This week on the blog! A little more Tolkien, this time a long look at how 'magic' and supernatural power function in The Lord of the Rings - and how what gets seen as 'magic' is simply an extension of the greater power of the Unseen spiritual world in Middle-earth.
https://acoup.blog/2025/04/25/collections-how-gandalf-proved-mightiest-spiritual-power-in-tolkien/
https://acoup.blog/2025/04/25/collections-how-gandalf-proved-mightiest-spiritual-power-in-tolkien/
Comments
I take it that in this framework the sulphur smelling lightning, the burning sparks of the bonfire, and even the fire that can't be extinguished he used in The Hobbit would also be ring magic?
And his fireworks and even smoke rings craft magic?
I wonder where Fëanor's crafting of the Silmarils fits in, it could be craft-magic but it feels like they should be "proper" magic for all the effect they have on the seen world. (Varda was involved, but after they were created.)
but would this be the concept of dummy verbs / light verbs in english which need flair from the body, or something outside the sentence to have a full meaning?
and Gandalf is seeing Bilbo for the first time and wondering if he is still a curious person, a helper, or is he trapped in his little world?
like the use of Good and Do,
to be nearby them and to bring light into their lives as a neighbor
or to feel so old and a stranger?
Ritualized Friendship among strangers (Xenia hospitality, Xenos stranger)
if you wish people good will and fortune, the world may do things for you,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_(Greek)
Such as the witch king at Minas Tirith, or the Bridge of Khazad-Dum (speak friend and enter, and you shall not pass Durin's Bane, including grieving the dead), or the hidden cities of various elves
Need to think about this 🤔 friendship and hospitality as world magic
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038256/
Question: What about Luthien's powers? I feel they are within the spiritual realm - she's half Maia, after all - , less in the "craft magic" one, but I'm not sure what part of the Unseen lulling whole Angband to sleep reveals?
(It also brings me to the conclusion that the One is, in fact, craft magic, as it is supposed to mirror at a grander scale the spirit-transference of the Drug into his statue in the story.)
Gandalf commands the doors open... and they don't. He can remember ten score spells of opening, and uses a fair few, and they don't open. Not without the password.
That implies that most "spells" are really command phrases for craft magic. Gandalf is operating like a programmer who knows the system and language but not the specific machine/program.
It also implies that magic doors like this were pretty common in the elder days.
My only quibble is about the exclusion of Elves from those with access to true magic. Gandalf explicitly says, and the text consistently supports, that Elves *who have been to the Blessed Realm* have power...
1) Finrod Felagund when he contends against Sauron
2) Lúthien when she puts Morgoth's court to sleep.
Finrod obviously from Valinor.
For Elrond - maiar lineage + proximity to Valinor Elves provided access of/knowledge of magic (so to speak) that vilya amplifies.
Elves seem capable of using a magic to hide their kingdoms, depending upon the Elf's magic/wisdom & ring.
Otherwise, I'm compelled by this reasoning to say he didn't have magic of his own, and that sits wrong.