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01-14-2005, 01:20 AM | #1 |
Honourary Elitist Inklette
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The Smith of Wooton Major, and Middle Earth
I'm not sure exactly where this belongs, because The Smith of Wooton Major isn't specifically set in Middle Earth.
My question is, ever since I first read The Smith of Wooton Major, I've wondered how the elves and the realm of faery in the story relate to Tolkien's work on Middle Earth. I'm wondering if the whole story maybe takes place in ME, or if "Faery" is ME, or if none of it is. I guess this is a pointless question, but I'm truly curious to know other people's take on it. |
01-14-2005, 01:27 AM | #2 |
Cardboard Harp of Gondor Join Date: Sep 2001
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I believe it was simply meant to be a sort of 'stand alone bed-time story'.
Just by reading it, I personally don't think it had anything to do with Middle Earth. Middle Earth was a bit more gritty and dark, while even at its 'worst' this story was very light hearted and sweet. |
01-14-2005, 01:28 AM | #3 |
Elf Lord
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Yes, it is in the Tolkien corpus, but it is separate. Rather like Leaf by Niggle.
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01-14-2005, 01:34 AM | #4 | |
Honourary Elitist Inklette
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Quote:
edit: Okay, this is not worded very well. I should sleep, and take a look again when I wake up later. Last edited by Embladyne : 01-14-2005 at 01:37 AM. |
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01-14-2005, 01:31 AM | #5 |
Honourary Elitist Inklette
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Okay, sounds good to me. But, after reading about ME, reading about elves in another work of Tolkien always evokes the elves of ME. What I'm wondering is if Tolkien saw the elves in The Smith of Wooton Major as refering to the elves of ME, or if the land of "Feary" was just a good place to vacation in.
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01-14-2005, 01:34 AM | #6 |
Cardboard Harp of Gondor Join Date: Sep 2001
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Ah, but if you'll remember it wasn't always a pleasant place.
I believe there was something said about how the elvish warships were 'terrible to look upon', and that the elvish warriors themselves frightened him so much that the smith threw himself on the ground. |
01-14-2005, 01:36 AM | #7 | |
Honourary Elitist Inklette
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Quote:
Yeah, it was the elvish warriors that particularly make me think of ME. But that's prolly from reading too much of the Silm and HOME. |
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01-14-2005, 01:42 AM | #8 |
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I haven't read much of the Sil, LT, or HoM to know, but from what little I do know, I'm pretty sure Tolkien didn't mean to make any connections between those stories.
Now on the other hand, many writers have little 'quirks' that they like to throw in. Tolkien probably disliked the idea of 'short' elves, so his are always tall, beautiful, and powerful, even if the power is subtler. I also have a feeling that Tolkien didn't delve too deeply into the whole fairy thing. For instance when he bestows magical powers on something, he's always very vague and generalized about it. The flip side would be a writer like Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time), or perhaps simply the people who write the Dungeons and Dragons games. |