Palacký University in Olomouc Philosophical

The characters

Tolkien’s main characters are almost always made interesting on their own, even if it should be only because they are other species than Men, they have unexpected ancestors or they are dealing with a dangerous quest. On the other hand, most of the time they are genuinely good or evil from the beginning of the story (as the rules of the genre require), which can get little boring with time. Unlike Tolkien, Martin often creates his characters grey and unpredictable, without any clear intensions and purpose – everything comes gradually. There is also a bigger percentage of women among his main characters, but both of these differences are fully understandable, considering the fifty years gap between publications of these stories. The factual information in this chapter was taken from The Silmarillion for

1. 
   and The World of Ice and Fire for 4.3.3.2, if not stated otherwise.
   

1. Arda

The Middle Earth at the end of the Third Age is inhabited by many different species, with the majority of the “younger children of Ilúvatar” – the Men. They are living mostly in the kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan, but also in Rhûn, Harad, Khand and probably other distant lands we do not know much about. The languages used by Men are Adûnaic, “The Common Speech” and Rohirric.

⁷¹ Martin, García and Antonsson, The World of Ice and Fire, 17-20.
The first born of Ilúvatar – the Elves – are still present in the Middle Earth as well, although their time there is almost at the end (the last ones leave before the beginning of the Fourth Age). The Elves share many characteristics with the Men, mainly visually, but they are more ethereal, inhumanly beautiful and most importantly – they are immortal. There is a story in The Silmarillion explaining how it happened that there are so many clans of Elves on Arda, with the main distinction being between the Light Elves (Calaquendi), who accepted the invitation of Valar and went to see the light of the Two Trees in Aman and the Dark Elves (Moriquendi), who refused the offer or changed their mind before they left Beleriand. The Elves speak two main languages – Quenya and Sindarin.
Another quite numerous race of the Middle Earth are the Dwarves, created by Vala Aulë behind Ilúvatar’s back. He wanted to spread his wisdom and craft and it was still too soon for Ilúvatar’s children to be woken up. He had no idea how the children should look like, so he created them the best way he could think of and after some explaining Ilúvatar approved them under the condition they will be woken up after the Elves. Because they are the children of Aulë they live under the ground and are very skillful in handwork. Their language is named Khuzdul.
The last of the main races are the ones Tolkien created as an image of the Englishmen – The Hobbits. In the prologue to The Fellowship he describes them as unobtrusive but very ancient people, who love peace and quiet and good tilled earth. They do not like machines more complicated than a water-mill, though they are skillful with tools. They are also quick of hearing and sharp-eyed and they are inclined to be fat. They are smaller than Dwarves, but they are relatives to the Men.⁷²
The creation of the shepherds of trees, the Ents, is connected to the creation of the Dwarves. When Vala Yavanna heard about another children being created to eventually ruin all of her work (fauna and flora), she started to think about something that could repay to those who would cut down the trees. And Ilúvatar created the Ents to protect them from not only the Dwarves, but also his own children.
Even if it is not that obvious we can still find the angelic beings – Ainur – created by Ilúvatar to help him create Arda, in the Middle Earth by the Third Age.
Those are all the Istari (Wizards) – including Gandalf or Saruman, but also the evil Maiar in the forms of Balrogs or Sauron.
The Orcs, Trolls and Goblins are all created by Morgoth as mockeries of the Children of Ilúvatar and Ents. All are generally evil and made to serve Morgoth.

2.