Thread: Elven genetics
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Old 04-05-2004, 06:11 PM   #23
Voralphion
Shade of Carn Dûm
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Sharkey's End
Posts: 267
Voralphion has just left Hobbiton.
I don't think that using modern genetic theory to try and describe elves is really that productive, as Tolkien was not a genetic expert and didn't try to introduce genetics into his work. In one of his letters he said that the reason that elves and men were able to breed was because they were in effect the same species but just had different fates and gifts, but that was as far as he went.
Also if modern genetics were involved in Middle Earth, they would be more complex than simple Mendelian inheritance which many people are using to try and describe the traits of characters.
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