https://tolkiengateway.net/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=TheBoost&feedformat=atomTolkien Gateway - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T07:41:50ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.39.3https://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=127183Racism2010-09-23T16:00:19Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
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<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the Tolkien's [[legendarium]]. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
Tolkien's legendarium also makes many references to topics related by extension to racialism, such as eugenics, bloodlines, and (by extension) even the superiority of heredity over other authorities.<br />
<br />
Some of these accusations of racism may be partially explained by a wider reading of Tolkien's works or a deeper thematic analysis, and others are more difficult to dismiss. In Tolkien's extensive letters one can find both comments that can be interpreted as racism as well as defense against the accusations.<br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
The global popularity of [[The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. <br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
Of the orcs, the [[Uruk-Hai]] are described as "black"<ref>''The Lord of the Rings'' book two chapter 5: ''"some are large and evil: black Uruks of Mordor"'' and appendix A: ''"In the last years of Denethor I the race of uruks, black orcs of great strength, first appeared out of Mordor"''</ref> and a smaller orc, a tracker, is described as "black-skinned".<ref>''The Lord of the Rings'' book six chapter 2 ''"it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind."''</ref> All orcs are often described as "slant-eyed" and the Uruk-Hai at least refer to the Rohhirim as 'white skins.' In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer, "(to Europeans,)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmarils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Númenóreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are described black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on [[Mumakil]]-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, the [[Woses]] are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgûl]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]]. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.<br />
<br />
It is worth noting that the enigmatic [[Tom Bombadil]], who is portrayed as good, is described as having brown skin.<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar (King of Gondor)|Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
==Counterindications==<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Samwise Gamgee|Samwise Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==''Lord of the Rings'' and Fascism==<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting<ref>http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm</ref>. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
[[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]<br />
[[category:Tolkien criticism]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91979Racism2010-01-25T17:14:56Z<p>TheBoost: /* Orcs */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the Tolkien's [[legendarium]]. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
Some of these accusations of racism may be partially explained by a wider reading of Tolkien's works or a deeper thematic analysis, and others are more difficult to dismiss. Comments that can be interpreted as racism as well as defense agaist the accusations can be found in Tolkien's extensive letters.<br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
The global popularity of [[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. <br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
Of the orcs, only the [[Uruk-Hai]] are described as black skinned. All orcs are often described as "slant-eyed" and the Uruk-Hai at least refer to the Rohhirim as 'white skins.' In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer, "(to Europeans,)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are described black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on [[Mumakil]]-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, the [[Woses]] are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]]. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
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It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
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The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
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===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
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Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
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However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
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*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
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*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
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<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==''Lord of the Rings'' and Fascism==<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref>[[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'.<br />
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==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
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==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
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{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:The_Shire&diff=91203Talk:The Shire2010-01-21T18:31:18Z<p>TheBoost: /* Do the Hobbits have a state religion or express a religious belief in general? */</p>
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<div>Should we 'copy' the Wikipedia article [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_the_Shire Regions of the Shire]? Or should we place that infor in the rather short article [[Farthings]]? But then, we miss out the March and Buckland...<br />
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== Steve White Map ==<br />
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Ederchil, I noticed you took the map out of this article. Steve White is sort of our house artist, so their weren't any legal problems. Was there something about the map that was greatly inaccurate?--[[User:Theoden1|Theoden1]] 08:52, 3 August 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:It featured the places "Northway", "Southway", "Westhouse" and "Oakleaf". They don't appear in the fiction. Maybe a better map without fanon towns is better. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 09:04, 3 August 2008 (EDT)<br />
::I don't know if it's fanon or not. I think his map is based on the [[Atlas of Middle-earth]]. Fonstad says she included some villages that don't appear on the map, deducting their locations. I don't know if White added some more. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 15:23, 3 August 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==Do the [[Hobbit]]s have a state religion or express a religious belief in general?==<br />
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I'd like to know as in part to note the [[hobbit]]s as it seem seem to be a unique and very difference people compare to the rest of Middle Earth people itself. So I like to have this answered or discussed, so to note it also seem to be a very interesting subject as well too.<br />
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:Tolkien never actually mentioned Hobbit religion - Sam's "Lor' bless you" is just a figure of speech - but if we would go into the realm of fanwank, I'm not sure. <br />
* Yes/No: There are three religious views known AFAIK, worship of Eru, worship of Melkor/Sauron, and pre-Númenórean ([[Tal-Elmar]]). If Hobbits worshiped, they worshiped Eru, but I doubt whether they had actually heard of him; they left little tales so old. It could have been brought in by the Númenóreans, or the Dwarves, if they could find Hobbits willing to listen to them.<br />
* No: Hobbits had little to know government - a happy state of anarchy - so I doubt they had anything of organized religion.<br />
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:Hope it helps, --- {{User:Ederchil/sig}} 16:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)<br />
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::I once read the Professor refer to the hobbits as having a '''natural religion'',' meaning that their very way of life put them comfortably into the order of things as God intended, and nothing more was needed from them (prayer, worship, etc.). I'm sorry, but I cant find the source at the moment.[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:31, 21 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Nazg%C3%BBl&diff=91202Nazgûl2010-01-21T18:11:56Z<p>TheBoost: /* Etymology */</p>
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<div>{{race<br />
|image=[[Image:Diego Iaconfcic - Black Riders.jpg|300px]]<br />
|name=Nazgûl<br />
|dominions=[[Angmar]], [[Dol Guldur]], [[Minas Morgul]]<br />
|languages=[[Black Speech]], [[Westron]]<br />
|height=Man-high<br />
|length=<br />
|skincolor=<br />
|haircolor=<br />
|feathers=<br />
|distinctions=Without physical form<br />
|lifespan=Indefinite<br />
|members=[[Witch-king of Angmar]], [[Khamûl]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<center>{{quote| 'They come from [[Mordor]],' said [[Aragorn II|Strider]] in a low voice. 'From Mordor, [[Barliman Butterbur|Barliman]], if that means anything to you.' |''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', [[Strider (chapter)|Strider]]}}</center><br />
The '''Nazgûl''' ([[Black Speech]]: '''Ringwraiths''', sometimes written '''''Ring-wraiths'''''), also known as the '''Nine Riders''' or '''Black Riders''' (or simply '''the Nine'''), are evil servants of [[Sauron]] in [[Middle-earth]]. The rarely used [[Quenya]] name for them is '''''Úlairi'''''. The Nazgûl are [[Sauron]]'s "most terrible servants".<br />
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== History ==<br />
The nine Nazgûl arose as Sauron's most powerful servants in the [[Second Age]] of Middle-earth. It is said that three of the Nine were lords of [[Númenor]] corrupted by Sauron. They were all powerful mortal [[Men]] to whom Sauron gave nine [[Rings of Power]]. These proved to be their undoing:<br />
{{quote|Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death.|''[[The Silmarillion]]'', "[[Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age]]"}}<br />
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[[Image:John Howe - Nazgul.jpg|thumb|left|''Nazgûl'' by [[John Howe]]]]<br />
For many years the bearers used the rings to gain great wealth, prestige and power. The corrupting effect of the rings caused their bodily forms to fade over time until they had become wraiths entirely. Given form only through the attire of black cloaks and hauberks of silver mail, their original form was completely gone and invisible to mortal eyes. Their hypnotic eyes could be plainly distinguished from their dark clothing, and in a rage they appeared in a hellish fire. Untouchable to mortal men (unless blessed by weapons or tools of the ancient [[Elves]] of the [[First Age]] or by the [[Dunedain]], such as the barrow-blade used by [[Merry]] on the [[Witch-king of Angmar]]), they had many weapons, which included long swords of steel and flame, daggers with venomous properties, and black maces of great strength.<br />
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Their arsenal of deadly armaments was not confined to physical means; they also had seemingly magical weapons of devastating power. They were surrounded by an aura of terror, which affected all living creatures; their "breath" (called the ''[[Black Breath]]'') was poisonous, and their cries caused terror and despair in all who heard them. Some of the Nazgûl appear to have been accomplished sorcerers and used magic to devastating effect. According to Tolkien, though, it was the fear they inspired that was the chief danger:<br />
{{quote|They have no great physical power against the fearless," he wrote, "but what they have, and the fear that they inspire, is enormously increased in darkness|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]''}}<br />
