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diversetolkien · 6 years

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Eöl, Maeglin, and “The Brute Caricature”/Or Tolkein’s racist coding of Men of Color (and the dangers of negative coding):

Earlier this year I spoke about how Maeglin and Eöl fit the narrative of the man of color (coded or otherwise) being predatory towards the white woman (coded or otherwise). I wanted to expand on that narrative more, aside from victimizing white women, the narrative in general is one made to demonizing men of color.

While the narrative has many names, the one i’ll be using in this meta is the “Brute Caricature” (and we’ll use this since Maeglin and Eöl are coded as ‘black*’).

So what is the “Brute Caricature” anyway? According to ferris.edu, it is:

The brute caricature portrays black men as innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal – deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially white women.

However, I want to stress that while the “Brute Caricature” refers specifically to black men, it’s important to realize that most men of color have been historically portrayed as savages by white media, so the caricature applies to them as well.

For instance, Native American men went through it as well:

The most prevalent negative images of Midwest Indians in the 18th and 19th centuries showed them killing and/or capturing White people, especially women. Captivity images (often accompanying novels or “captivity narratives”) showed brutish Indian males overpowering terrified White women who, it was implied, would experience unspeakable horrors.

Sound Like Eöl and Maeglin, huh?

But Ink, they aren’t men of color ! How does this concern Eöl and Maeglin (And other men of color, as you say?)

Well this is where coding comes into play. Coding is essentially applying real life skin colors, stereotypes, etc., to fictional characters, in such a way that they mirror our world. So of course Eöl and Maeglin aren’t “black”, but they are the black elves of Tolkien’s world, and have negative stereotypes that have been applied on real life black people slapped on to them.

It’s like having a fictional race of people that are either Black or Brown, and making them thieves and gangbangers. Yes, they’re fictional, but with their skin color and actions, the mirror real life issues in black and brown communities, as well as races.

Essentially, they are inspired by real life races.

Why is coding an issue if its fictional? Because it draws inspiration from real life races, and when applying harmful stereotypes on said races, it often leads to negative perception on said races in real life. The larger the media, the bigger the issue. And Tolkien’s negative portrayal of poc coded characters, in itself, is an example of what coding does. He hears that people of color are bad, he writes us as bad (this will be explained more later on).

But again, how do we know they are coded? What’s my evidence. Well, let’s take a look: “Less fair was he than most of this goodly folk, swart and of none too kindly mood, so that he won small love, and whispers there were that he had Orc’s blood in his veins, but I know not how this could be true (The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, Part Two).”

Now there is a “contradicting” part, as later on Maeglin is described as pale, which is a Noldor attribute. That said, we can assume that he gets his “swart” skin from Eöl , and coupled with “less fair” we can assume that like many mixed children, Maeglin is just light skinned.

And I’d like to point out that aside from skin color, there is an emphasis on Maeglin and Eol being dark beings, they are called the Dark Elves, as opposed to their Sindar kin who are called more commonly called Grey Elves (but are also called Dark too), they life in the dark, their forest is dark. And while this “darkness” doesn’t necessarily refer to their skin color as swart does, but it emphasizes that there is something off about these characters.

And while their kin are called Dark Elves as well, it doesn’t have a ‘negative’ effect, as opposed to Eol.

That all clarified, let’s relate this to the issue at hand. The brute caricature.

Personality Wise/Character Traits

I think it’s clear to see how both Eöl and Maeglin relate to the brute caricature, in terms of personality. And in all honesty there’s no reason to go too, too into it. But just for the sake of providing information that certain people might suddenly forget existed, I’ll do it.

Here’s the quote (from above) I’ll be referencing:

So how do Eöl and Maeglin actually play into this?

Destructive/Savage/deserving of death/punishment? How about Maeglin indirectly causing the Fall of Gondolin, or Eol killing Aredhel (keep in mind all of this is to be coupled with their coding).

Anti-social menace? Eol living in the woods, isolated from everyone. Demonized when he emerges looking for Aredhel, and causing problems when he gets into Gondolin (even before he goes to Gondolin). Maeglin slowly becoming reclusive in Gondolin , so much so that he leaves Gondolin alone and bumps into Morgoth: But often Maeglin went with few of his folk beyond the leaguer of the hills, and the King knew not that his bidding was defied)

Fiend:..I mean do I really have to go on? Save for sociopath and hideous, Maeglin and Eol fit the criteria (and with rumors surrounding Maeglin about having orcish blood, then hideous may be a thing).

