Elves and Elvishness

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

One of my original stories contains two races of semi-immortal people, and I really don't want them to be too similar to Tolkien's elves, so I thought a bit about exactly what 'elvish behaviour' means.



It's a common criticism of fic: 'Your elves aren't elvish enough', and I'm sure most of us have been told that at least once, but what do we really mean by it? The common perception (fanon, perhaps?) seems to be that elves live life very slowly and indecisively, which may well be true for some, but certainly not for all, even in LoTR. I would suggest that it is their life experiences and personalities that make elves like Elrond, Gildor and Galadriel that way, rather than being something inherent to all elves. Celeborn is positively hasty in his decision-making process, as shown by his reaction to the news of the Moria Balrog.

There was an interesting discussion a few weeks ago on Dawn's LJ about the intervals between children in a elven family, and there the canon examples range from three children in a maximum of ten years, (Eluréd, Elurín and Elwing) which would not be unusual in an average family today, to almost six centuries between Turgon and Aredhel. Once again, elves range from one end of the spectrum to the other, and their spectrum is far broader than ours.

'Youth' is also a relative term for elves, and may encompass the entire first millennium of life. LaCE tells us that elves tended to marry when young, but Finarfin is almost five hundred years old when he marries Eärwen. Fëanor created his Tengwar in his "early youth", even though he was seven hundred and seventy-six at the time.

For hastiness in decision making, I offer the example of the Noldor of Tirion, who took almost no time at all to decide to pack up and move to a different continent. Whatever their reasons (revenge, recovery of Silmarils, wanting a land of their own, etc.) it was not a change that required long deliberation.

So the next time someone tells you your elves aren't acting elvishly because they do things too quickly, remember that you're in the company of JRRT himself!

Comments

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I am not sure why people would think of them as slow, ponderous types, as pretty much all the Elves we read about--including the King in the Hobbit--seem rather quick-thinking.

I think a lot of people confuse patient with ponderous. Elves, as you say, are certainly quick-thinking, and they can certainly be impulsive (as several episodes in the Silm show all to well) - but I can also see them planning a course of action that will take several hundred years to come to fruition. The two traits are not necessarily incompatible; after all, we often plan our lives years, or even decades, into the future, but still manage to mix in impulsive acts. Suddenly deciding to go out for dinner or to drive off to visit an old friend does not preclude thinking ahead about what you need to accomplish in order to graduate from school in 3 years or get that promotion 6 months from now.

To my mind, the true weirdness of Elves comes in other areas: the fact that at least some of them have had face-to-face conversations with angelic beings and know with 100% certainty what will happen to them if they die - and that dying is unnatural for them to begin with. Humans have a generational cycle: we go from being children to young adults to elders; at each step we're displacing another generation and being displaced by a younger one in turn. What would it be like to ALWAYS have your parents and grandparents in your life, and to simultaneously see your kids' kid's kid's children?

[tehta.livejournal.com]

The Ents are ponderous long-lived beings--and the contrast is all too clear.

But I agree that the cyclical nature of human life is very deeply ingrained in the way we think. We are all raised to replace those who came before us, and then are replaced in our turn: basic phenomena like father-son rivalries have their roots in this. What happens if nobody ever gets replaced? If nobody ever retires? It must be impossible to get tenure at Tirion University.

The only thing I can think of is that Elves make their own cycles in a way: that they shift interests, from time to time, and keep trying new (or old but near-forgotten) things.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

The only thing I can think of is that Elves make their own cycles in a way: that they shift interests, from time to time, and keep trying new (or old but near-forgotten) things.

I'd think they'd have to do that, if ony to avoid terminal boredom. Even the most fascinating field would surely start to get dull after a few thousand years!

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Maybe they have a very short attention span, or something? So they can't remember that they're supposed to be bored?

They'd clearly need a different way of keeping track of memories.