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The Nazgûl first appeared around [[Second Age 2251]] and were soon established as Sauron's principal servants. They were dispersed after the first overthrow of Sauron in 3441 at the hands of the [[Last Alliance of Elves and Men]], but their survival was nonetheless assured while the [[One Ring]] persisted. They re-emerged around 1300 of the [[Third Age]], when the Lord of the Nazgûl, the [[Witch-king of Angmar]], led Sauron's forces against the human kingdom of [[Arnor]]. He was eventually defeated in battle in 1975 and returned to [[Mordor]], gathering the other Nazgûl in preparation for the return of Sauron to that realm. In 2000, they besieged [[Minas Ithil]] and captured it after a two-year siege. The city thereafter became the stronghold of the Nazgûl, from where they directed the rebuilding of Sauron's armies, also acquiring a [[palantíri|palantír]] for the Dark Lord.<br />
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In 2942 Sauron returned to Mordor and declared himself openly in 2951. Two or three of the Nazgûl were sent to his fortress at [[Dol Guldur]] to garrison that outpost. <br />
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In [[Third Age 3017]] Sauron commanded the Ringwraiths to recover the [[One Ring]] of Power from "Baggins of the Shire". Disguised as horse riders clad in black (hence the term ''Black Riders''), they sought out [[Bilbo Baggins]] who, as [[Gollum]] had revealed, had the One Ring in his possession.<br />
[[Image:Ted Nasmith - The Attack of the Wraiths.jpg|thumb|''The Attack of the Wraiths'' by [[Ted Nasmith]]]]<br />
The Nazgûl at this point were dependent on their black horses (stolen from [[Rohan]]) for transportation. When they were swept away by the waters of the river [[Bruinen]], their horses were killed. The Ringwraiths were forced to return to Mordor to regroup. They reappeared later mounted on [[Fell beasts|flying creatures]], at which point they were referred to as '''Winged Nazgûl'''.<br />
[[Image:Ted_Nasmith_-_The_Nazgûl.jpg|left|thumb|200px|''The Nazgûl'' by [[Ted Nasmith]]]]<br />
By the conclusion of the [[War of the Ring]], all of the Nine Nazgûl were destroyed. The [[Witch-king_of_Angmar|Lord of the Nazgûl]] himself was slain by [[Éowyn]], the niece of King [[Théoden]] (with help from [[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]], known as "The Magnificent" thereafter) during the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. The remaining eight Ringwraiths attacked the Army of the West during the last battle at the [[Black Gate]]. However, when [[Frodo Baggins]] put on the ring in the fires of [[Mount Doom]], Sauron ordered the eight remaining Nazgûl to fly with all possible speed to Mount Doom to intercept Frodo. They arrived too late, with the Ring falling into the fire along with the hapless Gollum. The Nazgûl were caught in the firestorm of the erupting mountain and were destroyed.<br />
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== Identities ==<br />
<br />
Only a few of the Nazgûl are named or identified individually in Tolkien's works. Their leader was the [[Witch-king of Angmar]], and his second in command was named [[Khamûl]]. At least three of them were of [[Black Númenóreans|Black Númenórean]] race{{fact}}. Khamûl was a lord of [[Easterlings]], and was the only Nazgûl known by his name.<br />
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[[Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul]], may have been one of the Nazgûl. It is also possible that either [[Herumor (Black Númenórean)|Herumor]] or [[Fuinur]], or both, became Nazgûl. They were renegade Númenóreans who rose to great power among the Haradrim and it is highly likely that Sauron would have wanted them as Ringwraiths.<br />
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== Powers and Abilities ==<br />
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The Nazgûl existed mostly in the wraith world (the [[Unseen]]), making them extremely difficult to harm. Ordinary weapons would not hurt them, and even weapons of [[Númenórean]] manufacture would be destroyed if they passed through the wraith forms of the Nazgûl. They could not, however, interact normally with the material world (the [[Seen]]): they needed garments and weapons provided by Sauron to give them form. Consequently, they could be defeated by attacks that destroyed their disguises, forcing them to return to [[Sauron]] to receive new ones.<br />
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The Nazgûl spread terror in mortal creatures merely by their presence. Only specially trained horses or the [[fell beasts]] of [[Mordor]] could bear them. They caused panic and despair in their enemies simply by flying overhead, and only individuals of great courage could face them in combat.<br />
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They were also poisonous to mortal beings, causing a condition known as the [[Black Breath]]. Merely being in the vicinity of one of them could cause disorientation and illness. Intense exposure could be lethal.<br />
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The Nazgûl had poor vision in the material world, but they were acutely aware of the beings with a presence in the wraith world, like the wearer of the [[One Ring]] and certain elves. Anyone who could see into the wraith world could see the Nazgûl as they had appeared in their mortal lives.<br />
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The [[Witch King]] could also affect matter with his voice, shattering the dagger that Frodo had gotten in the [[Barrow Downs]] and weakening the gates of [[Minas Tirith]]. Whether other Nazgûl could perform similar feats is unknown.<br />
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== Other Titles ==<br />
* The Ringwraiths<br />
* The Black Riders<br />
* The Fell Riders<br />
* The Nine Riders<br />
* The Black Wings<br />
* The Shadows<br />
* The Nine<br />
* The Nine Servants of the Lord of the Rings<br />
* The Shriekers<br />
* [[Úlairi]] ([[Quenya]])<br />
==Etymology==<br />
The term is [[Black Speeck]] and composed by ''[[nazg]]'' and ''[[gûl]]'' meaning something like "Ring-servant of Sauron", translated loosely as "Ringwraith". The word is used both in singular and plural.<br />
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== Portrayal in Adaptations ==<br />
'''1978: ''[[Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings]]'':'''<br />
:The Nine are clad in brown and black, and have red eyes. The attack on ''[[The Prancing Pony]]'' is their deed, not that of any accomplices.<br />
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'''1980: ''[[Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King]]''<br />
:The Nine are skull headed demons, who ride winged horses. The Witch-king himself rides a dragon-like creature, and has no face. Only a suspended crown and two red eyes can be seen. The Nazgûl have the [[Red Eye]] of [[Barad-dûr]] rather than the emblem of [[Minas Morgul]]. <br />
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'''1981: ''[[The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)|BBC Radio's The Lord of the Rings]]'':'''<br />
:The role of the Ringwraiths was expanded with material from ''[[The Hunt for the Ring]]''. <br />
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'''2002: ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game)|Vivendi's The Fellowship of the Ring]]''<br />
:Black Riders form a threat in the Shire-stages of the game, where they need to be avoided by the player (in the persona of [[Frodo Baggins]]), and as the end boss for the game (in the persona of [[Aragorn II|Aragorn]]). They are tall and robed in black, and nothing is seen underneath. <br />
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'''2001-3: ''[[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]'':'''<br />
:The Nazgûl serve as the suspense in the first half of [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|the first film]]. Their dialogue is changed; the conversation with [[Gaffer Gamgee]] is omitted, and the conversation with [[Farmer Maggot]] is reduced. The Nine have an iconic scream, provided by [[Fran Walsh]]. Under their robes, they are pale white ghostly creatures.<br />
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:After the death of the Witch-king, the other eight are taken out by [[eagles]] and debris from [[Mount Doom]], however, nothing is told of their individual fates. <br />
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'''2004: ''[[EA's The Battle for Middle-earth]]'':'''<br />
:The Mordor faction has two different Nazgûl units: "Witch-king on Fell Beast" and "Nazgûl on Fell Beast". They are primarily used for scouting and surprise attacks.<br />
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'''2006: ''[[EA's The Battle for Middle-earth II]]'':'''<br />
:A new Ringwriath is introduced in the expansion pack, ''[[EA's The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king|The Rise of the Witch-king]]''. Morgomir is the "Lieutenant of Carn-Dûm", the right-hand man of the Witch-king, of [[Black Númenórean]] descent. The design is similar to that in [[Peter Jackson]]'s films: he is hooded and cloaked when he works for the Mordor faction, and white and ghostly when he fights for Angmar.<br />
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===Middle-earth Role Playing===<br />
The [[Middle-earth Role Playing]] games by [[Iron Crown Enterprises]] name the eight, other than Khamûl, ''Er-Murazor'' (the [[Witch-king of Angmar|Witch-king]], of Númenórean race), ''Dwar'', ''Ji Indur'', ''Akhorahil''(Númenórean), ''Hoarmurath'', ''Adunaphel'' (female Númenórean), ''Ren'' and ''Uvatha''. <br />
<br />
These names have been so widespread that some think they are [[canon]] i.e. referenced by Tolkien, however they are not: It is particularly unlikely, in the context of the books, that any of the Nazgûl would have been female. Nor is it clear who were of Númenórean descent: only Khamûl's origin is given with certainty, and he was an Easterling. While the Witch-king is by many thought of as a Númenórean lord, this cannot be confirmed by any statement in Tolkien's writings.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
* The term ''Nazgûl'' has been used to refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM IBM's] cadre of lawyers, with whom it has been said that IBM can blacken the sky.<br />
* Nâzgul is a girl's name of Persian origin, adopted in various Middle-eastern languages, meaning "Shy rose" or "delicate flower".<br />
* George R. R. Martin's novel The Armageddon Rag is about a fictional rock band named the Nazgûl.<br />
* Nazgûl is also the name of an Orkish black metal band from Italy, who sing The Lord of the Rings-inspired songs in Latin. <br />
* Nazgûl is also the name of a pagan black metal band from Spain. Commonly mistaken for the Italian Orkish black metal band and the Norwegian band of the same name.<br />
* The bird-like Ra'zac from Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Trilogy are heavily inspired by the steeds of the Nazgûl, particularly their breath, which acts as a mind-numbing drug of sorts.<br />
* In Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore" (from Led Zeppelin IV) there is an allusion to a Ringwraith. One of the lyrics reads, "The drums will shake the castle walls, the ringwraiths ride in black, ride on."<br />
* The Garo from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask somewhat resemble the Ringwraiths. The Garo are undead "shells" that are basically robes. The Garo spy on the undead Ikana. The four Poes that haunt the Arbiter's Grounds in Twilight Princess also resemble them.<br />
* Nazgûl appear as enemies in the roguelike computer game NetHack. They breathe a gas that can put your character to sleep, and carry cursed rings that bestow invisibility.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
* ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', passim.<br />
* ''[[The Two Towers]]'', passim.<br />
* ''[[The Return of the King]]'', passim.<br />
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', [[Appendix A]]<br />
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', [[Appendix B]]<br />
* ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', [[The Hunt for the Ring]]<br />
* ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', [[Akallabêth]]<br />
* ''[[The Silmarillion]], [[Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age]]"<br />
* ''[[The Treason of Isengard]]'', [[The Great River (HoMe)|The Great River]]<br />
* ''[[The War of the Ring]]'', [[The Passage of the Marshes (HoMe)|The Passage of the Marshes]]<br />
* ''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', [[Letter 156|#156]], [[Letter 210|#210]], [[Letter 212|#212]], [[Letter 246|#246]], [[Letter 297|#297]]<br />
* [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], ''[[Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings]]'', in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion]]'' (edited by [[Wayne G. Hammond|W. G. Hammond]] and [[Christina Scull|C. Scull]])<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
