Eloi
Encyclopedia
The Eloi are one of the two post-human races in H. G. Wells
' 1895 novel The Time Machine
.
has evolved into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlock
s. The Eloi are the child-like, frail group, living a banal life of ease on the surface of the earth, while the Morlocks live underground, tending machinery and providing food, clothing and infrastructure for the Eloi. Each class evolved and degenerated from human
s. The novel suggests that the separation of species may have been the result of a widening split between different social classes, a theme that reflects Wells' sociopolitical opinions.
The main difference from their earlier ruler-worker state is that, while the Morlocks continue to support the world's infrastructure and serve the Eloi, the Eloi have undergone significant physical and mental deterioration. Having solved all problems that required strength, intelligence, or virtue, they have slowly become dissolute and naive. They are described as being smaller than modern humans, having shoulder-length curly hair, chins that ran to a point, large eyes, small ears, and small mouths with bright red thin lips. They are of sub-human intelligence, though apparently intelligent enough to speak, and they have a primitive language. They do not perform much work, in the book and 1960 film when Weena falls into the river none of the Eloi help her.
While one initially has the impression that the Eloi people live a life of play and toil-less abundance, it is revealed that the Morlocks are attending to the Eloi's needs for the same reason a farmer tends cattle; the Morlocks use the Eloi for food. This is why there are no old people, and why the Eloi seem to fear the dark.
A portion of the book written for the New Review version, later published as a separate short story, reveals that a visit by the Time Traveler to the even further future results in his encountering rabbit-like hopping herbivores, apparently the descendants of the Eloi. They are described as being plantigrade (with longer hind legs) and tailless, being covered with straight greyish hair that "thickened about the head into a Skye terrier's mane", having human-like hands (described as fore feet) and having a roundish head with a projecting forehead and forward-looking eyes that were obscured by lank hair.
In the 1960 film version of the book
, the Eloi are depicted as identical to modern humans, but all small and physically attractive, blond and blue-eyed. They have historical records, but have allowed them to become dust. The Morlocks use a siren to get them into their caves, like in past eras sirens were used to tell people to get into shelters. The Time Traveller motivates them to fight and defeat the Morlocks, which they do by setting them on fire as the Morlocks seem unused to resistance. One of the Eloi is motivated to beat a Morlock to death when it attacks the Time Traveller, showing they are not completely docile. In the 2002 movie adaptation of The Time Machine
, the Eloi are depicted as identical to modern humans with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and appear to be an ethnic amalgamation of brown skin indigenous races. The former movie version depicts the Eloi speaking modern-day English, a fact which contradicts the original novel and the logical timeline of language evolution. In the latter film version, the Eloi maintain the English language as merely an intellectual exercise, calling it "the stone language," as they know of it only from surviving stone inscriptions from our time.
's Ilium
novel, 'Eloi' is a nickname for the lazy, uneducated, and uncultured descendants of the human race after the post-humans have left Earth. The name is a reference to H. G. Wells' Eloi.
Old-style humans and post-humans rule in Simmons' novel, with the Eloi being kept in 'zoos' in restricted areas on Earth. The Eloi are technically adept but don't understand the technology; they regress and unlearn millennia of culture, thought and reason, until they are satisfied with the pleasure of merely existing.
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
' 1895 novel The Time Machine
The Time Machine
The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 for the first time and later adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction...
.
In The Time Machine
By the year 802,701 AD, humanityHuman Race
Human Race refers to the Human species.Human race may also refer to:*The Human Race, 79th episode of YuYu Hakusho* Human Race Theatre Company of Dayton Ohio* Human Race Machine, a computer graphics device...
has evolved into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlock
Morlock
Morlocks are a fictional species created by H. G. Wells for his 1895 novel, The Time Machine. They dwell underground in the English countryside of 802,701 AD in a troglodyte civilization, maintaining ancient machines that they may or may not remember how to build...
s. The Eloi are the child-like, frail group, living a banal life of ease on the surface of the earth, while the Morlocks live underground, tending machinery and providing food, clothing and infrastructure for the Eloi. Each class evolved and degenerated from human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s. The novel suggests that the separation of species may have been the result of a widening split between different social classes, a theme that reflects Wells' sociopolitical opinions.
The main difference from their earlier ruler-worker state is that, while the Morlocks continue to support the world's infrastructure and serve the Eloi, the Eloi have undergone significant physical and mental deterioration. Having solved all problems that required strength, intelligence, or virtue, they have slowly become dissolute and naive. They are described as being smaller than modern humans, having shoulder-length curly hair, chins that ran to a point, large eyes, small ears, and small mouths with bright red thin lips. They are of sub-human intelligence, though apparently intelligent enough to speak, and they have a primitive language. They do not perform much work, in the book and 1960 film when Weena falls into the river none of the Eloi help her.
While one initially has the impression that the Eloi people live a life of play and toil-less abundance, it is revealed that the Morlocks are attending to the Eloi's needs for the same reason a farmer tends cattle; the Morlocks use the Eloi for food. This is why there are no old people, and why the Eloi seem to fear the dark.
