Eloi

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For the Christian apostle to Flanders, see Saint Eligius.

The Eloi are one of the two post-human races in H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine.

[edit] In The Time Machine

In the year AD 802,701 humanity has evolved into two separate species: the Elois and the Morlocks. The Elois are the spoiled, attractive upper class, living in luxury 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 humans of different social classes, a theme that reflects Wells' sociopolitical opinions.

The name 'Eloi' may be derived from the ancient Greek word 'Eleutheroi', which referred to free men, or men of leisure. Perhaps coincidentally, the word 'Eloi' is the Aramaic for "my God", found in Mark 15:34.

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, frail animals. While one initially has the impression that the barefoot Eloi people live a life of play and toilless abundance, it is revealed that the Morlocks are attending to the Eloi's needs for the same reason a farmer tends cattle: because the Eloi compose most, if not all, of the Morlocks' diet and no longer have any function besides being eaten by the Morlocks.

In the 2002 movie adaptation of The Time Machine, the Eloi have lost all motivation and ambition for the future, and retain no memory of the past, living only for pleasure. They seem to live in great vertical houses, and play with great windmills, though these may have been built by the Morlocks.

[edit] In Dan Simmons' Ilium

'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.

[edit] Later use of the name

  • The progressive rock band Eloy are named after the race.
  • The Elokoi of Brian Caswell's novel Deucalion are presumably inspired by the Eloi, but ones without the dark side of the Morlocks.
  • The book Air by Geoff Ryman contains a fictional ethnic minority called the Eloi, whose struggle for autonomy is squelched by a repressive government.
  • The film Ransom, directed by Ron Howard in which Gary Sinise's character (Detective Jimmy Shaker) is telling Mel Gibson's character (Tom Mullen) how the poor are like Morlocks and the wealthy are like the naive Eloi and sometimes the poor snatch up the Eloi.
  • In the book "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, Violet's father tells the main character Titus to "Go along, little child. Go back and play with the eloi." When questioned as to what the eloi was, he mentions it's a reference to The Time Machine.
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