Re: Tolkien's notion of biology

At 19:17 14.12.2003, Andreas Johansson wrote:

>Quoting "Thomas R. Wier" <trwier@...>:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > So, it's been a while.  Been very busy teaching and whatnot.
>
>Wellcome back! You've been missed.
>
> > Before I can post something about C'ali or Phaleran (I don't
> > really have anything to post), in the meantime here's a post
> > from a linguistics blog about Tolkien:
> >
> > <http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000214.html>
>
>Interesting piece, altho I cannot say I have not heard much the same many
>times before.
Actually Tolkien has some things to say himself
with bearing on the subject.  Below I quote from
LotR.  The text of 'Letters' is not available
at this time, but there he shows no truck with
Hitler or antisemitism.

# Sam, eager to see more, went now and joined the guards.
# He scrambled a little way up into one of the larger of
# the bay-trees. For a moment he caught a glimpse of
# swarthy men in red running down the slope some way off
# with green-clad warriors leaping after them, hewing them
# down as they fled. Arrows were thick in the air. Then
# suddenly straight over the rim of their sheltering bank,
# a man fell, crashing through the slender trees, nearly
# on top of them. He came to rest in the fern a few feet
# away, face downward, green arrow-feathers sticking from
# his neck below a golden collar. His scarlet robes were
# tattered, his corslet of overlapping brazen plates was
# rent and hewn, his black plaits of hair braided with
# gold were drenched with blood. His brown hand still
# clutched the hilt of a broken sword.
# It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men,
# and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could
# not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name
# was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of
# heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long
# march from his home; and if he would not really rather
# have stayed there in peace
########################################################
# Rómendacil showed especial favour to Vidugavia, who had
# aided him in the war. He called himself King of
# Rhovanion, and was indeed the most powerful of the
# Northern princes, though his own realm lay between
# Greenwood and the River Celduin.  In 1250 Rómendacil
# sent his son Valacar as an ambassador to dwell for a
# while with Vidugavia and make himself acquainted with
# the language, manners, and policies of the Northmen. But
# Valacar far exceeded his father's designs. He grew to
# love the Northern lands and people, and he married
# Vidumavi, daughter of Vidugavia. It was some years
# before he returned. From this marriage came later the
# war of the Kin-strife.
# 'For the high men of Gondor already looked askance at
# the Northmen among them; and it was a thing unheard of
# before that the heir to the crown, or any son of the
# King, should wed one of lesser and alien race. There was
# already rebellion in the southern provinces when King
# Valacar grew old. His queen had been a fair and noble
# lady, but short-lived according to the fate of lesser
# Men, and the Dúnedain feared that her descendants would
# prove the same and fall from the majesty of the Kings of
# Men. Also they were unwilling to accept as lord her son,
# who though he was now called Eldacar, had been born in
# an alien country and was named in his youth Vinitharya,
# a name of his mother's people.
# Therefore when Eldacar succeeded his father there was
# war in Gondor. But Eldacar did not prove easy to thrust
# from his heritage. To the lineage of Gondor he added the
# fearless spirit of the Northmen. He was handsome and
# valiant, and showed no sign of ageing more swiftly than
# his father. When the confederates led by descendants of
# the kings rose against him, he opposed them to the end
# of his strength. At last he was besieged in Osgiliath,
# and held it long, until hunger and the greater forces of
# the rebels drove him out, leaving the city in flames. In
# that siege and burning the Tower of the Stone of
# Osgiliath was destroyed, and the palantír was lost in
# the waters.
# 'But Eldacar eluded his enemies, and came to the North,
# to his kinsfolk in Rhovanion. Many gathered to him
# there, both of the Northmen in the service of Gondor,
# and of the Dúnedain of the northern parts of the realm.
# For many of the latter had learned to esteem him, and
# many more came to hate his usurper. This was Castamir,
# grandson of Calimehtar, younger brother of Rómendacil
# II. He was not only one of those nearest by blood to the
# crown, but be had the greatest following of all the
# rebels; for he was the Captain of Ships, and was
# supported by the people of the coasts and of the great
# havens of Pelargir and Umbar.
# 'Castamir had not long sat upon the throne before he
# proved himself haughty and ungenerous. He was a cruel
# man, as be had first shown in the taking of Osgiliath.
# He caused Ornendil son of Eldacar, who was captured, to
# be put to death; and the slaughter and destruction done
# in the city at his bidding far exceeded the needs of
# war. This was remembered in Minas Anor and in Ithilien;
# and there love for Castamir was further lessened when it
# became seen that he cared little for the land, and
# thought only of the fleets, and purposed to remove the
# king's seat to Pelargir.
# 'Thus he had been king only ten years, when Eldacar,
# seeing his time, came with a great army out of the
# north, and folk flocked to him from Calenardhon and
# Anórien and Ithilien. There was a great battle in
# Lebennin at the Crossings of Erui, in which much of the
# best blood in Gondor was shed. Eldacar himself slew
# Castamir in combat, and so was avenged for Ornendil; but
# Castamir's sons escaped, and with others of their kin
# and many people of the fleets they held out long at
# Pelargir.
# 'When they had gathered there all the force that they
# could (for Eldacar had no ships to beset them by sea)
# they sailed away, and established themselves at Umbar.
# There they made a refuge for all the enemies of the
# king, and a lordship independent of his crown. Umbar
# remained at war with Gondor for many lives of men, a
# threat to its coastlands and to all traffic on the sea.
# It was never again completely subdued until the days of
# Elessar; and the region of South Gondor became a
# debatable land between the Corsairs and the Kings.'


/BP 8^)
--
B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melrochX@melroch.se (delete X)
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