A portion of the book written for the New Review version, later published as a separate short story, reveals that a visit by the Time Traveler to the even further future results in his encountering rabbit-like hopping herbivores, apparently the descendants of the Eloi. They are described as being plantigrade (with longer hind legs) and tailless, being covered with straight greyish hair that "thickened about the head into a Skye terrier's mane", having human-like hands (described as fore feet) and having a roundish head with a projecting forehead and forward-looking eyes that were obscured by lank hair.
In the 1960 film version of the book
The Time Machine (1960 film)
The Time Machine is a 1960 American science fiction film based on the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells in which a man in Victorian England constructs a time-travelling machine which he uses to travel to the future...
, the Eloi are depicted as identical to modern humans, but all small and physically attractive, blond and blue-eyed. They have historical records, but have allowed them to become dust. The Morlocks use a siren to get them into their caves, like in past eras sirens were used to tell people to get into shelters. The Time Traveller motivates them to fight and defeat the Morlocks, which they do by setting them on fire as the Morlocks seem unused to resistance. One of the Eloi is motivated to beat a Morlock to death when it attacks the Time Traveller, showing they are not completely docile. In the 2002 movie adaptation of The Time Machine
The Time Machine (2002 film)
The Time Machine is a 2002 American science fiction film loosely adapted from the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells, and the 1960 film screenplay by David Duncan...
, the Eloi are depicted as identical to modern humans with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and appear to be an ethnic amalgamation of brown skin indigenous races. The former movie version depicts the Eloi speaking modern-day English, a fact which contradicts the original novel and the logical timeline of language evolution. In the latter film version, the Eloi maintain the English language as merely an intellectual exercise, calling it "the stone language," as they know of it only from surviving stone inscriptions from our time.
In Dan Simmons's Ilium
In Dan SimmonsDan Simmons
Dan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....
's Ilium
Ilium (novel)
Ilium is a science fiction novel by Dan Simmons, the first part of the Ilium/Olympos cycle, concerning the re-creation of the events in the Iliad on an alternate earth and Mars. These events are set in motion by beings who have taken on the roles of the Greek gods...
novel, 'Eloi' is a nickname for the lazy, uneducated, and uncultured descendants of the human race after the post-humans have left Earth. The name is a reference to H. G. Wells' Eloi.
Old-style humans and post-humans rule in Simmons' novel, with the Eloi being kept in 'zoos' in restricted areas on Earth. The Eloi are technically adept but don't understand the technology; they regress and unlearn millennia of culture, thought and reason, until they are satisfied with the pleasure of merely existing.
Later use of the name
- The progressive rockProgressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band EloyEloyEloy is a German progressive rock band, whose musical style includes symphonic and space rock, the latter theme being more prevalent on earlier albums...
are named after the race. - The Elokoi of Brian CaswellBrian Caswell-Biography:Brian Caswell was born in a village called Gwernaffield in Wales,on the 13th of January, 1954. His family moved to England, when he was 5 years old. At the age of 12, in 1966, Caswell's family moved to Australia. He received a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Education, and graduated...
's novel DeucalionDeucalion (novel)Deucalion is a 1995 young-adult science fiction novel by Brian Caswell. It follows the story of many settlers who have travelled across space to build a new future on the planet Deucalion...
are presumably inspired by the Eloi, but ones without the dark side of the Morlocks. - The book AirAir (novel)Air, also known as Air: Or, Have Not Have, is a 2005 novel by Geoff Ryman. It won the British Science Fiction Association Award, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and was on the short list for the Philip K. Dick Award in 2004, the Nebula Award in 2005, and the John W...
by Geoff RymanGeoff RymanGeoffrey Charles Ryman is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and surrealistic or "slipstream" fiction.Ryman currently lectures in Creative Writing for University of Manchester's English Department. His most recent full-length novel, The King's Last Song, is set in Cambodia, both at the time of...
contains a fictional ethnic minority called the Eloi, whose struggle for autonomy is quashed by a repressive government. - Scottish social and cultural commentator Gordon P.Clarkson has termed contemporary Mass Culture "Eloi Culture" as he claims that it is creating a society of unthinking passive consumers of "meaningless trivia".
- James Alan GardnerJames Alan GardnerJames Alan Gardner is a Canadian science fiction author.Raised in Simcoe and Bradford, Ontario, he earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo....
uses the terms "Eloi" and "Morlock" in his novel ExpendableExpendableExpendable is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints...
to refer to two warring sects of 'glass people.' - The name is used as a term of derision in the novel FeedFeed (novel)Feed , a dystopian novel of the cyberpunk genre by M. T. Anderson, is a dark satire about corporate power, consumerism, information technology, and data mining in society...
by M.T. Anderson - Eloi is the name of a mythical island in the Indian ocean home to a advanced civilization called the Eloians. The Eloian city that dominated the entire island, called Non Vital by the natives, architecture is identical to a Micronesian ruin called Nan Madol .