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Professor Periwinkle
The architecture. The craftsmanship. Look at Moria, Rivendell, The Shire. Every race has their own distinct style, their own distinct traits and trends that can be seen in their buildings and blades and armor. It's all a joy to look at.

- The hobbits seem to have an affinity for circles. From doors to windows, bridges and barrels, The Shire is filled with graceful arcs and loops that make it all seem open and homely.

- Meanwhile, the Dwarves architecture reflects their industrial nature. You won't find any curves under the mountain, where the pillars and halls are cut in straight lines, the armor and weapons geometric shapes.

- As different from Dwarves as possible, you will never find a straight line in an Elven city. If there's room to curl and curve and swirl and twist, the Elves have made use of it, right down to their leaf-like blades.

- Finally, the Orcs. Everything is sharp, everything is pointed, their buildings and armor as deadly as their weapons. Their race is made to destroy, not to create, and their craftsmanship reflects this.


Insightful posting. Indeed, I think they are memes to portray the various races' "elemental attitudes" & orientations.

The Hobbits (and their circles) seem to live close to the land's fertility cycles and benefit from the snuggly safety of burrows (seemingly focused on "comfort" and security)

The Dwarves and their obsession with linear/structural fixation reflect their adoration of their crystalline spirituality (and for whatever reason, whenever I look at the Dwarves' architecture, I am reminded of a hybrid of Islamic Mosques and Christian cathedrals [as far as the level of near-Baroque attention to symmetry])

Ironically, the Elven structures also remind me of the same hybrid of influences, only inverted, taking from the Mosques the flowing lines and filigree, but with a more aesthetic "ambiance" of structure of large vaulted cathedrals/castles with their flying buttresses... (Plus, you can't beat the implied hubris of Elves in their demonstration of mastery over/harmony with nature... I mean, who the heck else could build on a tiered waterfall w/o getting scoured off the cliffs each spring snow melt?!) eek

Orcs, being raiders and cannibals by nature, could care less about the fertility of the lands they inhabit, and their chaotic craftsmanship and architecture seem to reflect those barren rocky wastes... But perhaps in the greater scheme of things, who is to say today's pile of Orc filth isn't the fertilizer that becomes the next Shire...? lol