Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-88.117.41.142-20151221171736/@comment-27718380-20151228221335

Elestan Larcalaite wrote: Also, you are forgetting one crucial point in all of this confusing magic business: what the people believe. Now, it may not apply to the elves, but its been scientifically proven many times that the mind has power over the body. Patients who belive that they will get better get better, while pessimistic ones don't. The best example of this are runes. For example, they were inscribed upon Anduril to protect its user and give him strength in battle. While it is debatable wether or not Aragorn believed this, as wise as he was, we do know that many other men, dwarves and elves used this and themselves thought that their equipment gave them strength and courage, and so, in a way, it did. There  are many more more complicated examples of this in LotR, Silmarillion, etc., but this is just to give some people an idea, and this is in no way limited to swords and armour. Indeed. Almost everything is just a placebo, like Aragorn having 'healing hands' according to some - he just knew what to do with athelas, it's not that much.