* '''[[:Category:Images of Nazgûl|Images of Nazgûl]]'''<br />
* the [[Witch-King of Angmar]]<br />
* [[Khamûl]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Creatures]]<br />
[[Category:Nazgûl]]<br />
[[Category:Characters in The Lord of the Rings]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91037Racism2010-01-20T21:21:23Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the Tolkien's [[legendarium]]. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
Some of these accusations of racism may be partially explained by a wider reading of Tolkien's works or a deeper thematic analysis, and others are more difficult to dismiss. Comments that can be interpreted as racism as well as defense agaist the accusations can be found in Tolkien's extensive letters.<br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
The global popularity of [[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. <br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are described black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on [[Mumakil]]-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, the [[Woses]] are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]]. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==''Lord of the Rings'' and Fascism==<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref>[[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91036Racism2010-01-20T21:18:13Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the Tolkien's [[legendarium]]. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
Some of these accusations of racism may be partially explained by a wider reading of Tolkien's works or a deeper thematic analysis, and others are more difficult to dismiss. Comments that can be interpreted asr acism as well as defense agaist the accusations can be found in Tolkien's extensive letters.<br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
The global popularity of [[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. <br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]]. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==''Lord of the Rings'' and Fascism==<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref>[[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91035Racism2010-01-20T21:14:53Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the Tolkien's [[legendarium]]. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
Some of these accusations of racism may be partially explained by a wider reading of Tolkien's works or a deeper textual analysis, and others are more difficult to dismiss. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
The global popularity of [[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. <br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]]. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==''Lord of the Rings'' and Fascism==<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref>[[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91034Racism2010-01-20T21:12:52Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the Tolkien's [[legendarium]]. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''Some of these accusations may be lessened by a wider reading of Tolkien or a deeper textual analysis and others are more difficult to dismiss.<br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]]. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==''Lord of the Rings'' and Fascism==<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref>[[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91026Racism2010-01-20T17:24:40Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]]. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91021Racism2010-01-20T16:58:32Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing. In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=91020Racism2010-01-20T16:50:47Z<p>TheBoost: /* Orcs */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by [[C.S. Lewis]] who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil ''"imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."''<br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as iredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race, indeed there is no mention of orc women, children, villages, or culture. Perhaps inspired by his Roman Catholicism, Tolkien's orcs may have more in common with demonic armies than foreign ones [http://digis.ewha.ac.kr/data/test/50.4rearick%5B1%5D.pdf].<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90732Racism2010-01-19T21:28:33Z<p>TheBoost: /* Synopsis of the controversy */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90731Racism2010-01-19T20:43:59Z<p>TheBoost: /* Orcs */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
The mostly white Free People's of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism. <br />
<br />
To start, of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. However, in one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90728Racism2010-01-19T19:39:37Z<p>TheBoost: /* Racism in Middle-Earth */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When [[Gimli]] takes a strand of [[Galadriel]]'s hair, he is described as having ''"look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."''<br />
<br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90727Talk:Racism2010-01-19T19:38:21Z<p>TheBoost: /* Reorganization */</p>
<hr />
<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
<br />
::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
<br />
Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
<br />
An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
<br />
This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
<br />
The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:I don't agree with the "gutation" of the section. The article is intended to include perceptions, even if wrong, to be refuted in the "Counterindications" section. The descriptions of swarthy men from the East and the South, the black-skinned orcs and their scimitars, bring mental images of AfroAsians, and are the most important contributor to the general accusations. What if the Haradrim wore bronze armor and rode horses? The mental image is already established by the average reader, who won't make a checklist for the historical/cultural dissimilarities. For example I never knew or cared whether Africans rode horses and this information didn't help me from envisioning the Southrons as Egyptians or Arabians. After all, Arabs were great riders, and aren't far from Africa.<br />
:As for the Good people, TTT was perceived by critics as a war between the fair Nordic Aryan Rohirrim against the black Orcs. There is no point tracing whose fault is: the Professor's, Jackson's, the painters' or the viewers'. The perception and criticism are there, no matter how wrong or unfounded, and the article is meant to describe that they exist. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:04, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::If the case is to describe and refute unfounded views, then they should be described as such. "Perceived Racism in Adaptations of Tolkien" might be a better title because if we're talking about a vague 'general perception' then it has little to do with actual racism in Tolkien's work, which is a legitimate field of discussion, and mixing the two just makes the whole thing a mish-mash.<br />
<br />
:::Regardless, "Evil Men" as it's own section seemed out of place, and I still think what was good in that section belongs in other sections<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 20:03, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
::::The "netral title" proposal is something discussed before, as I see above [[User:Sage|Sage]] 10:51, 16 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::The title is the least worry. The article is a general mish-mash of lgeitamate commentary on the work, vague perceptions, and weasly accusations. <br />
The fact that YES the Haradrim are dark skinned and from the South is itself worth noting and discussing (and note I didn't cut the mention, just the unfounded speculation), but because you, me, or some other reader imagines Egyptians, Arabs, North Africans, West Africans, Zulus, Pygmies, or Indians is not itself worth mentioning. If I imagines the orcs as black or purple, and the Haradrim in zebra-skin or turbans, that has nothing to do with the actual work.<br />
<br />
I've tried reorganizing some of the point and analysis, to make the article read less like a list of comments on a youtube video.<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 22:30, 17 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:Not strictly racist, but the reference to royalty is not a political reference to the feudal society or egalitarianism, but to the ideology. Royal lines in Tolkien are generally special and heirs have qualities above the norm showing therefore some genetic-based nobility. Excessive protagonism of Heirs is a ground of criticism by some "Tolkien is racist" critics. At least where I live, royalty is linked to the right-wing :) [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:15, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Reorganization==<br />
I've mosty reorganized, with minimal cutting (except of repeated info) or addition. The Indications/Counterindications format makes the article extremely difficlt to read, and gives the same weight to genuine things from the text (the untrustworthy Bill Fearny) and things people just seemed to have made-up. There are still a great man counterindications that I don't want to cut haphhazardly, but I have no idea how to present them more clearly or easier to read.<br />
<br />
I've also cut a great deal of the Synopsis. It's extremely wordy and yet very vague, and makes sweeping generalizations that are uncited, such as ''Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements,'' Not only is that sentence tortured, I've never heard Tolkien's defender's make such a claim, and I'm at least moderatly well read on the subject. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:41, 19 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:My experience says that when wikis say "defenders of A say B" it means "i am a defender of A, and my response to the criticism is B" ;) So that's what the editor was thinking. <br />
:Since Gateway tolerates debates, even uncited ones, it's ok for me if the explanation stays there. It sounds valid if you ask me. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:05, 19 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::I'm trying not to cut too much, but can we agree that statements supports by Tolkien's actual work should at least be more prominent than somewhat vague assertations of who among us editors thinks what, and we should do our best that any opinions left in the article should be written as clearly as possible? <br />
<br />
:::The main problem with the synopsis is that it is NOT a synopsis. It does not summarize anything, it just presents a series of broad, unneccesarily verbose, and nearly meaningless comments, many of which are demonstrably false if we look at the books.19:38, 19 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90726Talk:Racism2010-01-19T19:38:07Z<p>TheBoost: /* Reorganization */</p>
<hr />
<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
<br />
::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
<br />
Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
<br />
An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
<br />
This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
<br />
The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:I don't agree with the "gutation" of the section. The article is intended to include perceptions, even if wrong, to be refuted in the "Counterindications" section. The descriptions of swarthy men from the East and the South, the black-skinned orcs and their scimitars, bring mental images of AfroAsians, and are the most important contributor to the general accusations. What if the Haradrim wore bronze armor and rode horses? The mental image is already established by the average reader, who won't make a checklist for the historical/cultural dissimilarities. For example I never knew or cared whether Africans rode horses and this information didn't help me from envisioning the Southrons as Egyptians or Arabians. After all, Arabs were great riders, and aren't far from Africa.<br />
