Fantasy Counterpart Culture

[jallanite]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I think Tolkien may have discussed this a bit in Letters, but it seems to me that mostly Elves represent his idealized views of the best parts of Mankind.

They don't appear to generally possess negative traits;

You seem to be forgetting all you have read about the Fëanorians.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

… isn't there a bit in either "On Translation" or the "Letters" where Tolkien says that his use of Anglo-Saxon to stand in for the "real" Rohirric language *shouldn't* be taken to imply a close equivalency between the cultures?

Yes. But in fact the equivalency is very close in terms of vocabulary used and culture, closer than to any other historic culture of which comparable knowledge has come down to us. The main difference is that the Rohirrim are very horse-centred while the Old English were not. See http://www.councilofelrond.com/litar...s-an-overview/ , http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Rohirrim , and http://www.oocities.org/licia_north/anglo.html .