this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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Tolkien, Lord of the Rings (LotR), etc.

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This is a poem that Tolkien wrote about a noble couple that wanted to start a family, and the corrigan that meddled with their dreams.

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[–] Historical_General@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I read the first example as the corrigan attempting to get the wife to leave the husband for her, but I probably shouldn't have expected lesbianism in any Tolkien text.

[–] boydster@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Just had a chance to open the book back up, and from the note on the text by Christopher Tolkien, corrigan is a Breton word for fairy. From the introduction by Verlyn Flieger, she expands a bit more to say:

In the Lay she represents a particular subset of this type [of Celtic seductive otherworldly female figures] called a corrigan, malevolent, sometimes seductive, whose dangerous attraction embodies both the lure and terror, the 'fear of the beautiful fay'...