[queenoftheshire]

Ok. Because elves are, in some ways, devine beings are there any emotions they they dont experience such as envy, arrogence etc?

[BittenBuggy]

Unfortunately, as much as we would like to think of them as 'perfect,' elves suffer many of the same character flaws as the race of men.

This is not depicted very well in The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion on the other hand gives you a very clear view on Elvish emotion and emotional capability.

One of the best examples I can think of (not to mention the most memorable) is that of Feanor. He was the creator of the three Silmarils and is responsible in a way for all the evil that befalls Middle earth. This was due entirely to his arrogance. In the Silmarils, the light of the Trees were captured and when the trees were destroyed, Varda asked Feanor for one of the Silmarils, but he refused to part with them.


There are other examples, but it's 11:01 and I'm sleepy! I'm sure Scribe will be in here eventually to give you a better understanding.

[PoweroftheBook]

I would have to say that it depends on the Elf in question. On one hand, you have the wise and kind Elrond, Arwen, Legolas, Glorfindel (as far as we know). On the other hand, you have Feanor, Eol, Maeglin, and yes, even Galadriel.

Feanor loved the works of his own hand, the Silmarils, far too much, and was driven to commit the first slaying of an Elf by another Elf to obtain it, and was also arguably a bit of a whiny brat. Maeglin tried to carry off his already-married cousin and sold out the entire city of Gondolin to Morgoth's forces to do so. Feanor's seven sons lived out their lives killing anyone who might be harboring the Silmarils, and that includes female Elves and elflings. Thingol may have married a Maia and fathered Luthien, but he locked Luthien up in a treehouse and sent her beloved Beren off on a quest of certain death to prevent Luthien choosing mortality. Eol killed his wife while trying to kill his son (who was, incidentally, Maeglin.)

In short, Elves are not immune to less than noble feelings or actions, a good reason to read the Silmarillion. They are prey to lust, greed, arrogance, stupidity. It is probably important to note that this is more of the exception, rather than the rule for each 'normal' Elf.

Galadriel may have been wise and noble, but she defied the will of the Valar and was exiled for millienia from Valinor, and she also was said to have sought out the One Ring after the Last Alliance to claim it as her own. Indis, the second wife of Finwe (the only doubly-married Elf known to canon) was more than likely lusting after Finwe while his first wife was still alive. Celebrimbor (my favorite Elf!) was an incredible craftsman and a good leader, yet his weakness and foolishness in taking on blind faith the plans of Annatar (Sauron), and his unrequited desire for Galadriel led to the destruction of Ost-in-Edhil, and the forging of all of the Rings, which led to the whole Ringwar mess. Some Elves even lead on other Elves when they themselves are married - see Finduilas (not the mother of Boromir and Faramir!)

In short, a normal Elf may go through periods of his or her lifetime where they engage in or feel these less than noble emotions, the important thing is that they feel totally justified in this emotion or action while it's going on.

Divine?

Just look at movie-Legolas.

Perfect?

Even he gets into a petty snit with Gimli beside the walls of Moria.

Hope this helps!

The Power of the Book

[queenoftheshire]

Thanks, that does help...A lot. I don't have much expertice with the race of elves so I tend to ask a lot about them. Luckily my best friend, and fellow LOTR addict is genius on the subject

[queenoftheshire]

Oh just to clue you in, I'm mostly thinking of Legolas and Arwen. I don't know if that makes any difference

[Hathor]

[Thuriniel]

[Roisin]

I think Elves pride themselves on being in control of their emotions, but that doesn't mean they don't have the emotions, nor does it mean that the control is always there.

I would say the most common failing among Elves is arrogance. You see this in the book when Legolas whinges about being blindfolded to go into Lorien, and you see it in the movie when Haldir doesn't want to let the Fellowship into Lorien.

Then there's the movie moment where Legolas nearly gelds poor Gimli to win their little competition after Helm's Deep.

Roisin

[Moralanqua]

Phew! Leggy gelding Gimli, Leggy and Giimli getting a spanking>? You girls are getting them mental images going into overdrive!


I love reading through The Silm and HOME 10 to get answers like these.

To sum up - i think its always a good idea to keep the word 'extreme' in your mind when writing elven emotion. They seem to feel all forms of emotion in the strongest sense.

Pride, anger, jealousy and envy - see Eol, Feanor and Aegnor

Passion - Celeborn and Galadriel (cause they was 'lovers' b4 marrying)

Joy - erm... Legolas in Fangorn? Legolas at Nimrodel, Leggy...

Curiousity, commitment and loyalty - Finrod Felagund (see the debate of Finrod and Andreth Home 10)


Overall, they must live a long long time and to feel the sort of emotion that normal mortals do, must be very tedious and make them want to up sticks and fade. I think they get surges of emotion, they feel things 100x more to make their existance more profound.

I use this to explain movie leggy - Hes confused and sad at the deaths, hes angry in HD, he's cheeky and proud with Gimli and their games, hes passionate and loyal to Strider and he shows rage when faced with Orcs!

ok - will stop now.... sorry!

[NancyBrooke]

[Thuriniel]

[queenoftheshire]

Yes I probably worded that in the wrong way, but elves in alot of ways are different from the other races, and not just the fact that they are immortal as everyone should know.
Just a thought:
Did anyone else notice the transformation of Legolas in FOTR(the movie)? I was watching it for the millionth time and noticed how much he changes in just (And of course I'm estimating here) the hour and a half we see him during the Fellowship. I mean it seems he has such an attitude(arrogant princly type attitude?) during his time in Rivendell and before the Mines of Moria. Especially in the EE where Gandalf is talking about how dwarves would often forget where the entrance to their mines were and Legolas says "Why doesn't that surprise me?" And of course that has alot to do with the dwarves and elves feuding. I think after he sees death for the first time it really changes him. I really would have liked if instead of (At least it seemed like this to me.) first Gimli and Legolas hate each other to all of a sudden in TTT they're best friends, instead had gradually became friends it would have been better. Actually the EE's do actually portray that more. So either Gandalf falling really had an effect of him, or Legsy had a drastic mood swing.

[NancyBrooke]

[JennnLee]

[queenoftheshire]

I think Kate also did this situation after Legolas thinks Pippin is dead