(urth) Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?

[António Pedro Marques]

David Stockhoff wrote (16-12-2011 16:28):
> Much of our Western myths, and as they are perpetuated today by Hollywood,
> involve the brave and capable few who are besieged by the weak and cowardly
> many. This has little basis in reality, of course, and it has always struck
> me as a bit pathological. And so often the few are blond and big and the
> many dark and small. So too with Tolkien.

There are all too many unsympathetic characters among Elves and Western Men, 
and the Dwarves aren't blond and big at all. Nor are the hobbits.

Are the Dwarves jewish? I don't think so. I think Tolkien took known races 
with known traits and built a world with them. The Elves are the exception, 
as they have little to do with classic elves (though maybe the classic elves 
are what Tolkien thought the Avari might have evolved into).