Magic explained by JRR Tolkien

Remove all ads!

I was reading a Dictionary of all terms,names,monsters and places used by JRRT in all his books, and under "SPELL" I found something nearly close to this(in fact was very long, but I dont remember everything):
Magic in the early ages was more common than now, supposedly because the world was smaller, and in the beggining the land was inhabited by the elven race only.
With the travel of the sands of time,the universe were "curved" and expands,plus the awakening of the dwarfs and humans,and the departure of many elfs the knowledge of all things were lost, except for a very few ones.The essence of a conjuration of magic purpouse is the recitation of a certain phrase, in an especific order,therefore an effect or an action were expected.
This recitation was very important, because supossedly, if you know "the true name" of anything, you can charm it or put it under your service(this is why demons never reveal their names, you could put him under your command).That is concludent with the fact that a mage needs a real high intelligence in order to memorize more "spells" or true names.
That explains the arcane spells, but what about the divine?
Well , in the case of divine spells, the cleric or the druid prays to a higher entity(more powerful than himself) and he/she is used by the god/godess like a link(and a tool) to his power and wisdom.
In the case of divine casters, I think that the knowledge is the basic stat because, in order to mantein the link with the deity, tou need a high will, wich allows you to realize the state of "karma" needed for the pray.

 

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, he was a genious.

 

This is a closest thing I´ve ever found about "magic" explained trough "science", If I remember correctly, in IWD2 there is some nasty demon in the ice castle, and you can´t banish him until you get his "real name" given to you by the sleeping wizard( i don´t remember the name).
May be that´s why demons are so touchy about give their names, you can summoned one or kick his lousy, boiled, sorry flaming ass back to hell if you like it.
Remember LOTRings? GAndalf confronts the Balrog in the Moria´s bridge of Durin, and invokes "the flame of Anur", or when Frodo reveals to "Gollum" his long forgoten name:Smeagol (temporaly gains control over gollum), the list goes on and on.
Therefore, I´m not( being paranoic) gonna use MY real name again, especially whit beatiful womens(To avoid being charmed and fullfil nasty chores)

 

I am a little bit sickened by how you're trying to tie in Tolkien's world with those horrid D&Disms

What book did you read this stuff in? Because in all my wanderings through Tolkien, I've never gotten the 'true names' vibe. And your thoughts on divine magic and Tolkien's works don't really connect at any point...

 

To Aikanaro:
I´m deeply sorry if I bother you, but I think this was a free country(err, forum), so conclusions of any kind are just to discuss with other people, in order to learn(all of us trough this) of each other. But I respect you anyway,since you may be right about my book.But also challenge you to defend your posture by explained to me with references to any Tolkien book( I´ve read the most famous).
Plus, I dont remember to put in my post that this was "extracted from Tolkien" or anything like this, may be I should put "Magic eplained trough my thoughs about all the **** I´ve been reading on a rainy weekend in some God´s long forgoten land".
This way, I may be fullfiled your espectances about me.

 

To Aikanaro again:
Here lies a good translation of the article I´ve read

Magic Spell
words or a formula supposed to have magical powers; a magical incantaion or chaming efects.

From the Middle Earth very few come to us explained in words, but the function is very important.
For example, Luthién makes her sleep spell over Melkor, Carcharot and his entire court. She uses a "Chant of Power" , like Yavanna in the creation of the Two Trees of Valinor.During the Third Age, Gandalf send away a pack of wargs with
"¡Naur an adraith ammen!¡Naur dan i ngaurhot!" while they are ataccking the Fellowship of the Ring.And when he tries to open the West Door of Moria, also tries with numerous spells.During the figth with the Balrog, he invoks "The Flame of Anor" and "The secret Fire".Those were not merely hollow words, but names with magic essence, as you can tell by the reaction of the Balrog.
With this, Tolkien aligns on the path of science.Now we know, that in the beggining,the magic spells were directed to any supernatural beings, and practicaly not very different from the prayers,later on, this became into a "call to a demon" or other like beings.
The name of the being confers a great power, modern conceptions on how the magic operates are based on the idea that you can charm or domain anything, if you can invoke his/her/it "Real Name"(the name given by Illuvatar and the Maias in the creation of the world,or "The First Song").
This also can be true in the Middle Earth, not in vain Bilbo never reveals his real name to Smaug.The elven were known by their "epesse", their nickname( especially hidden to the enemies). And the dwarves, none of us till today find out any of the names given in the moment of birth.
In prehistorical times, many religions or groups ( like the Masons) the real name of a person is jealously hidden.In the Islam and the Kabalha the names of God plays a fundamental rol.

(Extracted of "Tolkien´s Enciclopedia" by Friedhelm Schneidewind; born in 1958, teacher and instructor in the area of Media Development, in the city of Heidelberg.
Acording to the ZDF-NT, the second german network,"the most known vampirologist of Germany". With his previous books " The ABC of Harry Potter"; "The dictionary of the blood"; "The dictionary of heaven and hell" and "The Little ABC of vampires", gains the appreciation(and the membership) of The German Asociation of Writers, The Tolkien´s German Society and The Drácula´s Transilvanian Society, among others.)