Wow. I knew this would happen. I'd post this query and then not be able to
get to my email for 3 days. Thanks for all the responses. They do help.
I'm going to need to digest them all and see what I come up with.
Right now I'm starting to have it fall in to place like this. There are 4
types of magic:
1. Item magic/"crafting" - everything ranging from how the dwarves could
make incredibly well crafted tunnels up to the One Ring. In most cases, not
really magic in FRP terms. But can be combined with the other to make
really mojo items.
2. Enchantment - often inherent magic
3. Sorcery/Necromancy - spirits, undead, twisting the living into evil.
Generally bad guy stuff.
4. POWER - this is what the Valar/Maiar had. And certain elves could tap
into this too.
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>
> I need to get around to reading the whole
> Silmarilion, although it's harder to plow through being written in
> quasi-biblical tones I hear.
>
It is but that's not too bad. The hardest part is a) everybody is known by
at least 3 different names and it's hard to keep track of them and 2) they
move around a lot and the map isn't very good. I dealt with these by
getting "the Atlas of Middle-Earth" and a Tolkien glossary book (the name of
which escapes me at the moment) and referring to them a lot. <grin>
Right now I'm plowing through "the Return of the Shadow" which is one of the
"History of Middle-Earth" books and shows the rough drafts of "the
Fellowship of the Ring". I didn't like some of the other ones (that mostly
dealt with the Silmarillion and such) but find this one fascinating. It's
amazing to watch the creative process and how much of this detailed universe
was created on the spot and then filled in later. So many elements of the
very first draft, that was clearly written very quickly, ended up in the
final draft. It is enough to make me want to start writing again... Nah.
- John
