Talk:Steppe Route

Notes: Tolkien Connection

Two arguments against putting the Tolkien connection in this article:

1) This is an article about a trade route, not necessarily the people that populated the areas that route moved through (for example: Eurasian nomads)).

2) Alternatively, if placement of the connection is acceptable in this article, I don't think the connection is strong enough. Elves were settled and lived in forests; steppe people were nomadic and lived on steppes. While both can be associated with bows, steppe peoples were not the only groups historically to use bows, and Elves are not specifically known for tactics involving archers on horseback. Before this connection can be accepted, a stronger citation is necessary. The article currently cited does not provide much evidence to suggest that Tolkien had steppe peoples in mind when creating Elves (the author put a question mark after a parenthetical reference to Scythians, which I think means it is a guess rather than an evidence based claim).

I think the Notes section should be left out. Bemis Ampleforth (talk) 21:14, 3 June 2017 (UTC)