:As for the Good people, TTT was perceived by critics as a war between the fair Nordic Aryan Rohirrim against the black Orcs. There is no point tracing whose fault is: the Professor's, Jackson's, the painters' or the viewers'. The perception and criticism are there, no matter how wrong or unfounded, and the article is meant to describe that they exist. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:04, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::If the case is to describe and refute unfounded views, then they should be described as such. "Perceived Racism in Adaptations of Tolkien" might be a better title because if we're talking about a vague 'general perception' then it has little to do with actual racism in Tolkien's work, which is a legitimate field of discussion, and mixing the two just makes the whole thing a mish-mash.<br />
<br />
:::Regardless, "Evil Men" as it's own section seemed out of place, and I still think what was good in that section belongs in other sections<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 20:03, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
::::The "netral title" proposal is something discussed before, as I see above [[User:Sage|Sage]] 10:51, 16 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::The title is the least worry. The article is a general mish-mash of lgeitamate commentary on the work, vague perceptions, and weasly accusations. <br />
The fact that YES the Haradrim are dark skinned and from the South is itself worth noting and discussing (and note I didn't cut the mention, just the unfounded speculation), but because you, me, or some other reader imagines Egyptians, Arabs, North Africans, West Africans, Zulus, Pygmies, or Indians is not itself worth mentioning. If I imagines the orcs as black or purple, and the Haradrim in zebra-skin or turbans, that has nothing to do with the actual work.<br />
<br />
I've tried reorganizing some of the point and analysis, to make the article read less like a list of comments on a youtube video.<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 22:30, 17 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:Not strictly racist, but the reference to royalty is not a political reference to the feudal society or egalitarianism, but to the ideology. Royal lines in Tolkien are generally special and heirs have qualities above the norm showing therefore some genetic-based nobility. Excessive protagonism of Heirs is a ground of criticism by some "Tolkien is racist" critics. At least where I live, royalty is linked to the right-wing :) [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:15, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Reorganization==<br />
I've mosty reorganized, with minimal cutting (except of repeated info) or addition. The Indications/Counterindications format makes the article extremely difficlt to read, and gives the same weight to genuine things from the text (the untrustworthy Bill Fearny) and things people just seemed to have made-up. There are still a great man counterindications that I don't want to cut haphhazardly, but I have no idea how to present them more clearly or easier to read.<br />
<br />
I've also cut a great deal of the Synopsis. It's extremely wordy and yet very vague, and makes sweeping generalizations that are uncited, such as ''Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements,'' Not only is that sentence tortured, I've never heard Tolkien's defender's make such a claim, and I'm at least moderatly well read on the subject. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:41, 19 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:My experience says that when wikis say "defenders of A say B" it means "i am a defender of A, and my response to the criticism is B" ;) So that's what the editor was thinking. <br />
:Since Gateway tolerates debates, even uncited ones, it's ok for me if the explanation stays there. It sounds valid if you ask me. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:05, 19 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::I'm trying not to cut too much, but can we agree that statements supports by Tolkien's actual work should at least be more prominent than somewhat vague assertations of who among us editors thinks what, and we should do our best that any opinions left in the article should be written as clearly as possible? <br />
<br />
The main problem with the synopsis is that it is NOT a synopsis. It does not summarize anything, it just presents a series of broad, unneccesarily verbose, and nearly meaningless comments, many of which are demonstrably false if we look at the books.19:38, 19 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90723Talk:Racism2010-01-19T17:41:23Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
<br />
==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
<br />
An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
<br />
This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
<br />
The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:I don't agree with the "gutation" of the section. The article is intended to include perceptions, even if wrong, to be refuted in the "Counterindications" section. The descriptions of swarthy men from the East and the South, the black-skinned orcs and their scimitars, bring mental images of AfroAsians, and are the most important contributor to the general accusations. What if the Haradrim wore bronze armor and rode horses? The mental image is already established by the average reader, who won't make a checklist for the historical/cultural dissimilarities. For example I never knew or cared whether Africans rode horses and this information didn't help me from envisioning the Southrons as Egyptians or Arabians. After all, Arabs were great riders, and aren't far from Africa.<br />
:As for the Good people, TTT was perceived by critics as a war between the fair Nordic Aryan Rohirrim against the black Orcs. There is no point tracing whose fault is: the Professor's, Jackson's, the painters' or the viewers'. The perception and criticism are there, no matter how wrong or unfounded, and the article is meant to describe that they exist. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:04, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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:::If the case is to describe and refute unfounded views, then they should be described as such. "Perceived Racism in Adaptations of Tolkien" might be a better title because if we're talking about a vague 'general perception' then it has little to do with actual racism in Tolkien's work, which is a legitimate field of discussion, and mixing the two just makes the whole thing a mish-mash.<br />
<br />
:::Regardless, "Evil Men" as it's own section seemed out of place, and I still think what was good in that section belongs in other sections<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 20:03, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
::::The "netral title" proposal is something discussed before, as I see above [[User:Sage|Sage]] 10:51, 16 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::The title is the least worry. The article is a general mish-mash of lgeitamate commentary on the work, vague perceptions, and weasly accusations. <br />
The fact that YES the Haradrim are dark skinned and from the South is itself worth noting and discussing (and note I didn't cut the mention, just the unfounded speculation), but because you, me, or some other reader imagines Egyptians, Arabs, North Africans, West Africans, Zulus, Pygmies, or Indians is not itself worth mentioning. If I imagines the orcs as black or purple, and the Haradrim in zebra-skin or turbans, that has nothing to do with the actual work.<br />
<br />
I've tried reorganizing some of the point and analysis, to make the article read less like a list of comments on a youtube video.<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 22:30, 17 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:Not strictly racist, but the reference to royalty is not a political reference to the feudal society or egalitarianism, but to the ideology. Royal lines in Tolkien are generally special and heirs have qualities above the norm showing therefore some genetic-based nobility. Excessive protagonism of Heirs is a ground of criticism by some "Tolkien is racist" critics. At least where I live, royalty is linked to the right-wing :) [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:15, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Reorganization==<br />
I've mosty reorganized, with minimal cutting (except of repeated info) or addition. The Indications/Counterindications format makes the article extremely difficlt to read, and gives the same weight to genuine things from the text (the untrustworthy Bill Fearny) and things people just seemed to have made-up. There are still a great man counterindications that I don't want to cut haphhazardly, but I have no idea how to present them more clearly or easier to read.<br />
<br />
I've also cut a great deal of the Synopsis. It's extremely wordy and yet very vague, and makes sweeping generalizations that are uncited, such as ''Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements,'' Not only is that sentence tortured, I've never heard Tolkien's defender's make such a claim, and I'm at least moderatly well read on the subject. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:41, 19 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90722Racism2010-01-19T17:28:16Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
While the Easterling and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90721Racism2010-01-19T17:26:23Z<p>TheBoost: /* Counterindications */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90720Racism2010-01-19T17:23:34Z<p>TheBoost: /* Counterindications */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). Tolkien does not mention their skin colour. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90719Racism2010-01-19T17:19:52Z<p>TheBoost: /* Dwarves as Jews */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90718Racism2010-01-19T17:19:15Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.<br />
<br />
However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, [[Grima]], [[Gollum]], and at least two of the [[Nazgul]]. Also [[Lotho Sackville-Baggins]] and the [[ruffians]] are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the [[Shire]].<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90717Racism2010-01-19T17:13:55Z<p>TheBoost: /* Counterindications */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90716Racism2010-01-19T17:12:31Z<p>TheBoost: /* Racism in Middle-Earth */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]].<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90715Racism2010-01-19T17:11:36Z<p>TheBoost: /* Racism in Middle-Earth */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
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===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave).<br />
<br />
The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90714Racism2010-01-19T17:02:55Z<p>TheBoost: /* Light vs. Dark */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. the [[Black Numenoreans]] are likewise named because of the color of their heraldry, not their skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90713Racism2010-01-19T16:50:00Z<p>TheBoost: /* Orcs */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90712Racism2010-01-19T16:44:14Z<p>TheBoost: /* Counterindications */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the Mongoloids (the Asian races) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90711Racism2010-01-19T16:43:52Z<p>TheBoost: /* Racism in Middle-Earth */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the Mongoloids (the Asian races) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
===Dwarves as Jews===<br />
<br />
Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" [[(Letter 176)]]<br />
<br />
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of th dwarves ([[Gimli]] of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people. <br />
<br />
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90597Racism2010-01-18T03:35:32Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the Mongoloids (the Asian races) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
<br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90596Talk:Racism2010-01-18T03:35:03Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
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I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
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==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
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An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
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This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
