Posted: May 09, 2000 at 19:42:15: by Gandalf
: There is a question below about Dwarven magic, but mine is about magic practised by Men. Do Men, especially the Numenoreans have magic? I remember theres something in the LOTR that the exiles fom Numenor cast a spell to make the Pillar of Orthanc of unbreakable stone, or that they have a spell for the stone to bind, something to that effect. The thing is, if they could do this to stone, they could(might) be ble to do the same for wood, thus making stronger and lighter ships,thus more xiles from drowned Numenor. Because then the number of passengers would ot be limited to what we now know of wooden ships capacity.Hope someone get my idea..:)Magic ships could hold more passengers.
Indeed they did.
However, Tolkien magic is not very clearly defined. As Galadriel says to Frodo and Sam, she doesn't know what they mean by magic, and her mirror is an example of what she thinks they think is magic. =)
What is skill, and ability, and what is magic? Do you think the elven cloaks that the fellowship had were magical? Certainly they had the innate ability to blend in, but is that magic? Modern science could probably come up with something similar, if it really tried.
We are told that the Witch King of Angmar was a great sorcerer in his day, and I believe the Mouth of Sauron was a black Numenorean sorcerer (although there is much debate over just who he is). I am not sure that Orthanc was made (or strengthened) with magic. The way I read it was that the Numenoreans had great skill, and Orthanc and Minas Tirith's gates were made so strong by the skill of the men of the west. They weren't "conjured" into being. However, does this constitute magic? Well, that's your opinion I guess... Take another example of Aragorn. His healing abilities are phenomenal, but is it magical? Is Athelas as good as panadol for example? The Witch King said a word of Command, and blew down the gates of Minas Tirith with Grond, is that magic? And does that count? Do we still count Nazgul as men for all intents and purposes? And I do believe that one of them was a woman... Adunaphel?
Correct me if I'm wrong... Gandalf
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