Board Thread:General Mod Discussion/@comment-26322120-20160123032212/@comment-26298013-20160125221737

Tolkien's Elves were meant to show both the best and worst parts of being human:

As has been brought up earlier in this thread, mortality has its gifts, and it inspires humanity to be better, to do things, to reach their potential.

However, the Elves are stronger, faster, smarter, more skillful, everything humans wish they could be. They are directly connected to the Valar, who are directly connected to Eru Iluvatar. This is something that humans briefly, nearly reach (Numenor) but ultimately cannot hold on to, because of their inherent selfishness and other negative qualities, including willingness to listen to temptation in the form of Sauron, servant of Very Evil the banished.. (Ar Pharazon the Mightily Self-Important and his Very Heavy, Very Shiny Fleet) Though I should mention: The ability to nearly effortlessly master every skill in the world has its perks, but it also has downsides. This theme is also encountered in the Inheritance series.

Also, it is not racism---calling the cheetah a better hunter than a gazelle is the truth, and since they are different races, it is never construed as racism. Same idea with Men and Elves in Tolkien's work.

(Anyone like the renaming of various people from various works?)