Thread: On elf children
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Old 12-07-2007, 12:56 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Bêthberry View Post
Which also raises another interesting point, although this possibly gets us beyond the specific topic of this thread. It appears that Tolkien created each race on Middle-earth with its own particular pattern of transmitting life. Hobbits apparently are (very) fecund, except of course those who don't marry. Dwarves are dwindling possibly because they lack an adequate number of dwarven uterii (uteruses?). We know what the problem is with ents. What is the birth rate of the race of men?

The Flame Imperishable seems to be dispersed unevenly amongst the various races of Middle-earth. Is this significant or is it just a random bit of musical variety? Why does the rhapsody of reproduction in Middle-earth differ among the races?
Assume humans are the standard, as that's at least common knowledge. It's stated somewhere that the Númenóreans started out okay, but then began having less births and thinking more about their ancestors than their descendants. Was this due to population feedback - too many people triggers a mechanism that lowers birth rate? Or was it that, after attaining the basic necessities and comforts of life, the other pursuits of the Númenóreans left no time for children.

"Gotta go and sail around the world, honey."

Hobbits aren't as industrious or adventurous and seem to be still in the 'obtaining the comforts' stage. Not sure what their birthrate was, but after the scouring, it picked up again as the hobbits had to 'fill in the corners' regarding necessities after such a bad year. Was being in this growth stage due to the environment? The Númenóreans had everything and were becoming bored and stagnant. The Hobbits were renewed.

Elves? They're always dreaming of yesterday and children are the future. Plus, as Frodo notes, elves are apt to say both yea and nay, and so maybe every elf just spends years being confused. And didn't Thingol and Melian stare at each other for an eternity or two? If this is flirting/courting, one wonders how long everything else may take - or how long it takes to get to that part of the process that would produce children.

Peter Jackson has his orcs hatch from mud. Maybe elven children were delivered in the air via Eagles. And the number of Eagles was much less than the number of elven parents, and so there'd be some delay - or you got a bunch at once as the Eagles were delivering in your area that Age.

Gimli hints at the Dwarves. Being not original creations of Eru (you know what I mean), they are somewhat different. Hammering and smithying all the time leaves little time for children; these are an industrious folk. But, when Gimli comes into his own at the Glittering Caves of Aglarond, there's not much for his folk to do - maybe one chip of stone on a whole anxious day, and so maybe their population increased, as, well, there was little else to do.
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Last edited by alatar; 12-08-2007 at 04:06 PM.
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