Huh. Now you've got me thinking about all the fun -- er, pain -- no, fun -- well, fun-pain -- that could happen if Legolas completely loses his visual memory and then gets his sight back. That could be interesting. There's the other stories of blindness, of people who lose their sight at about one year of age, usually to cataracts. If the cataracts are surgically removed later, they have to teach their brains to see. Kids can sometimes do it, but adults just can't seem to figure out how to process visual images. One guy I read about was very interested in machinery, and he knew all sorts of machines by touch. After his physical sight was restored, he was shown a lathe. He was all excited at the prospect, but when he looked at the lathe, his brain didn't register anything. So he closed his eyes and felt the lathe and knew what it was, and then when he opened his eyes again, he could see it. I wonder if something similar might end up happening to Legolas.
Your comments about how comfortable Aragorn is with solitude are intriguing, because they show just how hard he's working. Here's this guy who's basically a loner who has to support himself and an elf, and be physician and psychologist, too. Good work, Aragorn! |