The History of Middle-earth (chibi version) - Part 139 - Clan Finwë

Neon sounds almost like it could be a Tolkien Elf name. Not sure about Helium, though. (Helionwe? Now I am fighting the impulse to use that the next time I need to name an OC.)

I guessed it was you. :)

In the essay 'Osanwe-kenta' Tolkien made the following points about telepathy in Middle-earth:

1. It's the natural form of communication between discorporate spirits (such as the Valar in their native form).

2. It's possible for incarnate spirits to use telepathy as well, but a lot harder because their physical bodies create 'interference', as it were. Speech and language, not direct mind-to-mind communication, are the natural mode for incarnate beings.

3. Several factors can make that interference easier to overcome:

a. If someone has a very strong will and powerful mind. Galadriel obviously scores high points here. So do the Valar.

b. If the people trying to use telepathy are closely related by blood, or their minds are very in-tune because they're friends or lovers.

c. If someone has legitimate authority, which is recognised and accepted by the person they'e trying to communicate with. Again, this mainly refers to the Valar; but Galadriel would also find it easier to speak telepathically with anyone who willingly accepted her leadership over them.

I'd also note that someone with a lot of empathy and understanding - Galadriel again - might be able to make more sense of the information they picked up by telepathy, while to someone less experienced it might be just a jumble of muddled information.

4. It's impossible - not just difficult but literally impossible - for anyone short of Eru Ilúvatar himself to read the mind of someone who's unwilling to allow this. Not even Melkor in all his might is capable of it. (And equally, the other Valar are unable to read Melkor's mind. It would have saved a lot of trouble if they could...)

However, someone who's powerful and skilled in osanwë can often pick up a lot of information from people who aren't actively resisting having their mind read - which is what I assume Galadriel does. Melkor, equally, can pick up information from people's minds by trickery and misdirection even when he couldn't do it by brute force.