I didn't say that Dawn's Elves weren't elvish enough, only that I personally see the average Elven family differently
No, you didn't, and I wouldn't dream of accusing you of it! I did not intend any criticism of either you or your opinion. I was just using that discussion as an example of two people having very different ideas which are both founded in canon.
If someone wanted to write Feanor's children all being born within a quarter of a century they could justify it with the example of Dior and Nimloth, or they could have them spread out over 40 000 years by combining the evidence in 'Myths Transformed' and 'The Annals of Aman'.
I am not sure why people would think of them as slow, ponderous types
The elves in the movies, perhaps?
they seem to think of murder as not just horrible, but rare and unexpected. And of course they are less prone to rape, too. So in a sense they seem morally superior to humans, or at least have different drives
I think that human reaction to crime depends to some extent on the size of settlement: the larger the city, the less shocked people are when there is a murder or a rape. In Exeter (population 80 000, not including students) it is a dreadful shock to everyone when a violent crime is commited, definitely not expected and extremely rare, whereas in London it's almost an everyday event.
For the most part (Feanor and sons at their worst exempted) Tolkien's elves seem to represent behavioural and social ideals that humans should try to live up to.
To my mind, Elves all share a love of lore, and art, and nature, to lesser or greater degree, and a special sensitivity to such things.
But so do humans, at least in my experience. The same goes for the hair and shiny jewellery things.
no subject
No, you didn't, and I wouldn't dream of accusing you of it! I did not intend any criticism of either you or your opinion. I was just using that discussion as an example of two people having very different ideas which are both founded in canon.
If someone wanted to write Feanor's children all being born within a quarter of a century they could justify it with the example of Dior and Nimloth, or they could have them spread out over 40 000 years by combining the evidence in 'Myths Transformed' and 'The Annals of Aman'.
I am not sure why people would think of them as slow, ponderous types
The elves in the movies, perhaps?
they seem to think of murder as not just horrible, but rare and unexpected. And of course they are less prone to rape, too. So in a sense they seem morally superior to humans, or at least have different drives
I think that human reaction to crime depends to some extent on the size of settlement: the larger the city, the less shocked people are when there is a murder or a rape. In Exeter (population 80 000, not including students) it is a dreadful shock to everyone when a violent crime is commited, definitely not expected and extremely rare, whereas in London it's almost an everyday event.
For the most part (Feanor and sons at their worst exempted) Tolkien's elves seem to represent behavioural and social ideals that humans should try to live up to.
To my mind, Elves all share a love of lore, and art, and nature, to lesser or greater degree, and a special sensitivity to such things.
But so do humans, at least in my experience. The same goes for the hair and shiny jewellery things.