...be careful and take note to be especially nice to pensioners in flat caps and car coats.

I think that goes without saying.
But, do the Istari women also dress up like old men, because if they do, that's just wrong on so many levels.

Conversation continued...

BR: "Oh, by the way... love your cookies."

Gendolar: "Right! That's it, human... it's GO TIME!!!"

[Roa_Aoife]

You know, strictly from a scientific point of view, I'd be dying to get my hands on their mitochondria.

And possibly have them try to make snow angels....

[narfforc]

Yes Lal I saw the Torchwood episode, a modern version of a very old story, but exremely good.

[Mithalwen]

I'd like to claim we would have a discussion on the lines of Finrod and Andreth but I rather think I would be even less cool and more incoherent than when I got Louis Malle and Andreas Scholl's autographs (separate occasions). But surely now they would be faded.. and you might just sense their presence....

[Andsigil]

I think I would be captivated by the elves. In the end of it all, I wouldn't do very well.

I remember thinking when I read the core books that the death of every elf was more tragic than the deaths of men because each elf was not only something of a higher being, but a living museum as well.

To think what is lost by the death of just a single elf at the hands of some filthy orc from the Misty Mountains... ack, it just addles the mind.

And then there is the departure of the elves from Middle Earth. I could see myself at the Grey Havens, on my knees, begging them not to go and leave the world a dimmer place.

[the guy who be short]

It would just be normal for that world, an accepted fact of life: Men die, Elves don't. I don't think I'd give any more thought to it than the fact that, say, elephants have trunks and I don't.

[FeRaL sHaDoW]

if i did meet an elf, i would try to get it to take me to the grey havens. If that does not work mabey ill smuggle myself in one of their boats.

[Finduilas]

I don't think that I would envy the elves immortality. Death is a gift.

After all, what is life without death?



(Does this sound morbid? 'cause that's not what I was aiming for...)

[Knight of Gondor]

I suspect most of us, if we met a true Elf, would be like Sam. Delighted, and come away the better for having met one, delighted at finding a creature more noble and higher than ourselves. (Remember Sam said that Elves were a bit above his likes or dislikes when he first met the Elves near the Shire.)

I would not begrudge the elves their immortality. My feelings on the matter are similar to Digory Kirke's, from C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew. He is offered immortal life by the White Witch. "No thanks," said Digory, "I don't know that I care much about living on and on after everyone I know is dead. I'd rather live an ordinary time and die and go to Heaven."

However, I think I would be a fool if I did not seek to learn as much as I could from an Elf, as Aragorn did.

[Lindale]

Meet an Elf? Cool! Especially if it's Galadriel!

I guess I'd play the eager academic, try to learn all I could and do my best to hide the awe they're bound to arouse. After the acad talk, maybe ask for a bit of Elf-magic?

No, I don't think that at first I'd envy their beauty and immortality. But after a while, maybe. And after a long while of contemplating and philosophizing, maybe I'd end up wishing for a long and beautiful life, but mortal nonetheless.

[Lord Halsar]

If they were unarmed, i would say, "Ha Ha! You're going to have to watch everything die, and rot, and pass away! "

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by Knight of Gondor

I suspect most of us, if we met a true Elf, would be like Sam.

That's just what I was going to say, too!
I would feel wonder and awe, and fascination. Probably I would be left speechless, and hardly dare address the elf.

[Elmo]

I must admit everybody here seems rather more accepting of Elves than I expected oh well I guess I won't get any help building sacrificial temples here