[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

We could add to that argument the fact that elves and, for that matter, dwarfs, don't appear in myth, folklore or literature outside the Celtic and Germanic languages. Even fairly local Romance languages, such as Spanish and Italian, don't share the idea, and this has been a major obstacle for translators throughout the history of Tolkien's fiction. If he wanted to tie in his myths with the real world, he may have taken account of their Northern European origins when writing about the Eldar. Not only is there not a dark-skinned elf in Tolkien's writing, but there is no such thing anywhere in literature. I wonder why it's considered a problem only in his fiction.