For Narnia! A Comparison of Worlds and Races Between J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit And C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series

Personally, it is hard for me to read from Tolkien and not think about C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia series. After all, the two worlds, and the two men themselves, have a lot in common. Their stories both contain multitudes of different races in a fantastical medieval setting, as well as mythological references and a bit of the British lifestyle sprinkled in. Both men spent a lot of time at Oxford, were Christians of some denomination, and environmentalists. While these two agreed on many things, their stories are unique to them. It is obvious Tolkien took more interest in medieval history than Lewis, but Lewis delved into mythology more deeply than Tolkien did. One aspect of Tolkien and Lewis’s fantasy worlds that differ is their portrayal of the race of Dwarves.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is filled to the brim with multiple different races, including Hobbits, Men, Elves, Wizards, Orcs, Goblins, giant spiders, eagles, and many more in his continuing saga. These Middle Earth races are notably likened to races of people throughout real world history. In The Hobbit specifically, the race of Dwarves in Middle Earth is incredibly similar to the caricature view of the Jewish race. Their short stature, multi-colored hoods, bearded men and women, and their obsession with gold fall under the Jewish stereotypes, but Tolkien is not portraying all of these traits as antagonistic. Dwarves are actually part of the more heroic races in Middle Earth. The only difference the Dwarves have from the other protagonist races is that they are more flawed, more susceptible to greed.

One of the original illustrations from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Lewis’s take on Dwarfs (that’s how he spells it) and other races is similar to Tolkien’s but with some alterations. Narnia is filled with a broad variety of races. Many of these are talking animals; others are mythical in nature, like centaurs, fauns, Minotaurs, and even a Pegasus. There are also several races of humans in the world of Narnia, including the Telmarines and the Calormen. The Dwarf race in Narnia is interesting because, unlike Tolkien’s Dwarves, the race is split down the middle when it comes to heroics. Their description is similar to the Dwarves in Middle Earth, short, bearded, and with some type of head covering. At the beginning of the series there are two varieties of Dwarfs, Black and Red. Black Dwarfs have black, thick beards and tend to associate more with the villains of Narnia, while the Red Dwarfs ally themselves with Aslan, the ultimate source of good in Narnia. One other aspect of the Dwarfs that is unique to Lewis’s tale is the matter of Dwarf women. There is no evidence of any Dwarf women at all throughout the Narnia series; however, there are several part Dwarf characters roaming around (e.g. Cornelius, Prince Caspian’s tutor, is half Dwarf). There does not seem to be any division between Dwarfs and regular humans in Narnia as far as mating is concerned.

Both Lewis and Tolkien’s portrayal of Dwarves in their fictional worlds are blatantly similar to the stereotype of the Jewish people, short with more rugged features and some evil tendencies. This representation of Jews is inaccurate and would normally lean toward insulting; however, Lewis and Tolkien both depict their Dwarf characters as capable of both good and evil. While the stereotype is heavily present, the two authors show respect towards those characters by making the race more complex than the others.