Elves and the Tuatha de Danaans

[Bill Ferny]

FB, there were a number of inaccuracies in your original post, but the insistence that the Tuatha De Danann were a real race of people is a bit over the top. One can say the peoples of Celtic mythology are based on actual pre-Celtic races. To say the Celts were the first peoples to inhabit the isles is ludicrous, but linking pre-Celtic peoples to dark haired modern people is equally ludicrous, and smacks of New Age Gnosticism. Unfortunately, Celtic (especially Irish-Celtic) mythology has been increasingly taken over by people with quasi-religious agendas. What are the primary sources that you are using?

I think Tolkien’s elves are based on the Celtic mythologies of the Tuatha De Danann, especially those of the Aes Sídhe. The parallels are too many to be overlooked. At the same time, I think we can accept with some certainty that Tolkien wasn’t drawing his knowledge of the Aes Sídhe from sources that linked the Formors to more modern dark haired peoples.