Quote:
Originally posted by Elendur:
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Do you really think Tolkien incorporated Biology (Dominant and Recessive Genes) into his work?</STRONG>
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NO for pity's sake! I was just being facetious. It's there of course, if not fully considered by Tolkien, because Middle-Earth is meant to be very much like our world. So, one must assume that even Elves have DNA and so forth. Clearly, though, Tolkien ascribed to a belief in mind & spirit over matter.
Light, blonde hair, which is not really golden, oftentimes, among real-world humans, even when they come by it naturally, is popularly called a recessive trait, although I suspect that it isn't quite so simple, given the tremendous variety of hair color that appears in various places around the world. Interesting, there is little indication of Redheads in Tolkien's otherwise Europe-like world.
In the case of Elves, Hobbits, Dúnedain and other special or graced peoples, hair color and other attributes have some sort of significance. That significance is not necessarily a point of consistent symbolism, but it is there, but not in a way that is biologically distinctive, which I think is the theme of a largely negative reply I'd like to make to the question of "racism" in Books II.
Whether skin, hair and eye-color attributes could be explained thought genetics or other phenomena, as in the case of the many fair-haired children born in the Shire in the aftermath of the War of the Rings, is not really critical. He relied on real-world biology to present certain points, especially in regard to ecology and nature, but he then would deviate from it in terms of Elvish power over woodlands, or the ability of vast forests of familiar tree-species (Mallorns aside) to flourish for eons without the photosynthetic power of the Sun! Those first Stars must really have been something!
Returning to Human-like features, Tolkien was I think drawing on the aesthetic sensibilities of the rather physically-diverse peoples of the "Nordic" region (Scandinavians, both Teutons and Finns, as well as northwardly Celts and Slavs) on which his peoples are based, first and formost in terms of culture, traditions, values and ('oh yeah') language, and then only by default in terms of associated phenotypes.
In summary, I concur, Gil-Galad would seem to fall into the "Raven-haired, bright-eyed, fair-skinned" look so favored by Tolkien among some of his most noble characters who are Elves or Men. This would also fit into his presumably mostly Noldorin ancestry.
What is interesting, and not necessarily intentional, is that the golden-haired ones like Galadriel, Finrod, Hurin ("red-gold) and the Rohirrim (Tolkien's horse-riding Angles) are while also very great and noble, in some ways given a more impassioned feel then the more austere and reserved types, such as Morwen, Lúthien, Elrond and the Dúnedain of the North.
The Gil-Galad passage arise from Sam's reference as they approach Weathertop, where Gil-Galad and Elendil had rendezvoused. I can't remember whether Sam, Frodo or Aragorn is to have uttered those Stanzas.
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" . . . and the Riders of Rohan look almost as boys beside them" [the Riders of Rohan who simply decimate opposing forces of orcs or men!]