Thread: Race parents
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Old 05-15-2004, 03:24 PM   #21
Guinevere
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Quote:
Not only do they never name Legolas as son of Thranduil, but they constantly neglect to mention he's a prince! I suppose Legolas simply doesn't feel that makes him any "better" than anyone else, as he doesn't seem to have pride, and so never mentions it. But it's still weird.
That's something which also struck me. In my eyes it makes Legolas very sympathetic ! He's the son of a king, yet he's not proud or haughty at all. (Aragorn is much more fond of showing off his ancestry! ) Neither does he act like he's something better than the rest of the fellowship because he's an elf.


Quote:
I think the hobbits having surnames may have been a device of Tolkien's introduced when he was writing 'The Hobbit', to be familiar to children/give the story an English feel
I think you are right in this, Symestream! The Hobbits are a (deliberate)Anachronism in Middle-earth. With them, the reader can identify. They are the bridge to the archaic world of ME. Bilbo and his home and his way of living are described much more like an upper Middle-class Englishman from around 1900.
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