Men of Color vs. White Women

I want to specifically highlight the bit about men of color victimizing white women for this portion, and talk about how Eöl and Maeglin’s narrative plays into this. We see this concept of men of color victimizing white women clearly with both Aredhel and Idril. Aredhel and Idril are essentially the personification of “whiteness”. Aredhel is known as the White Lady:

Ar-Feiniel she was called, the White Lady of the Noldor, for she was pale though her hair was dark, and she was never arrayed but in silver and white.

Idril being blond, and a Noldor (which are described as pale skinned) I feel is self explanatory.

Essentially these two embody the image of white, European women in every way possible. Just for clarification, Idril and Aredhel being white coded in general, isn’t bad. It’s how their coding is used to demonize Eol and Maeglin, coded men of color, that is.

And how are they used to demonize Eöl and Maeglin, coded men of color? How does it play into the brute caricature trope?

It speaks for itself.

Maeglin and Eöl are written into the narrative for the purpose of targeting our pure, white, female coded elves, by either victimizing them in a dubious consensual way regarding sexual advances (Maeglin’s attraction towards Idril which is viewed as a sexual advance, which is viewed as a bad thing, Eöl and Aredhel’s dubious marriage), or being plain barbaric towards them (Eol chasing Aredhel to Gondolin, forbidding her to leave, killing her and Maeglin trying to take Idril by force).

That all said, it’s very evident to see how Eöl and Maeglin fit into the narrative.

Why is this an issue? Why are we even talking about this?

As I said before, “ it draws inspiration from real life races, and when applying harmful stereotypes on said races, it often leads to negative perception on said races in real life.”

This is a trope used to humiliate and demonize men of color, and has been used in the media before (Birth of a Nation, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Kid in Africa regarding Black Americans and Black Africans, movies such as Pocahontas, The Searchers, and others regarding Native American Men (also there’s a nice paper here about Native American stereotypes in early literature. Here’s an excerpt emphasizing how “dangerous” they were to white women:

White women captured by Apaches could expect sexual abuse, and though they would not be subjected to torture, they were likely to be mutilated after death out of sheer disregard for their dignity.

This idea that men of color are savages has real life effects. Dangerous ones. Historically we can look at the case of Emmitt Till , Gloverland Four, George Stinney, and the Scottsboro Boys. And in our more recent society, we can see examples Donald Trump calling Mexican immigrants who come over the border rapist (you know that would not have been said had Europeans been coming over the border), Germany lying about its refugees, and social movements such as Black Lives Matter as consequences of men of color being savages.

What Other Examples Aside From Eol and Maeglin?

There’s Celebrian and the Orcs, orcs who are descibed by Tolkien as mongol type. Same thing applies to them:

Tolkien’s Orcs have been a subject of criticism of racism. Tolkien described Orcs as “squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types”.

Misc:

Before anyone says well swart can mean personality too, The only other time Tolkien refers to swart is when he’s referring to skin color, specifically the Easterlings. So it’s safe to assume that it doesn’t suddenly change it’s meaning then. He knew what he was doing.

While I headcanon Maeglin and Eol as black, they are just said to have dark skin which refers to most men of color. That said, the above doesn’t change, as the meta refers to a trope that has been used to demonize all men of color.

While the relationship between Eol and Aredhel is up for interpretation (as it states that Aredhel was not wholly unwilling, and their relationship was said to be that of love ) more often than not Fandom takes it as rape. And while Maeglin never confessed his love for Idri (in the updated version), vocally, fandom still believes he does. His mere attraction to a white woman is viewed as bad. This is an example of what the narrative does, we typically try to favor the worse of men of color when the “worse” is often open ended. This was most likely done on purpose, as the book was written around a time when men of color were demonized. Tolkien may’ve left it ambiguous knowing white society would have interpreted these coded men of color badly.

I can talk more about Maeglin being a child and Idril being an adult, and this issues with that in relation to this trope, and how it’s been used to target young men of color by putting them against white women, but you get the point.

Lastly, white women are not the victims in these tropes, at all. Men of color are.

And this concludes this meta :D I have more to do after this! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, my asks and messenger are open. If you liked this and want to support my blog REBLOG!

If you disagree, please do so respectfully, this is not a discourse blog nor do I want to start any sort of fandom discourse.

#maeglin #eol #aredhel #idril

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