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The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:I don't agree with the "gutation" of the section. The article is intended to include perceptions, even if wrong, to be refuted in the "Counterindications" section. The descriptions of swarthy men from the East and the South, the black-skinned orcs and their scimitars, bring mental images of AfroAsians, and are the most important contributor to the general accusations. What if the Haradrim wore bronze armor and rode horses? The mental image is already established by the average reader, who won't make a checklist for the historical/cultural dissimilarities. For example I never knew or cared whether Africans rode horses and this information didn't help me from envisioning the Southrons as Egyptians or Arabians. After all, Arabs were great riders, and aren't far from Africa.<br />
:As for the Good people, TTT was perceived by critics as a war between the fair Nordic Aryan Rohirrim against the black Orcs. There is no point tracing whose fault is: the Professor's, Jackson's, the painters' or the viewers'. The perception and criticism are there, no matter how wrong or unfounded, and the article is meant to describe that they exist. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:04, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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:::If the case is to describe and refute unfounded views, then they should be described as such. "Perceived Racism in Adaptations of Tolkien" might be a better title because if we're talking about a vague 'general perception' then it has little to do with actual racism in Tolkien's work, which is a legitimate field of discussion, and mixing the two just makes the whole thing a mish-mash.<br />
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:::Regardless, "Evil Men" as it's own section seemed out of place, and I still think what was good in that section belongs in other sections<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 20:03, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
::::The "netral title" proposal is something discussed before, as I see above [[User:Sage|Sage]] 10:51, 16 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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:::::The title is the least worry. The article is a general mish-mash of lgeitamate commentary on the work, vague perceptions, and weasly accusations. <br />
The fact that YES the Haradrim are dark skinned and from the South is itself worth noting and discussing (and note I didn't cut the mention, just the unfounded speculation), but because you, me, or some other reader imagines Egyptians, Arabs, North Africans, West Africans, Zulus, Pygmies, or Indians is not itself worth mentioning. If I imagines the orcs as black or purple, and the Haradrim in zebra-skin or turbans, that has nothing to do with the actual work.<br />
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I've tried reorganizing some of the point and analysis, to make the article read less like a list of comments on a youtube video.<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 22:30, 17 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:Not strictly racist, but the reference to royalty is not a political reference to the feudal society or egalitarianism, but to the ideology. Royal lines in Tolkien are generally special and heirs have qualities above the norm showing therefore some genetic-based nobility. Excessive protagonism of Heirs is a ground of criticism by some "Tolkien is racist" critics. At least where I live, royalty is linked to the right-wing :) [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:15, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90595Racism2010-01-18T03:33:47Z<p>TheBoost: /* Counterindications */</p>
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<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
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[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
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In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
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[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
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==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
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Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
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The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
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In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
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===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
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While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the Mongoloids (the Asian races) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
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===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
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But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
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===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
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===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90594Racism2010-01-18T03:33:06Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the Mongoloids (the Asian races) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
<br />
===Racism in Middle-Earth===<br />
Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the [[Woses]]. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. <br />
It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90593Racism2010-01-18T03:31:37Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
<br />
<br />
===Orcs===<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
<br />
While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the Mongoloids (the Asian races) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
<br />
===Light vs. Dark===<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
<br />
But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
===Evil Men===<br />
One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the [[Easterling]]s and [[Southrons]]. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world.<br />
The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back. <br />
In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the [[Dunlendings]], are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). <br />
Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry<br />
<br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90592Racism2010-01-18T03:28:32Z<p>TheBoost: new section</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
==Orcs==<br />
Of the orcs, only the Uruk Hai are described as black skinned. In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) <br />
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While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the Mongoloids (the Asian races) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias and he also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).<br />
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==Light vs. Dark==<br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the [[Silmirils]]) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was ''"sable unblazoned"'' (that is, plain black). ''"Mordor"'' means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone.<br />
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But white is not associated only with Good. [[Saruman]] the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the ''Black Enemy'') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
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==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the Silmirils) and darkness (the literal absence of light). This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light ''skinned'' versus dark skinned peoples. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. <br />
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*One of the clear racist elements in the Tolkien universe is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned African and Asian influenced peoples of Easterlings and Southrons.<br />
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*The Easterlings are usually depicted as a Mongolian and Middle-eastern culture and are always aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel.<br />
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*The Southrons (or Haradrim) are apparently inspired by African cultures with Indian influences such as fighting on Mumakil-back. They are stated to be black-skinned and cruel, evil, and uncompromising.<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
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Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
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*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
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*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
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*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
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*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
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*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
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*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
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*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
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*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
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*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
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*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
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*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
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*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
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==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
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==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
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{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90579Talk:Racism2010-01-17T22:30:17Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
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I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
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==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
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An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
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This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
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The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:I don't agree with the "gutation" of the section. The article is intended to include perceptions, even if wrong, to be refuted in the "Counterindications" section. The descriptions of swarthy men from the East and the South, the black-skinned orcs and their scimitars, bring mental images of AfroAsians, and are the most important contributor to the general accusations. What if the Haradrim wore bronze armor and rode horses? The mental image is already established by the average reader, who won't make a checklist for the historical/cultural dissimilarities. For example I never knew or cared whether Africans rode horses and this information didn't help me from envisioning the Southrons as Egyptians or Arabians. After all, Arabs were great riders, and aren't far from Africa.<br />
:As for the Good people, TTT was perceived by critics as a war between the fair Nordic Aryan Rohirrim against the black Orcs. There is no point tracing whose fault is: the Professor's, Jackson's, the painters' or the viewers'. The perception and criticism are there, no matter how wrong or unfounded, and the article is meant to describe that they exist. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:04, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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:::If the case is to describe and refute unfounded views, then they should be described as such. "Perceived Racism in Adaptations of Tolkien" might be a better title because if we're talking about a vague 'general perception' then it has little to do with actual racism in Tolkien's work, which is a legitimate field of discussion, and mixing the two just makes the whole thing a mish-mash.<br />
