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The framework for J. R. R. Tolkien's conception of his Elves, and many points of detail in his portrayal of them, is thought by Haukur Þorgeirsson to have come from the survey of folklore and early modern scholarship about elves (álfar) in Icelandic tradition in the introduction to Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri ('Icelandic legends and fairy tales').
The light elves of Norse mythology are associated with the gods, much as the Calaquendi are associated with the Valar. [54] [55] Some critics have suggested that The Lord of the Rings was directly derived from Richard Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, whose plot also centres on a powerful ring from Germanic mythology. [56]
Tolkien made use of his philological expertise on Beowulf to create some of the races of Middle-earth. The list of supernatural creatures in Beowulf, eotenas ond ylfe ond orcnéas, "ettens and elves and demon-corpses", contributed to his Orcs, and Elves, and to an allusion to Ettens in his "Ettenmoors" placename. [8]
[T 4] They bred like Elves and Men: "For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar". [T 4] In "The Fall of Gondolin" Morgoth made them of slime by sorcery, "bred from the heats and slimes of the earth". [T 5] Or, they were "beasts of humanized shape", possibly, Tolkien wrote, Elves mated with beasts, and ...
In Tolkien's earliest writings, elves are variously named sprites, fays, brownies, pixies, or leprawns. [4] By 1915, when Tolkien was writing his first elven poems, the words elf, fairy and gnome had many divergent and contradictory associations.
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey comments that "the themes of the Escape from Death, and the Escape from Deathlessness, are vital parts of Tolkien's entire mythology." [ 8 ] In a 1968 BBC television broadcast, Tolkien quoted French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and described the inevitability of death as the "key-spring of The Lord of the Rings ".
This was later spelled Quenya (High-elven); it and Sindarin (Grey-elven) are the most complete of Tolkien's constructed languages. Elves are also credited with creating the Tengwar (by Fëanor) and Cirth (Daeron) scripts. [4] Tolkien's Elves are immortal, and remain unwearied with age, but can be killed in battle. Spirits of dead Elves go to ...
Greek black-figure vase painting depicting dancing satyrs. A propensity for dancing and making mischief in the woods is among the traits satyrs and elves have in common. [125] Beliefs in humanlike supernatural beings are widespread in human cultures, and many such beings may be referred to as elves in English.