Elvish snow-running

[Flammifer]

How can Legolas (and, by his own implication, all Elves) run across the top of snow?

I think we must assume that this implies a dramatic elevation of fea, and diminution of hroa amongst Elves, compared to Mortals. If the body is less (less mass?) and the spirit is more, then the ability to run across the top of the snow might be logical.

If so, can Elves adjust, somehow, their fea to hroa ratio, to adapt to circumstances such as snow? “Those (Elves) who have dwelt in the Blessed Realm live at once in both worlds”, (Spirit and Physical). Can they shift between the two? Can Wood-elves, such as Legolas, do the same? Or, is this ratio permanently unweighted towards the fea end of the spectrum for Elves? Has this always been the case during the long history of Elves, or, is this due to the ‘fading’ of the Elves affecting the Elves of Middle-earth?

Corey asked, “Why does JRRT do this? It does not make sense.” This different balance between fea and hroa, of course makes sense to JRRT, though it is not evident to readers until they read more in the Legendarium (though there have been hints – Luthien, light as Linden leaves – Glorfindel living at once in both worlds – the fading of the Elves). I think JRRT does this for several reasons; to emphasize the difference between Elves and Mortals; to show the Elves as more spiritual and less physical beings than Mortals; to foreshadow the ‘fading’ of the Elves; though, as often with JRRT, he leaves these reasons mysterious and hinted at, rather than explained. One of the great features of TLOTR overall.

 

[Odola]

How can Legolas (and, by his own implication, all Elves) run across the top of snow?

I think we must assume that this implies a dramatic elevation of fea, and diminution of hroa amongst Elves, compared to Mortals. If the body is less (less mass?) and the spirit is more, then the ability to run across the top of the snow might be logical.

If so, can Elves adjust, somehow, their fea to hroa ratio, to adapt to circumstances such as snow? “Those (Elves) who have dwelt in the Blessed Realm live at once in both worlds”, (Spirit and Physical). Can they shift between the two? Can Wood-elves, such as Legolas, do the same? Or, is this ratio permanently unweighted towards the fea end of the spectrum for Elves? Has this always been the case during the long history of Elves, or, is this due to the ‘fading’ of the Elves affecting the Elves of Middle-earth?

Corey asked, “Why does JRRT do this? It does not make sense.” This different balance between fea and hroa, of course makes sense to JRRT, though it is not evident to readers until they read more in the Legendarium (though there have been hints – Luthien, light as Linden leaves – Glorfindel living at once in both worlds – the fading of the Elves). I think JRRT does this for several reasons; to emphasize the difference between Elves and Mortals; to show the Elves as more spiritual and less physical beings than Mortals; to foreshadow the ‘fading’ of the Elves; though, as often with JRRT, he leaves these reasons mysterious and hinted at, rather than explained. One of the great features of TLOTR overall.

The additional thing is also Legolas is a Sinda/Silvan elf and those are of the Telerin/ Nelyarin stock whose domain is water (and singing). Snow is water. And as much a stone is the domain of the Noldor, so is water to the Teleri. As such Legolas' affinity towards/mastery over snow might
1. exceed far that of an average Noldo, 2. stemm from him being of the Nelyarin-Elves.

 

[Jonah]

The Supplement to the Summa Theologiae (the part written by St. Thomas Aquinas' collaborators after his death) says that the resurrected bodies of the blessed will be impassible (not subject to suffering) because the body will be perfectly subject to the soul. No other agent would be able to weaken the hold that the soul has over the body.

Obviously the bodies of Tolkien's elves are not impassible. They can suffer and die. But their hroa are subject to their fea to a greater degree than the hroa of mortals. Do material forces have proportionately less power to weaken the hold of elves' fea over their hroa? Does the earth have less power to pull their hroa down contrary to the disposition of their fea? It doesn't seem likely that Tolkien was thinking in this way when he wrote the passage about Legolas running over the snow, but might he have retroactively interpreted it along these lines?

 

[Flammifer]

The Supplement to the Summa Theologiae (the part written by St. Thomas Aquinas' collaborators after his death) says that the resurrected bodies of the blessed will be impassible (not subject to suffering) because the body will be perfectly subject to the soul. No other agent would be able to weaken the hold that the soul has over the body.

Obviously the bodies of Tolkien's elves are not impassible. They can suffer and die. But their hroa are subject to their fea to a greater degree than the hroa of mortals. Do material forces have proportionately less power to weaken the hold of elves' fea over their hroa? Does the earth have less power to pull their hroa down contrary to the disposition of their fea? It doesn't seem likely that Tolkien was thinking in this way when he wrote the passage about Legolas running over the snow, but might he have retroactively interpreted it along these lines?

Hi Jonah,

I'm not sure exactly when JRRT first originated his ideas on Elvish fea and hroa, or when he more fully developed them. Someone who has more detailed knowledge of the Legendarium would need to chip in.

JRRT however, did comment in some letter that one of his main themes was mortality vs immortality. So, he must have given some thought to how did Elves differ from Mortals. (A lot!) I think that his ideas on the Elves 'fading' were quite early. (That's why we don't see them often anymore, but occasionally do.) So, I think that JRRT's notion that Elves were more 'spiritual' and less 'physical' than Mortals was an early conception. I suspect that this conception informed the passage of Legolas running over the snow, even if JRRT had not fully articulated this through his thoughts on fea and hroa.

 

[Jim Deutch]

The Supplement to the Summa Theologiae . . .

I have a definite feeling that if JRRT had ever taken it into his head to explain Legolas' snow-running ability it would have been an explanation that would have made St. Thomas Aquinas proud. And that I wouldn't have understood one word of it.

 

[Arnorion]

Has this always been the case during the long history of Elves, or, is this due to the ‘fading’ of the Elves affecting the Elves of Middle-earth?…

My sense is that it has to do with the fading. This would align with the way in which this passage suggests it is a property of Elves but would explain why snow running did not feature in the tales of the Elder Days, when Atani and Quendi were more alike in stature.