Ethereality

I don't know why sadness and beauty seem bound together for me, and for many others. I know this perception isn't universal, but it's not uncommon either. Why is it we love to hear haunting, mournful music or feel transported to some elysian land when we lay eyes on a masterful painting in blues and greys?

In an unpublished manuscript of Return of the King, Tolkien had Sam explaining the fates of certain characters to his daughter Elanorellë. On the subject of the remaining elves in Middle Earth, she inquired whether they were still sad. "I expect so, dear," he answered. "Elves are sad; and that's what makes them so beautiful, and why we can't see much of them."