Anonymous
7/25/2025, 9:21:25 PM No.24581788
Tolkien’s middle-earth has elements of a prime directive and the sufficiently advanced.
The elves are examples of sufficiently advanced aliens (alien to men, not the world) that don’t consider their works to be magical, and the “wizards” are the equivalent of truly alien (actually alien to / predating the world) beings taking on the guise of old sagely men (humans have a massive age bias when it comes to listening to people) being sent down by a higher society to guide lesser lifeforms on a path to self sufficiency a more subtle way, after a previous and much more involved attempt ended in disaster, reshaping middle-earth into its current form. Pic related.
The elves look to the Maia/“wizards” the same way humans (and hobbits) look to the elves. Enigmas. Magic is a bar. It is higher or lower, depending on where you stand or where you come from. Gandalf isn’t a wizard back home in Valinor, and the wicked black machines of Mordor are seen as black magic, or compared to sorcery, witchcraft, by those unexposed to such industrial horrors.
Meanwhile everything is just Music/Song to Eru/God, poetically similar to how Einstein saw nature or physics as ‘the music of the spheres’, or a grand cosmic symphony, lying in wait, for all time, whether we listen in or not.
It’s a point in the series that magic is just… a point of view. A way of looking at the world. Tolkien had called it ‘enchantment’, or being enchanted by something to the point of seeing it as magic. There’s a dark side to this, like with Sauron, who goes out of his way to abuse or weaponize ignorance to start cults and spread fear. His machines are likened to black magic and sorcery.
Gandalf is under a prime directive. He cannot become a crutch. He cannot be open about his true nature. Sauron (and later Saruman) is not under this directive. Gandalf calls himself a wizard, and he may as well be. He goes out of his way to enchant. To inspire. To guide. It's his role. It’s his station. He is the sage. He knows things and can do things you cannot. That’s all there is to it. He doesn't go out of his way to abuse. He doesn’t start cults like Sauron. He only chalks it up to himself. To nature. To the ingenuity of the races (he calls opening a dwarf door a spell). He’s a stage magician purely. Gandalf uses blackpowder for fireworks to create beautiful enchanting displays, to bring joy, to inspire laughter, etc. Saruman meanwhile resorts to using blackpower as a terrible weapon in industrial warfare, creating explosives. He brings the horror out of it. Gandalf brings the beauty out of it.
But it’s all nature. Just seen differently.
The elves are examples of sufficiently advanced aliens (alien to men, not the world) that don’t consider their works to be magical, and the “wizards” are the equivalent of truly alien (actually alien to / predating the world) beings taking on the guise of old sagely men (humans have a massive age bias when it comes to listening to people) being sent down by a higher society to guide lesser lifeforms on a path to self sufficiency a more subtle way, after a previous and much more involved attempt ended in disaster, reshaping middle-earth into its current form. Pic related.
The elves look to the Maia/“wizards” the same way humans (and hobbits) look to the elves. Enigmas. Magic is a bar. It is higher or lower, depending on where you stand or where you come from. Gandalf isn’t a wizard back home in Valinor, and the wicked black machines of Mordor are seen as black magic, or compared to sorcery, witchcraft, by those unexposed to such industrial horrors.
Meanwhile everything is just Music/Song to Eru/God, poetically similar to how Einstein saw nature or physics as ‘the music of the spheres’, or a grand cosmic symphony, lying in wait, for all time, whether we listen in or not.
It’s a point in the series that magic is just… a point of view. A way of looking at the world. Tolkien had called it ‘enchantment’, or being enchanted by something to the point of seeing it as magic. There’s a dark side to this, like with Sauron, who goes out of his way to abuse or weaponize ignorance to start cults and spread fear. His machines are likened to black magic and sorcery.
Gandalf is under a prime directive. He cannot become a crutch. He cannot be open about his true nature. Sauron (and later Saruman) is not under this directive. Gandalf calls himself a wizard, and he may as well be. He goes out of his way to enchant. To inspire. To guide. It's his role. It’s his station. He is the sage. He knows things and can do things you cannot. That’s all there is to it. He doesn't go out of his way to abuse. He doesn’t start cults like Sauron. He only chalks it up to himself. To nature. To the ingenuity of the races (he calls opening a dwarf door a spell). He’s a stage magician purely. Gandalf uses blackpowder for fireworks to create beautiful enchanting displays, to bring joy, to inspire laughter, etc. Saruman meanwhile resorts to using blackpower as a terrible weapon in industrial warfare, creating explosives. He brings the horror out of it. Gandalf brings the beauty out of it.
But it’s all nature. Just seen differently.
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