[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks, all of you, for your answers on this long-neglected thread! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

The lack of dwarven children is partially explained by the mystery concerning female dwarves, as Legalos says, and in a literary sense by Tolkien's concentration on the other races - true, Aralaithiel. Dwarves do seem to get handled like stepchildren, perhaps due to the fact that they represent a "sideline" of created peoples.

I will look forward to reading more when I get the HoME books; thanks to Aralaithiel and Joy for the references to The Lost Road and the Book of Lost Tales.

Kate brings up two very interesting points: first, the obvious fact that war is not a good time to have children; afterwards, there would be a positive look on life with hope for the future again, so that the general willingness to have children would increase.

The point I find most intriguing is the idea that the relative ages of the different races would have an effect on the number of children they have! I can see that the sadness and disillusionment of the elves, as well as the realization that their time is almost over, would keep them from wanting to procreate. (Question: Do they continue to have children when they pass into the West, or does their number remain static after leaving Middle-earth?)

The future race is human - and only those Elves who join in the fate of the humans, like Arwen, have a future, i.e. children, in Middle-earth.

That brings us to the hobbits: both Kate and Evenstar suggest that they as a race represent children. Their innocence does make them seem child-like in their ignorance of what is happening outside their little world. Interestingly, Gandalf does not blame them for that; he seems to wish it could stay that way. Yet at the end of the war, he leaves them to solve their problems alone in the Scouring of the Shire. I would consider that a rite of passage, a coming of age. Still, when that is over, they slip back into the old ways of isolation from the events of the big world around them, at least for the most part. Are they comparable to Peter Pan, not really wanting to grow up? However, they do have lots of children, are able to live in the present and enjoy the simple things of life.

I remember reading similar thoughts on the child-like nature of the hobbits on another thread. I will look for it and post those when I find it again.