Talk:Elven life cycle

Sources

So, I was tackling the sourceless parts of the article, and it looks like overkill. The references bounce around, but maybe if I dropped the page numbers (or drop the close together refs from the same book section) it would look less cumbersome? Thoughts or opinions for revision? --Elf-esteem 01:54, 27 March 2016 (UTC)

Corrections

Sorry if I'm doing this wrong, but I think I see a mistake on this page. I believe the "Later Life" section of this page is incorrect.

It suggests that elves who fade eventually lose their bodies and get called to the Halls of Mandos. But this passage from "Laws and Customs" suggests that there's a difference between elves who fade -- Lingerers -- and elves who are killed but refuse the call to the Halls -- the Houseless. And the Lingerers "are not houseless" but have a "form" they can reveal to humans if they choose. This suggests that they stay in Middle Earth where they can, if they choose, communicate with humans. Here's the passage:

"Moreover, the Lingerers are not houseless, though they may seem to be. They do not desire bodies, neither do they seek shelter, nor strive for mastery over body or mind. Indeed they do not seek converse with Men at all, save maybe rarely, either for the doing of some good, or because they perceive in a Man's spirit some love of things ancient and fair. Then they may reveal to him their forms (through his mind working outwardly, maybe), and he will behold them in their beauty. Of such he may have no fear, though he may feel awe of them. For the Houseless have no forms to reveal, and even if it were within their power (as some Men say) to counterfeit elvish forms, deluding the minds of Men with fantasies, such visions would be marred by the evil of their intent. For the hearts of true Men uprise in joy to behold the true likenesses of the First-born, their elder kindred; and this joy nothing evil can counterfeit." —Unsigned comment by Wjbc (talk • contribs).

I agree that there is a mistake. The passage from "Laws and Customs" quoted by the page ("they were open to the direct instruction and command of the Valar") actually refers not to the faded Elves, but to those who were killed, which becomes clear from the previous sentence:

"Those fear, therefore, that in the marring of Arda suffered unnaturally a divorce from their hroar remained still in Arda and in Time. But in this state they were open to the direct instruction and command of the Valar. As soon as they were disbodied they were summoned to leave the places of their life and death and go to the 'Halls of Waiting': Mandos, in the realm of the Valar." --172.68.10.161 09:39, 15 April 2023 (UTC)