The Encyclopedia of Arda - Karmë (original) (raw)
The ultimate art-form of the Elves, who had the power to make events from stories or songs literally come to life, so that they became visible to an artist's audience in the form of visions. A vision created this way was known as an olos, a word that could also mean 'dream' or 'phantasm'. The word karmë itself literally meant 'making', but is typically translated as 'art'.
Certain other abilities of the Elves can perhaps be understood through the use of karmë, with an obvious example being the visions created by the Mirror of Galadriel. The Mirror could produce true visions of other places or times, so there would seem to have been more to its working than simple 'art', but the appearance of these clear visions does seem to suggest some connection to the powers behind karmë. There are suggestions that mortals could even stray at times into works of karmë by accident, as for example when Bombur and Bilbo Baggins experienced dreams or visions of the feast of the Wood-elves in Mirkwood.
The phantasms produced through karmë were distinct from simple dreams, but there were some apparent connections. There was indeed a Vala whose particular province was that of both visions and dreams. This Vala had several names, among them Olofantur (relating to the visions known as olos created through karmë) though he was more usually called Lórien.
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- Updated 9 December 2022
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