You say 'Faeries' & I say 'Fairies'

[drigel]

most excellent points

The problem is that if we take the Fairies of tradition to be the remnants of the Eldar who remained in M-e then we have to account for the changes not just in nature but in 'powers'.

I would conjecture that most (if not all) Eldar, and quite possibly most of the Sindar would have heeded the call, and taken to the seas by the end of the 4th age.. leaving primarily Avari to do as they will in ME. Over aeons, even those held mighty among them would have faded, both in corpeal and non-corpeal aspects. Conjecture of course!

Tolkien seems to have ignored the vengeful, cruel & malicious aspect of Fairies

Quite true. His works involve early ages though, when both races were at a higher state of "natural grace". That's what I tried to speak of when I said the Peril being the same as it was at the beginning, except the stakes were higher. Contact w/fairie was much more dire after so many years of separation or ignorance (even in pre-Roman times). One would have to be truly fated or blessed to survive - most didnt apparantly. Or at least they never "returned". I dont know why I am defending this weak point - hehe fun

He seems to have 'Christianised' them - giving them individual souls & making them share our moral values

What about the opposite? Could Christendom given them the stigma of the vengeful. cruel, and otherwise evil characteristics, as they did with most all the other aspects of "pagan" life? Wasnt all this (fairy, gnomes, trolls et al) lumped under the devil's machinations? It seems they were protrayed generally as perilous, but not wholly good or evil. Perhaps Tolkien was lifting them up out of the mirk that they were put into.