|
I'd like to comment on the most obvious - blatantly so! - difference between a race as portrayed by Tolkien and by Rowling. Though elves are on the good side in both stories, they couldn't be more different. Tolkien's Elves are tall, beautiful, noble, creative persons who show leadership in the events of Middle-earth. Rowling's elves are house servants - more like slaves, actually, since they are not paid for their services. They are hobbit-sized in stature and apparently not particularly attractive in appearance. They have no power, no initiative for their own fate (as a rule), and if they have creativity, it probably goes into cooking or other tasks that are more menial than artistic.
Both authors deviate from the typical elfs of fairy tales, diminutive winged creatures that live in flowers, whose magical power is equal to their stature. I am aware of the darker, more powerful elves of folk legends, though I know too little to expound upon the differences.
Rowling's wizard race is closer to Tolkien's Elves, I think; they are different, with innate magical powers, and they often protect the non-magical humans.
__________________
'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
|