With which Middle Earth Race do you most identify?

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

I just realized I cast my vote days ago, and then had to dash off to rehearsal or class or something, and never actually got around to explaining myself.

I see myself very definitely as a Hobbit--a Fallohide Hobbit, to be exact. From the first description, I fell in love with Hobbiton and the Shire, far more so than with anywhere else in Middle-earth. I share Hobbits' childlike qualities, their purity and innocence. The simple joys are the most important ones to me, things like friends and family, home, laughter, peace and quiet, good food... Like them, when put to the test, I prove to be far tougher than I look. I even have the fascination with geneologies, and it frustrates me to no end that my mother's more nomadic side of the family seems not to have bothered to keep clear records of where they came from--my dad's side is nice and organized. I wouldn't turn down adventure if it came knocking at my door, though.

I don't look particularly like a hobbit, since I may be short (I'm barely 5 feet, on a tall day), but I'm slight, light-boned, and my hair is, unfortunately, stubbornly straight.

The only other race I could think of that I might fit into is the Rohirrim. Aside from my small-ish stature, I wouldn't look particularly out of place there, and I do love the horses...but they look at life all wrong--too much obsession with death and too much value placed on glory of battle. Nah. I'm all Hobbit, through and through.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

As far as I'm concerned, this question calls for a complicated answer. When I chose my nick, I consciously chose a human name - though a Telcontar would have partially Elvish blood, of course. On the other hand, both names are in their Elvish forms; otherwise I would be called "Hope Strider".

I have never been a great fan of the Elves, have never had the desire to learn their languages, and the Silmarillion is not my favourite Tolkien book. However, I am an artisan and feel an affinity for their emphasis on arts and crafts. And with increasing age, I feel closer to some aspects of Galadriel and would love to have someone describe me with Sam's words:

Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime.

Alas, I am nothing like her in appearance and do not look Elvish at all.

In appearance I would be closest to a Hobbit. I am more short and well-rounded than tall and slender, and I do love the creature comforts of daily life. I'm not fond of spending time in water unless it's well-heated in a bathtub. However, I dearly love to travel, so that would not go with a typical Hobbit.

I do like Gimli and his love of beauty, but I need sunlight too much to see myself as a Dwarf. Riches as such do not matter to me, so that's not my race either.

That brings me back to (Wo-)Man. I know that Tolkien intended his races to show various aspects of humanity, and as a mixture, I guess that's where I belong. Not high and lofty, not only down-to-earth, not concentrated too much on the past nor the present, but looking toward the future as well. Less Rohirrim, to be sure, as I am not terribly fond of horses and a warrior life-style; not Numenorian either, so Gondor would be the place to find me.

There - I've talked myself into the proper placement of my vote!

[Lalaith]

Just re-reading this thread.

. And Haleth, she and her folk show that Humans can survive without the Elves' assistance and that there's great strength and courage in their people.

You know, the people of Haleth have often reminded me of the Finns during the Winter War.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

You know, the people of Haleth have often reminded me of the Finns during the Winter War.

I think that is no coincidence that exists only in your mind Lalaith. Like the story of Thermophylaie it is a story of a few standing against the many in extreme circumstances and winning the day just by not losing their ground against overwhelming odds. With his love of Finnish language it's easy to imagine the prof. reading with anxiety the news from the "eastern front" during the war...

Maybe he got a few inspirations from that?

But what comes to the question asked here I think I must at least partly agree with Lommy. I'm too human to identify myself with other races. So I'm a human. But with elves there is the idea of longevity and study, the arts and crafts perfected with a tradition.

It's a hard choice to make.

In the end I will take my chances with humans as we are also prone to a short life-span which makes our lives more significant than lives that could theoretically last forever.

Limits bring meaning forwards.

[Gwathagor]

Tough choice. I suppose I am a lower Elf, probably Sindarin, though I'm not sure why.

[A Little Green]

My first thought was of elves. Yet somehow, I couldn't vote "elf". Instead, I voted human.

Not a man of the first ages, but of the later. A human of the age when elves diminish and pass away, leaving the world a little less intriguing, a little less mysterious. A sadness overwhelms me at the thought of elves going away, but it is never for the elves. Instead, I feel sad because of the world is left to men, and with the elves passes much of the glory and the beauty in Middle-Earth.

It feels somehow symbolic to me. I often think about science and development as a killjoy of the worst kind. These days, it seems, no room is left for beauty, for creativity, for mystery, indeed for the world itself. That is why I feel like a human of the later ages, watching the elves pass to the west.

And no, I am not depressed.

[THE Ka]

I have no bloody clue, but chose ent to be safe.

I won't kid myself though, I'm either a very hasty ent or a rather lax elve, maybe Teleri, because I always am reluctant to move to another home and just plain 'fashionably late', but as for travel I love by boat the best.
So, I'm torn between some nice forest land, or the sea. 'Tis life.

Then again, I'm going into architecture. Noldor maybe? I'm not too hot for the kinslaying idea though, I like ships a lot, but I'm perfectly fine waiting an hour or so for a ferry in Seattle or wherever. I don't think I'd pitch a fit or take someone out because I couldn't get a boat.

Hrmm, well, my friends are rather amused with saying i'm just a grumpy, blunt and 'old fashioned' Gandalf. Which might work, since as a baby I had a period of randomly 'uncloaking', like most babies do.


I'd rather go with how others see me though, its too over personal trying to pin-point something close enough.

~ I am what I am Ka