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Travis Prinzi




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Return of Merlin
Elendil's sword & Isildur's bane
In case you just tuned in
"Serious" clues in book three
Cornelius Fudge: Aut idiotus aut homo malus?
Dumbledore: Taking himself lightly
Moral culpability in Harry Potter series
Need to see the latest Harry Potter movie. Then ha...


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Hogwarts, Hogwarts,
Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare
And full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff.
So teach us stuff worth knowing,
Bring back what we forgot,
Just do your best
We'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot!



1: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2: Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3: There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4: Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5: Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6: His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8: The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9: The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10: More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11: Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12: Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13: Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Friday, November 12, 2004

"To men He gave strange powers"

While I was listening to my tape set of the Silmarillion (again) I noticed for the first time the idea that Morgoth kind of had to "spend" his power in middle-earth and go he's keeps getting personally weaker as he goes along, even though he keeps getting more Orcs, Balrogs, etc. It would seem like Sauron as a Maia is like Morgoth (Melkor) the Valar in that he has a finite amount of power to be dispersed. So Sauron giving out the rings to the nine is a way to make a divestment into a good investment. He might put a dab of power into each but as a return he gets his most powerful slaves.

The elves have this finite power, too, it would seem. They end up becoming intensely weary of Middle-earth - Galadriel talks about how she will diminish and what happens to Arwen at the end of her life is like an intensely sad fading into non-existence.

The power that is given men, however, is different in that although they are weaker than elves, they consistently reach beyond their own natural strength. It is like men are here on borrowed power, or borrowed time to use the common phrase. The elves have a hard time understanding men because men's souls belong to another realm. Men are shown to do the "impossible": Beren, Earendil, even Turin although his story is a tragedy.

In the later days of Numenor, the downfall of man is that they do not accept their dignity as those who can die and go to another place prepared for them but as yet unknown. But that is another whole subject; I don't know what Merlinus thinks about all these ideas - maybe he'll set me straight and enlighten us....
posted by Pauli at 11:13 AM


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