<br />
:::Regardless, "Evil Men" as it's own section seemed out of place, and I still think what was good in that section belongs in other sections<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 20:03, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
::::The "netral title" proposal is something discussed before, as I see above [[User:Sage|Sage]] 10:51, 16 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::The title is the least worry. The article is a general mish-mash of lgeitamate commentary on the work, vague perceptions, and weasly accusations. <br />
The fact that YES the Haradrim are dark skinned and from the South is itself worth noting and discussing (and note I didn't cut the mention, just the unfounded speculation), but because you, me, or some other reader imagines Egyptians, Arabs, North Africans, West Africans, Zulus, Pygmies, or Indians is not itself worth mentioning. If I imagines the orcs as black or purple, and the Haradrim in zebra-skin or turbans, that has nothing to do with the actual work.<br />
<br />
If comments like "The Southrons are Africans" and "Elves are general Europeans" need to stay in the article, I would reccomend a section titled "Indications in Tolkien's Work" and a section titled "Stuff People Made Up"[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 22:30, 17 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:Not strictly racist, but the reference to royalty is not a political reference to the feudal society or egalitarianism, but to the ideology. Royal lines in Tolkien are generally special and heirs have qualities above the norm showing therefore some genetic-based nobility. Excessive protagonism of Heirs is a ground of criticism by some "Tolkien is racist" critics. At least where I live, royalty is linked to the right-wing :) [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:15, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90578Racism2010-01-17T22:18:11Z<p>TheBoost: /* Relevant quotations */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the Silmirils) and darkness (the literal absence of light). This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light ''skinned'' versus dark skinned peoples. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. <br />
<br />
*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
One of the clear racist elements in the Tolkien universe is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned African and Asian influenced peoples of Easterlings and Southrons.<br />
<br />
*The Easterlings are usually depicted as a Mongolian and Middle-eastern culture and are always aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel.<br />
<br />
*The Southrons (or Haradrim) are apparently inspired by African cultures with Indian influences such as fighting on Mumakil-back. They are stated to be black-skinned and cruel, evil, and uncompromising.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
<br />
*In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
<br />
*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
<br />
* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant Passages from the text==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
==Tolkien on Racism==<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
<br />
[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90538Racism2010-01-15T20:06:56Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
<br />
[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
<br />
[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
<br />
==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
<br />
The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
<br />
In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
<br />
==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the Silmirils) and darkness (the literal absence of light). This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light ''skinned'' versus dark skinned peoples. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. <br />
<br />
*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
One of the clear racist elements in the Tolkien universe is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned African and Asian influenced peoples of Easterlings and Southrons.<br />
<br />
*The Easterlings are usually depicted as a Mongolian and Middle-eastern culture and are always aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the single exception of Bór. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel.<br />
<br />
*The Southrons (or Haradrim) are apparently inspired by African cultures with Indian influences such as fighting on Mumakil-back. They are stated to be black-skinned and cruel, evil, and uncompromising.<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
<br />
*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
<br />
*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
<br />
*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
<br />
*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
<br />
*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
<br />
*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
<br />
*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant quotations==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.|Foreword to the Second Edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
<br />
{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90537Talk:Racism2010-01-15T20:04:18Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
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I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
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==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
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An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
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This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
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The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:I don't agree with the "gutation" of the section. The article is intended to include perceptions, even if wrong, to be refuted in the "Counterindications" section. The descriptions of swarthy men from the East and the South, the black-skinned orcs and their scimitars, bring mental images of AfroAsians, and are the most important contributor to the general accusations. What if the Haradrim wore bronze armor and rode horses? The mental image is already established by the average reader, who won't make a checklist for the historical/cultural dissimilarities. For example I never knew or cared whether Africans rode horses and this information didn't help me from envisioning the Southrons as Egyptians or Arabians. After all, Arabs were great riders, and aren't far from Africa.<br />
:As for the Good people, TTT was perceived by critics as a war between the fair Nordic Aryan Rohirrim against the black Orcs. There is no point tracing whose fault is: the Professor's, Jackson's, the painters' or the viewers'. The perception and criticism are there, no matter how wrong or unfounded, and the article is meant to describe that they exist. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:04, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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:::If the case is to describe and refute unfounded views, then they should be described as such. "Perceived Racism in Adaptations of Tolkien" might be a better title because if we're talking about a vague 'general perception' then it has little to do with actual racism in Tolkien's work, which is a legitimate field of discussion, and mixing the two just makes the whole thing a mish-mash.<br />
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:::Regardless, "Evil Men" as it's own section seemed out of place, and I still think what was good in that section belongs in other sections<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 20:03, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:Not strictly racist, but the reference to royalty is not a political reference to the feudal society or egalitarianism, but to the ideology. Royal lines in Tolkien are generally special and heirs have qualities above the norm showing therefore some genetic-based nobility. Excessive protagonism of Heirs is a ground of criticism by some "Tolkien is racist" critics. At least where I live, royalty is linked to the right-wing :) [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:15, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90536Talk:Racism2010-01-15T20:03:24Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
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I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
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==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
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An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
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This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
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The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:I don't agree with the "gutation" of the section. The article is intended to include perceptions, even if wrong, to be refuted in the "Counterindications" section. The descriptions of swarthy men from the East and the South, the black-skinned orcs and their scimitars, bring mental images of AfroAsians, and are the most important contributor to the general accusations. What if the Haradrim wore bronze armor and rode horses? The mental image is already established by the average reader, who won't make a checklist for the historical/cultural dissimilarities. For example I never knew or cared whether Africans rode horses and this information didn't help me from envisioning the Southrons as Egyptians or Arabians. After all, Arabs were great riders, and aren't far from Africa.<br />
:As for the Good people, TTT was perceived by critics as a war between the fair Nordic Aryan Rohirrim against the black Orcs. There is no point tracing whose fault is: the Professor's, Jackson's, the painters' or the viewers'. The perception and criticism are there, no matter how wrong or unfounded, and the article is meant to describe that they exist. [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:04, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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:::If the case is to describe and refute unfounded views, then they should be described as such. "Perceived Racism in Adaptations of Tolkien" might be a better title because if we're talking about a vague 'general perception' then it has little to do with actual racism in Tolkien's work, which is a legitimate field of discussion, and mixing the two just makes the whole thing a mish-mash.<br />
[[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 20:03, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
:Not strictly racist, but the reference to royalty is not a political reference to the feudal society or egalitarianism, but to the ideology. Royal lines in Tolkien are generally special and heirs have qualities above the norm showing therefore some genetic-based nobility. Excessive protagonism of Heirs is a ground of criticism by some "Tolkien is racist" critics. At least where I live, royalty is linked to the right-wing :) [[User:Sage|Sage]] 19:15, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90535Racism2010-01-15T19:58:52Z<p>TheBoost: /* Counterindications */</p>
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<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
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[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
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In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
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[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
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==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
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Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
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The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
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In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the Silmirils) and darkness (the literal absence of light). This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light ''skinned'' versus dark skinned peoples. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. <br />
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*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
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Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
