• tetris11@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I quite like how Dwarf Fortress treats elves with contempt. If you try to sell them wooden furniture, they sink to their knees and weep at the loss of life, vowing to never trade with you again.

    Naturally, this leads to many players inviting an Elven caravan into their fortresses, sealing the doors shut, setting traps, and letting nature take its course

    • ekZepp@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Feanor: Look at this! I’ve made the 3 coolest jewels EVER!!! 🥹

      The Gods: Congrats, those are indeed the 3 coolest jewels ever made.

      Feanor: I know, right! ☺️

      The Gods: Now, hand them over to us.

      Feanor:

  • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Elves looking down on the other races in middle earth? Say it ain’t so!

    See also Galadriel’s words in the prologue to Fellowship of The Ring: Three rings were given to the Elves - immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings.

    Where’s that meme of Obama putting a medal on Obama?

    • SteveNashFan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      IIRC, Elrond isn’t as stuck-up in the book, but it’s been a year or two since I last read Fellowship.

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes, elves in the books are a lot more… human.

        They feast, they sing, they dance, they do stupid things, they prank each other. If anything they seem the most playful race.

        Shit, in The Hobbit, a soldier on duty gets so drunk that he passes out, allowing Bilbo and the Dwarves are able to escape in barrels.

        PJ very much took the Elves and said “let’s make them into Star Trek Vulcans!”

        • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’d say Tolkien is a bit inconsistent in how he portrays elves. In The Hobbit, they are more like frolicking, dancing and singing pixies and in LotR they are more ethereal and aloof like fey.

          Jackson chose to stick to the fey aspect.

    • BearGun@ttrpg.network
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      1 year ago

      To be completely fair they lived in a world where there actually were real differences between the races. In our world racism is silly because there aren’t any actually relevant differences between the races, but the differences between elves, men, and dwarves are very real in middle earth. Not enough to pull everyone over a comb (to use a swedish proverb), but at least there’s some substance to it.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        Would you still say that if you knew Tolkien based elves on early “true” Christians, dwarves on Jews, Western men on Europe as a whole and their decline a metaphor for growing secularism, and the Eastern/Southern men given to evil on brown people who, even worse, aren’t Christian?

        Because he did.

        • Akrenion@slrpnk.net
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          1 year ago

          I am quite sure he based them on stereotypical views that were prevalent during his times and not actual people. Still he showed that these perceived differences come from their internal worst traits manifesting in their views on others and can be overcome for the good of all.

          You are not wrong but nuance in reading is important.