Last I checked, Sam was short, stocky, and burnt red-brown from working out in the sun. The hobbits as a whole, I believe, were described something along the lines of “brown of hair and face.”
The elves were a cautionary tale for mankind, and the only other “high” or '“noble”
race discussions in the tale itself were generally regarding the petty bickering of the kings of men over who was really supposed to be the king, and no-one came out of that looking like a rose.
And for that matter, the Normans were as Nordic as the Anglo-Saxons - they were descended from Vikings, and Germanic tribes in France. Tolkien was interested in the development of languages, so naturally he was peeved that the development of Anglo-Saxon was interrupted by an invasion of people speaking a different language - but it was clearly not a racial objection since the invaders were as “Nordic” as the invaded.
Yeah, but it’s not difficult to see where maybe he had an inbuilt Northern European bias, when the bad guys included “Easterlings” and “Swarthy Men”, including those darned awful Southrons with their curved blades.
Of course, you also had the Dunlendings and the Woses/Druadain who helped out, but they tended to be described as either “bent” or without a certain light in their eyes.
Maybe Tolkien didn’t intend to put such a heavy racial influence in his work, but it’s hard to argue there wasn’t as least some in-built prejudice in it.
JRRT wrote a lot more about the druadan in writings that didn’t get published until after his death. He definitely portrayed them in a favorable light and their very name shows he considered them among the Edain, or ‘enlightened’ men.
And the dunlendings were actually descendants of the House of Haleth who refused to heed the call and head to Numenor after the war of Wrath. They welcomed their distant kin from Numenor when the sea kings first returned to the shore of middle earth, but broke with them later when they began oppressing the folk of middle earth and cutting down all their beloved trees. Or so he wrote in the final volume of HOMEs.
Actually, that makes things worse, doesn’t it?
So, all the men who helped out on the good side are descended from or counted among the “enlightened” men.
While there are probably some decent folk off east or south, the ones helping Sauron who weren’t turned into ghoulish freaks (like the Mouth or the Ringwraiths) were all Easterlings (described as Swarthy men) and Southrons.
If you wanted to make the point that JRRT didn’t have an inbuilt bias, it would have been better if there were unenlightened men who stood with the good guys.
Well, a number of the ringwraiths were corrupted men of the west, and a number of the easterlings back in the 1st age were loyal and fought and died alongside the Eldar and Edain at Nirnaeth Arnoediad. (Bor and his sons)
Besides, JRRT never said he was giving a ‘fair and balanced’ account. From the start he declared that SIL was written from the perspective of the Eldar, and involved mainly the men who associated themselves with the Eldar. And LOTR was written from the hobbitish perspective, who he also described as having provincial views.
The man was recreating tribal myths, and he did so very realistically.
I’m not as familiar with the LotR as I once was, so I can’t make any judgement about it - but I can comment on the argument that disliking the Norman conquest has anything to do with “pro-Aryan” beliefs (it doesn’t, in my opinion)
Indeed. The only universal among the elves seems to be that they’re tall and thin. Many of them are explicitly said to have dark hair. And, as people have pointed out, there was nothing “noble” about the elves. Many of them were nasty pieces of work.
Including, incidentally, Luthien, universally recognized as being the most beautiful of all the Children of Illuvatar.
A bit like Pterry’s comment on elves:
Tolkien didn’t think that elves were all bad, but he never said they were nice.
Legolas was so dreamy in the movies! (Anyone who’s actually read Tolkien knows there’s lots more to the elves.)
The man grew up in late 19th-early 20th century Britain, so I’d be a little surprised if he didn’t have some level of prejudice against blacks and Arabs, or that that wasn’t reflected in the stereotypes in the books. But there are levels of racism, and saying that Tolkien had biases against non-Europeans is a far cry from saying he was a Nazi or sympathetic to the Nazi point of view.
He mostly thought that his Elves were wrong about stuff. Vanity, hubris etc.
South Africa? As a child anyway?
He was born in South Africa to English parents, and moved to England when he was 3. He considered himself thoroughly English.
He moved to England aged 3 (in 1895), so I doubt that South Africa influenced him a great deal. There’s no hint in the Letters or the biographies I’ve read that it did.
Tall and thin?
Then how do they stand upright in that oak tree while they bake [del]cookies[/del] biscuits?
Thanks. Thought he was a bit older, obviously not. :eek:
Thanks for this very useful information. No point in barking up that particular tree, then.
Indeed he was not: http://benabuya.com/2006/12/15/tolkien-and-the-nazis/