Habits of Whiteness in Medieval Fantasy

In JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarilion, there are various tales of medieval fantasy. One is the story of Ëol and Aredhel. In this chapter, there is a tale of Ëol, a dark elf, that abducts a light elf by the name of Aredhel. To be slightly more specific, Aredhel is on a journey to a city far away from her home of Noldor and is separated from her guards and then “taken” as Ëol’s wife. Based upon the context clues, Ëol rapes Aredhel and holds her prisoner for many years. What does this tale have to do with race? This tale of Aredhel and Ëol is rooted in the Helen Young’s idea “habits of Whiteness” that is discussed about in her book.

To begin, Aredhel is described as “the White Lady of Noldor” (131). Noldor is a city near the capital composed of the whitest elves called the Calaquendi or the “elves of light” and sometimes even the “fair elves.” Fair is often defined as ‘light’ or ‘blond’ and ‘white.’ This comparison already sets up the basis that whiteness is beauty and anyone not white is considered ugly. To have Aredhel described as the “White Lady of Noldor” means she is an even whiter version of the Calaquendi and therefore very beautiful.

Ëol, on the other hand, is described as the “Dark Elf” that “lived in a deep shadow” and “shunned the Noldor” (132). This just sets up the juxtaposition of the two characters in the tale: Aredhel, the fair elf, and Ëol, the dark elf.

Ëol upon first seeing Aredhel liked her because “she seemed very fair to him and he desired her” which sets up the reader to think sketchily of Ëol due to him observing her in the shadows (133). Next, it says that “he set his enchantments about her so that she could not find her ways out” and “drew her” to “his dwelling” (133). Finally, when she was lead to his house, she remained because “Ëol took her to wife” which does not set up the reader to believe that she chose to stay there. Tolkien has set up Ëol to sound like he has rape tendencies and has a stalker mentality juxtaposed with Aredhel who is just a damsel walking into a trap.

This set up is already morally incorrect with today’s standards; however, given the time this was written we have to consider societies standpoints at the time. Race was a big factor. Young’s idea behind habits of Whiteness is that “the spaces of genre-culture have acquired the shape of the White bodies that have habitually occupied them for decades” (11). The idea behind these cultural associations is that they seem unbreakable. Whiteness seems unbreakable and yet still does in today’s society. The inspiration behind this is due to popular culture. In the early twentieth century, the white race was considered the “elite” race and the races of color were considered insubordinate and unimportant. I am not saying Tolkien believes this idea; however, he was indeed influenced by popular culture. The fact he used a “dark elf” to take advantage of and hold prisoner of a very fair “white elf” was no coincidence. In the early twentieth century, men of color were often killed for talking, having a relationship with, or taking advantage of white women. Tolkien plays on this common trend and uses it in his tale.

Popular culture is a huge factor in literary works regardless of the authors personal beliefs because he or she is influenced by them. Tolkien uses a dark elf such as Ëol as the antagonist in this tale to agree with popular culture.

-GA