You say 'Faeries' & I say 'Fairies'

[davem]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

Did Tolkien envision two "faeries" as it were? Did his Translator's Conceit give him the idea, within Middle-Earth anyway, that the more historical view of a malevolent faerie was a distortion by Men in later times of the "real" faerie (Valinor) and the attitude of those Elves most likely to meet Men (the Avari)? In other words, is an internal (in-story) reconciling of the "real world" conception of Faerie and his own, Valinorean, conception of Faerie made possible by Avarian attitudes mixed with fading knowledge of Valinor?

Its possible. Certainly Tolkien couldn't have ignored the traditional accounts. He was motivated by a desire to 're-create' what had been. So perhaps he included what was the 'original' version of events, from which the traditional stories derived. The only problem with that explanation is that his Elves are not found in the tradition. Also, given the traditional tales (as found in Kirk) depict Elves/Fairies being attracted by beautiful humans. In its own way the tradition is more complex than the one we find among the Avari. It is very much a love-hate relationship, or perhaps desire-hate.

One thing we find as a commonplace in the tradition is accounts of battles between Fairy tribes. This obviously occurs in Tolkien with the Kinslaying, but in the tradtion there is no implication of a 'fall' being involved, no moral judgement at all being passed. Its just what the Fairies do. Kirk also refers to Fairy funerals & the implication there seems to be that they are mortal.

So, I'd agree that Tolkien attempted to acknowledge the tradition, but it seems that for some reason he felt the need to rationalise it to such a degree that it became almost unrecognisable.

Edit. He also reveals techniques for gaining an experience of the Second Sight, so one could actually see Fairies!