Maciliel
Valinor
Mar 18 2013, 2:05am
Views: 1342
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tolkien's linking of physical beauty with merit
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one of the things that both bothers me and beguiles me about tolkien's middle earth is his linking of physical beauty and merit.
true, not every being that has physical beauty is good (annatar, melkor) nor without flaw (feanor, galadriel, thingol), but it is a theme.
he also links height to might and worthiness. thingol (the tallest of all the children of iluvatar, and, if i'm recalling correctly from the text, the mightiest. galadriel, the mightiest of all the female elves is also the tallest, or at least as tall as a male elf.
the vanyar are seemingly the eldar closest in step with the valar, and they are all blond. the royal house of the teleri goes a step further, their hair is silver / silver-blond. (and it is certainly not true that blond hair is more beautiful than any other.)
he speaks of the elves as having the greatest portion of beauty, and of being the tallest race. they are also the closest to the valar, and able to live with them in valinor. they are considered the wisest of the races and the most talented.
yes, beauty is beguiling. so it is understandable that the described beauty of luthien would cast a spell on the reader, as well as beren. but i often think it is not a good thing at all that tolkien makes such a strong connection with beauty and merit. or height and merit.
what say you?
cheers --
.
aka. fili orc-enshield
+++++++++++++++++++
the scene, as i understand it, is exceptionally well-written. fili (in sort of a callback to the scene with the eagles), calls out "thorRIIIIIIN!!!" just as he sees the pale orc veer in for the kill. he picks up the severed arm of an orc which is lying on the ground, swings it up in desperation, effectively blocking the pale orc's blow. and thus, forever after, fili is known as "fili orc-enshield."
this earns him deep respect from his hard-to-please uncle. as well as a hug. kili wipes his boots on the pale orc's glory box. -- maciliel
(This post was edited by Maciliel on Mar 18 2013, 2:07am)
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