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*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
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*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths were white men. Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. <br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
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*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
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*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
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*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
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*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
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*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
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*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
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*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
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*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
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*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
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*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
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==Relevant quotations==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.|Foreword to the Second Edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90531Talk:Racism2010-01-15T18:52:21Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
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I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
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==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
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An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
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This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
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The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)<br />
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==Not Racism==<br />
Unless a feudal society is fundamentally racist (a claim that seems foolish given that the king is king over his own race) to imply that all refrecnes to nobility and class stratification is racist seems like stretching. Likewise with any economic disparity in the Shire. The article is on racism, not on how Middle-Earth falls short of an egalitarian ideal and these seem out of the scope of this article. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 18:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90529Racism2010-01-15T17:36:35Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
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<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
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[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
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In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
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[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
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==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
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Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
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The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
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In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the Silmirils) and darkness (the literal absence of light). This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light ''skinned'' versus dark skinned peoples. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. <br />
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*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
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Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
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*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White (or of Many Colours) has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly, Black is not only associated with Evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
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*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths are white men turned into wraiths (one, [[Khamul]], was an Easterling king, and three were Numenoreans). Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. Tolkien also mentions a people called the "Variags" of Khand among the allies of Mordor. Since historically this word is used to refer to a certain Viking people who served as guards of the Eastern Roman Empire, some assume that they are white.{{fact}}<br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
<br />
*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
<br />
*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
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*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
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*The superiority of some races (eg. Dunedain), as in nobility, longevity, and foresight, is because of supernatural factors (a blessing by God, and divine or Elvish ancestry) and therefore cannot apply to reality and modern theories of Aryan superiority.<br />
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*The concept of the chosen people is also present in other contexts such as that of the [[Hebrews]] and in [[Judaism]]. Even though the Numenoreans were blessed by God, most of them were punished for their pride with the destruction of their land. <br />
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*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
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*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
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*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
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*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
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*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
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*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
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*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
<br />
*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
<br />
==Relevant quotations==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
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{{quote|I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.|Foreword to the Second Edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
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{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
<br />
{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90528Talk:Racism2010-01-15T17:35:58Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */</p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
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I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
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==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
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An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
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This section seems out of place, and I have put all of the non-repetitive point into the 'indications' section.<br />
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The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90527Racism2010-01-15T17:35:17Z<p>TheBoost: /* Indications */</p>
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<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
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[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
<br />
In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
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[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
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==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
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Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
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The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
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In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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===Evil Men===<br />
One of the clear racist elements in the Tolkien universe is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned African and Asian influenced peoples of [[Easterlings]] and [[Southrons]]. <br />
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The Easterlings are usually depicted as a Mongolian and Middle-eastern culture and are always aligned with [[Morgoth]] or [[Sauron]] with the single exception of [[Bór]]. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. <br />
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The [[Southrons]] (or [[Haradrim]]) are apparently inspired by African cultures with Indian influences such as fighting on [[Mumakil]]-back. They are stated to be black-skinned and cruel, evil, and uncompromising. <br />
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Another element that could be percieved as racists is that the [[Númenoreans]] who suvived the destruction of [[Númenor]] yet were still loyal to [[Sauron]] were called [[Black Númenóreans]] and mixed with the southern peoples of Middle-earth, uprising the [[Corsairs of Umbar]].<br />
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===[[Orcs]]===<br />
The main racist element present in orcs is that they are always depicted as black-skinned, though this may be due to their filthiness and said to resemble monkeys (black people resembling monkeys being a main racist claim). <br />
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Another possible offensive theme present in orcs, is the fact that when the orcs talk, they often use the same phrases and accents that the English working-class is known to use.<br />
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==Indications==<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between ''literal'' light (The Trees, the Silmirils) and darkness (the literal absence of light). This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light ''skinned'' versus dark skinned peoples. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. <br />
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*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are too few to discount the allegations of racism. Grima and Saruman are evil, but the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. <br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
<br />
===Counterindications===<br />
<br />
Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
<br />
*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
<br />
*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light. <br />
White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White (or of Many Colours) has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly, Black is not only associated with Evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
<br />
*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west).<br />
<br />
*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually a Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths are white men turned into wraiths (one, [[Khamul]], was an Easterling king, and three were Numenoreans). Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
*The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
<br />
*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
<br />
*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. Tolkien also mentions a people called the "Variags" of Khand among the allies of Mordor. Since historically this word is used to refer to a certain Viking people who served as guards of the Eastern Roman Empire, some assume that they are white.{{fact}}<br />
<br />
*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
<br />
*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
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*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
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*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
