Humans and Elves, Mortals and Immortals
I take part in a writers' critique group that focuses on the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror. It's actually a pretty good group. They've read two chapters of my fantasy novel The Ring of Adonel so far, and given me very useful feedback. One of the other writers in this group, Leslie Ann Moore (author of Griffin's Daughter) has also become a friend.
A couple of months ago, we were at a social function, and got into a conversation about our work. She was asking me questions about the nature of my world - because we were comparing notes on world-buidling and cultural issues. In her own book, she had two "races", which were called "human" and "elves". So, when she was referencing my characters, she asked what the differences were between my humans and the Fynlaren (which I have always admitted were my version of Tolkien's elves).
What surprised me was my reaction: they are both "human", and have always been so. To me, the truly important distinction has always been that my "ordinary folk" are mortal while the Fynlaren are immortal. They are different races within a single species. And the species also includes some races who are shape-shifters (although they do not enter into The Ring of Adonel). Within the Fynlaren are further divisions that I had mostly looked at as being tribal, but which are, in fact, racial - in the extent that they have different appearances and certain abilities that are stronger in one "House" than in another. And in fact, there are certain plot points that emphasize what might be called "racial bigotry" between the different Fynlaren Houses. But all that is a side issue to the distinction between the Weren (ordinary mortal folk) and the Fynlaren.
I'm not sure why I reacted so strongly to Leslie's speaking of my peoples as "human and Fynlaren". Perhaps it is the matter of the inter-racial marriage that results in the birth of the main character of my novel. My hero, Gidion, is the child of a Mortal and a Fynlaren, and his mixed nature is at the heart of the whole story. He is neither entirely one nor the other.
I had very early on in my world-building process made the decision that the child of an Immortal and a Mortal would always be Mortal. I am following Tolkien's footsteps on this matter as well, to a certain degree. Tolkien's Elves call mortality the Gift of Iluvatar - because they assume that the souls of Men leave the confines of the World to enter into the presence of Iluvatar, whereas their own souls are confined to this World. It always seemed to me that Tolkien was a bit ambivalent about the ultimate fate of the Elves, and that he had not decided what their fate would be at the End of the World. Traditionally, it is contended that elves/fairies do not have immortal souls, and so would not enter into the presence of God at the End of the World. Hence, the underlying meloncholy in so many fairie tales about the experience of being fairie. I chose not to walk that particular path, and instead went down a parallel one.
In my creation, I based Arveniem's theology on my personal beliefs about God. I do not think that the God I worship would be so ungenerous as to turn away from His presence any creature He had created, regardless of the existential nature of that creature. Evil would be turned away, but not an "Elf" - if such existed and desired to be near to God.
That said, I was still intrigued by the idea of material immortality within "our world", and so wanted some sort of reason for its existence. My solution was that Arveniem's "God", Aea (which in manuscripts has also been spelled Aya), created Arveniem to be a (mostly) "closed" creation. It is in its own little envelope, its own pocket universe. The Fynlaren souls are stuck inside the envelope until "Aea Opens It". Well, the "angels" who left the presence of God in order to participate in the new world, they also are stuck inside the World until Aea Opens It. And they too are immortal. But the Fynlaren are NOT of the same nature as the angelics.
Anyway.... these issues are all ones that I had given considerable thought to all along in the creative process -- the distinctions of mortal and immortal being the point that intrigued me most intellectually. I really had not given the matter of species and race as much thought.
The other thing about Leslie's question was the sense of extreme "otherness" that the "humans versus Fynlaren" implied. Literally, the first thought that flashed through my head was "But the Fynlaren are not aliens" - meaning peoples from some totally other world. Yeah, I've read enough science fiction, that the humans (ie, Terrans, natives of our planet Earth) are significantly different in species, etc., from aliens, natives of other planets. Somehow, in my brain, "humans" always translates in that science fiction context (unless we're talking about the animal lifeforms of our own planet). And in Arveniem, the Fynlaren are as much a part of the World as the Mortal folk are.
Anyway, after mulling over the implications of the terminology to my own work (since I do constantly go around correcting in my brain when people speak of my characters as "humans and Fynlaren" to "Mortals and Fynlaren"), I started thinking about how we really do view "Earth fairies".
Poul Anderson in The Queen of Air and Darkness tells something like a fairie-tale in a science fiction context. Humans have landed on and colonized an alien planet. The local sentient species, which possesses a degree of telepathic ability, has adapted the semblence of fairies, elves and suchlike creatures from human folklore, in order to deflect the expansion of the colonists. The local species uses their abilities to make the world outside the colony borders seem too eerie to be explored by individuals out alone. In this story, the "Elves" really are Alien (ie, non-human). And I suppose that novel also affected my own approach to the matter.
But it makes me curious about how others view the relations between humans/mortals and elves/fairies in folklore and fantasy literature. Just how "other" are such creatures? How much of a difference does it make in how you consider them? Do you view the differences as being racial differences (that is, "We're both human, you just live longer")? Or are they different species (and if so, what's the attraction of being in a relationship with an elf or fairie)?
Just curious about what people think.