As the co-author of a blog dedicated to Tolkien literature I’m comfortably a nerd (seriously, have you read the section about the authors?), and I would hazard a guess that since you’re reading this, you are one too! So to celebrate nerdy interests, my debut piece will highlight ideas and examples of evolution in Tolkien’s works. However, in order to get everyone on a level playing field: Evolution 101.
Evolution 101
There are three components of evolution: heredity, variability, and differential reproductive success.
- Heredity, children look similar to their parents.
- Variability, children don’t look identical to their parents.
- Differential reproductive success, some individuals are more likely to have more children.
These three things are all that is needed for evolution to occur.
Example of evolution in Tolkien
One recurring way in which Tolkien provides examples of evolution in action is through an exceptional individual passing on their “greatness” onto generations that follow. Balan (or Beor the Old) was one of the original leaders of men when they first entered Beleriand in the First Age. He was considered a great leader and he had two sons. Each of his sons had multiple children and so on. This may not seem impressive by today’s standards, but keep in mind that consistently having multiple children (each of whom is pretty exceptional) was not the norm in this dangerous time and location in Middle Earth. From his bloodline (genes) came more recognizable names such as Hurin, Beren, Earendil, Turin, Tuor, the entirety of the Numenoreans, and eventually Aragorn. I would argue that Balan’s inherent fitness (we’ll touch on that in a second) and the circumstances of his life allowed his genes to become established in his population, leading to the greatest household of the edain.
Survival of the Fittest
Survival of the fittest is a phrase that is bandied about frequently when evolution is brought up, and not always by people who knows what it actually means. Fitness is a specific term that does not mean being bigger, faster, or stronger. It simply means being able to have more children (differential reproductive success). For example, Turin Turambar was arguably the most physically impressive man to have lived, as highlighted by slaying the father of dragons, Glaurung.
It would be a good guess to assume he had many children and continued an exceptionally fit heritage. However, external events that prevent an individual from reproducing are just as important to consider when determining fitness. If you can’t reproduce because you have the unfortunate talent at drawing the ire of the greatest evil in the universe (as Turin was), then it doesn’t really matter how great your genes are, they won’t get passed on and spread throughout the population (See dinosaurs meeting meteorite for a real world example)
Artificial Selection
In addition to some natural subthemes related to evolution occurring, Tolkien also provides us with concrete examples of species being forced to change by intelligent actors, also known as artificial selection.
Melkor is the big baddy in Middle Earth and was responsible for some pretty awful things, perhaps most egregious of these being the creation of orcs and trolls. The Silmarillion actually describes how he achieved these awful acts with a strong understanding of biology. Generations upon generations of breeding specific individuals in his fortress of Angband, Melkor took races as graceful as elves and ents and warped them into the crude and vile beings that are orcs and trolls. Tolkien also suggested that orcs came from corrupted men which is why they don’t go to Valinor when they die. He never really settled on a final position but either case works for this example.
Something the Silmarillion does very well to help illustrate the process of evolution is demonstrate how long these process can take. There was never a point at which an elf suddenly gave birth to an orc, and boom, a new species is created! Instead, a few less-than-stellar elves would give birth to more elves, which would statistically be more like their parents and probably not be the nicest or prettiest elves to ever exist. After many generations of breeding less and less elf-looking beings together you would start to see more and more orc-looking creatures. While there was never a specific place that you could point and say, “this was an elf and this offspring was an orc,” you can compare the starting and end populations to clearly see that the elvish ancestors were remarkably different from their orc descendants, perhaps even their antithesis. I believe that this gradual process of variation being built up through many generations is the most important part of evolution and is also the most abstract idea for the public to grasp.
Speciation
For most people, the most contentious feature of evolution is usually the idea of speciation, or one species changing into a new one. Even though Tolkien may not have intended for this to be the case, he actually places a perfect example of speciation in the spotlight with his iconic race of characters, hobbits. The origin of hobbits is mentioned multiple times through his works, and it is stated that hobbits are derived from the race of men. Through many generations of being isolated from other humans, the small gradual changes mentioned above build up until they become something altogether different. I think it’s safe to assume that hobbits and men do not have populations that are reproducing (at least frequently…) and exchanging genes which satisfies the most common threshold for separate species.
Now that we’re nearing the end of my inaugural piece, I want to clarify that I am aware of Tolkien’s views on evolution and that it most likely wasn’t an intentional scientific stance for him to take. However, Tolkien certainly had a strong grasp of biology and conservation, and as famously said by Dobzhansky, “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” I believe that his mythos becomes even more marvelous and immersive when the fantastical is blended with the foundations of how our world operates. I also cannot pass on an opportunity to use a world as well-known as Middle Earth to teach people about the wonders of biology!
Lord of the Blog 