Five Flew Over the Belegaer

[huinare]

For it is said indeed that being embodied the Istari had needs to learn much anew by slow experience, and though they knew whence they came the memory of the Blessed Realm was to them a vision from afar off, for which (so long as they remained true to their mission) they yearned exceedingly.
- UT, "The Istari"

I've been starting to ponder the ramifications of this for my fannish conceptions of the continuity of an Ainu personality.  "My" Ainur could not suffer memory loss or dilution, unless chained to a physical brain which has been conditioned to forget or to remember less.  This leads me to patently creepy conclusions. 

Comments

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I've read that before without thinking about it. Creepy isn't the word. That's mind control.....

I cannot see your Istari tolerating this for a second.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I have thought about this, though not recently - perhaps like adjusting to a sort of disability, or maybe like adjusting your mind to accept severe restrictions, as an astronaut or a submariner might do? Shutting down parts of yourself in order to fit into a confined space...

I wonder also if language has anything to do with it, in the sense that language is supposed to dictate, to some extent, how people think and react? A person that can sing in the Ainulindalë seems like he should be a different person to someone whose expression is tied down into the languages of Middle-earth?

I'm not sure if the yearning is necessarily a scary 'implanted by external forces' thing, as it is with the Elves. You'd think they would naturally be homesick, it seems like the obvious emotion, even if they could nto remember quite what for...

Intriguing basis for story!