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I'm not sure of the validity of this. Those fantasy creatures if anything tend not to have any real theology or philosophy behind them in practice. Elves steal babies and leave changelings, but why? There is no real explanation. Elves can be told from humans in some traditions because their backs are hollow. Why? Again no real codified theology or philosophy of elves; if anything, they often vary so much and tales are so sparse its hard to tell. Tolkien and Lewis were part of a cohort that really enjoyed a form of pagan Germanish/norse Romanticism. Novalis was a big influence, and Lewis was quite open about his love for the Eddas. Both of them also were devout Christians, and I feel this response is more of them attempting to baptize the things that they love in a Christian sense. Christian philosophy tends to find in many things God working in them to bring people to awareness of Him, and ultimately to a saving reconciliation through Christ. But that tends to impute characteristics that go beyond the actual intents of the works as written, sort of a metatextual thing which can be valid in a sense (lewis's love of romanticism probably did awaken him to Christianity) but otherwise isn't, since each person would approach the work differently. As for barbaric, ugh. Tolkien bowdlerized the old myths as much as anyone, with his happy little Hobbitses enjoying their baccy and his noble, stately ageless elves. In the old myths elves stole babies, made milk curdle, inflicted sickness through elf-shot, and much more. Tolkien to be blunt is a huge snob. He loves his happy little common people so long as they are the right type, little red-nosed burghers who live on their green farms and enjoy good pipeweed. If they are the wrong type, if they happen to work in factories instead, well there are your orcs and goblins. It's no coincidence the Trolls in the hobbit speak cockney. he dislikes Disney because Disney is vulgar in the old sense, low culture, but seems to forget that a belief in elves or fairies was pure low culture, until romanticism made the elites interested in it. Chesterton says you need to be a common bumpkin (like himself) to really deal with them. |