EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
The appeal is twofold, but very simple.
1. Tolkien ACTUALLY developed cultures for them. Middle Earth is emphatically the opposite of a planet of hats, and this shows in the people that populate it. Even the "bland" hobbits have history and mystery written about them, and humans have actual narrative to their culture. Imitating him, other authors often have reduced these races to planets of hats (foresty archer elves, haughty magic enclave elves, bucolic soft-hedonist halflings, grumpy martial miner dwarves, etc.), but the original source continues to inspire specifically because Tolkien cut no corners on the world building. We can SEE what a typical Elvish or Dwarvish response will be. Their culture is not human, but it is accessible to us and really exists even if we see very little of it in practice.
2. The characters that exhibit these races are actual characters, not cardboard cutouts that simply stand as allegorical representations of their entire race. The four hobbits are genuinely different people. Samwise isn't very smart but is a genuinely good and stalwart soul. Pippin has an enormous and uncharacteristic curious streak and it gets him into a lot of trouble. Frodo is melancholy and bookish. Legolas is having FUN and enjoying the sights and adventure of a world he hasn't really gotten to see. Gimli, as OSP puts it, is "a proud, princely warrior" and one of the most articulate members of the Fellowship. These characters simultaneously represent their races and yet also prove that, while stereotypes for those races EXIST, those stereotypes will always be imperfect and jaundiced. They're also just generally well-written, which is always a plus.
So...yeah. They have appeal because Tolkien ACTUALLY did the work of building tangible, understandable cultures, and because his characters are both well-written and NOT simply allegorical icons for their entire culture or race.
This is a big part of why I love what 4e did with the dragonborn, and Arkhosia and its war with Bael Turath. They didn't just plop rubber forehead aliens into the world. They didn't make dragonborn that were just a straightforward "klingons but with dragon breath and more charisma" planet of hats. They presented a reasonably well-detailed culture (obviously not on Tolkien's level, but still good), and showed ways that individual characters could both express and defy that culture. Patterns offered both as a foundation to build on and as things to defy, depending on what the player wished to do with them.
1. Tolkien ACTUALLY developed cultures for them. Middle Earth is emphatically the opposite of a planet of hats, and this shows in the people that populate it. Even the "bland" hobbits have history and mystery written about them, and humans have actual narrative to their culture. Imitating him, other authors often have reduced these races to planets of hats (foresty archer elves, haughty magic enclave elves, bucolic soft-hedonist halflings, grumpy martial miner dwarves, etc.), but the original source continues to inspire specifically because Tolkien cut no corners on the world building. We can SEE what a typical Elvish or Dwarvish response will be. Their culture is not human, but it is accessible to us and really exists even if we see very little of it in practice.
2. The characters that exhibit these races are actual characters, not cardboard cutouts that simply stand as allegorical representations of their entire race. The four hobbits are genuinely different people. Samwise isn't very smart but is a genuinely good and stalwart soul. Pippin has an enormous and uncharacteristic curious streak and it gets him into a lot of trouble. Frodo is melancholy and bookish. Legolas is having FUN and enjoying the sights and adventure of a world he hasn't really gotten to see. Gimli, as OSP puts it, is "a proud, princely warrior" and one of the most articulate members of the Fellowship. These characters simultaneously represent their races and yet also prove that, while stereotypes for those races EXIST, those stereotypes will always be imperfect and jaundiced. They're also just generally well-written, which is always a plus.
So...yeah. They have appeal because Tolkien ACTUALLY did the work of building tangible, understandable cultures, and because his characters are both well-written and NOT simply allegorical icons for their entire culture or race.
This is a big part of why I love what 4e did with the dragonborn, and Arkhosia and its war with Bael Turath. They didn't just plop rubber forehead aliens into the world. They didn't make dragonborn that were just a straightforward "klingons but with dragon breath and more charisma" planet of hats. They presented a reasonably well-detailed culture (obviously not on Tolkien's level, but still good), and showed ways that individual characters could both express and defy that culture. Patterns offered both as a foundation to build on and as things to defy, depending on what the player wished to do with them.