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*The superiority of some races (eg. Dunedain), as in nobility, longevity, and foresight, is because of supernatural factors (a blessing by God, and divine or Elvish ancestry) and therefore cannot apply to reality and modern theories of Aryan superiority.<br />
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*The concept of the chosen people is also present in other contexts such as that of the [[Hebrews]] and in [[Judaism]]. Even though the Numenoreans were blessed by God, most of them were punished for their pride with the destruction of their land. <br />
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*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
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*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
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*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
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*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
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*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
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*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
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*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
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*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
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==Relevant quotations==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
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{{quote|I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.|Foreword to the Second Edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''}}<br />
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{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
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{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90526Racism2010-01-15T17:22:01Z<p>TheBoost: /* Indications */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
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[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
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In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
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[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
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==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
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Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
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The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
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In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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===Evil Men===<br />
One of the clear racist elements in the Tolkien universe is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned African and Asian influenced peoples of [[Easterlings]] and [[Southrons]]. <br />
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The Easterlings are usually depicted as a Mongolian and Middle-eastern culture and are always aligned with [[Morgoth]] or [[Sauron]] with the single exception of [[Bór]]. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. <br />
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The [[Southrons]] (or [[Haradrim]]) are apparently inspired by African cultures with Indian influences such as fighting on [[Mumakil]]-back. They are stated to be black-skinned and cruel, evil, and uncompromising. <br />
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Another element that could be percieved as racists is that the [[Númenoreans]] who suvived the destruction of [[Númenor]] yet were still loyal to [[Sauron]] were called [[Black Númenóreans]] and mixed with the southern peoples of Middle-earth, uprising the [[Corsairs of Umbar]].<br />
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===[[Orcs]]===<br />
The main racist element present in orcs is that they are always depicted as black-skinned, though this may be due to their filthiness and said to resemble monkeys (black people resembling monkeys being a main racist claim). <br />
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Another possible offensive theme present in orcs, is the fact that when the orcs talk, they often use the same phrases and accents that the English working-class is known to use.<br />
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==Indications==<br />
Tolkien's writings, especially ''The Lord of the Rings'', contains elements some people find racially insensitive and inflammatory.<br />
<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
*Tolkien uses the colour black to stand for Evil. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. In contrast, his heroes are generally "fair" or "pale" (white).<br />
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*In ''The Lord of the Rings'', enemies come mainly from the East ([[Easterlings]]) or South ([[Haradrim]]). Some take this to correspond to Asia and Africa, and thus to non-whites. The protagonists are mostly from the north-western regions of Middle-earth, Northwestern Europe, and its people must therefore be white. Likewise in ''The Silmarillion'', those Men that betray the Elves and other Men are described as ''Easterlings''.<br />
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*The enemy horsemen of the Easterlings are vaguely reminiscent of Huns, Arabs, Indians, Persians, Turks, and other historical horse-peoples. Likewise the Oliphaunt-riders of the Haradrim are vaguely reminiscent of Africans. Some claim this reminiscence is not accidental, and equate all Easterlings with orientals, and Haradrim with Africans.<br />
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*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*Characters and peoples such as the Dunedain express some degree of elitism if not racism, forming political nomenclature such as ''[[High Men]]'' and ''[[Men of Darkness]]'', as well as ''[[Middle Men]]'' between them (who were not enemies, but not 'as noble' as themselves). <br />
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*Connected to racism is some advocation of "blood nobility". Many of the main characters have a noble heritage. All races and peoples rely on royal lineage or noble heritage for government. Only in two cases are democratic customs mentioned (the election of [[Master of Lake-town]] and the office of the Mayor of the Shire). Aragorn, a royal heir, has rights and superhuman abilities that comes from his heritage. Although he is but a Man, he is able to vanquish Sauron's mind, that of a [[Maia]], in the ''[[palantir]]'' only because he is its rightful user. He is also able to command the [[Dead Men of Dunharrow]] and heal the victims of the Ringwraiths' [[Black Breath]].<br>In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are far too few to discard the allegations of racism. The most commonly cited example is Saruman. While Grima and Saruman are evil, the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. The paucity of bad examples in the fair races reinforces the claims of racism.<br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
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Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
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*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light.<br />
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*White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White (or of Many Colours) has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly, Black is not only associated with Evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west). Even so, it is possible that this is compared to the Vikings which the British fought before they went on their first crusade.<br />
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*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually an Mairar in a human form) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths are white men turned into ghostly pale wraiths (one, [[Khamul]], was an Easterling king, and three were Numenoreans). Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. Tolkien also mentions a people called the "Variags" of Khand among the allies of Mordor. Since historically this word is used to refer to a certain Viking people who served as guards of the Eastern Roman Empire, some assume that they are white.{{fact}}<br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing (and for some, acquitting himself of) Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
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:''Much has been made of this citation. Some people have gone so far as to call Tolkien a racist, alleging he was implying the Orcs were to be equated with Asian peoples. He is careful to say, however, that the Orcs were "degraded and repulsive versions" of those Mongol peoples who would be least attractive to European sensibilities. Some people have suggested Tolkien may have been referring to the Huns, who left an indelible mark in the western European psyche. Whether the Orcs are intended to be "degraded and repulsive versions" of Huns is a mystery we cannot resolve, but it is clear that Tolkien felt a Mongoloid base was necessary for Orcish appearance. Not because he equated Asians with evil, or thought them ugly. But because he needed a human model which, when distorted beyond realistic appearance, might appear monstrous and corrupted. In fact, many Asian cultures represent demons and evil gods in a similar fashion.'' <ref>http://www.michael-martinez.com/books/parma_endorion.html</ref><ref>http://www.free-ebooks.net/fan_fiction.html</ref><br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
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*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
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*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
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*The superiority of some races (eg. Dunedain), as in nobility, longevity, and foresight, is because of supernatural factors (a blessing by God, and divine or Elvish ancestry) and therefore cannot apply to reality and modern theories of Aryan superiority.<br />
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*The concept of the chosen people is also present in other contexts such as that of the [[Hebrews]] and in [[Judaism]]. Even though the Numenoreans were blessed by God, most of them were punished for their pride with the destruction of their land. <br />
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*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
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*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
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*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
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*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
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*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
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*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
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*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
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*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
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==Relevant quotations==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
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{{quote|I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.|Foreword to the Second Edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''}}<br />
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{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
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{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Racism&diff=90525Talk:Racism2010-01-15T17:17:06Z<p>TheBoost: </p>
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<div>This page simply can't remain as it is - it is based largely on opinion and is often just plain incorrect (such as references to allegory and orcs being dark-skinned). What should be done? Should there be a deletion, or should the evidence for both sides be presented in a less opinionated manner? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:49, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:Agree This is load of crap that Tolkien himself addressed racism in his letters, and said that he wasn't and that the idea was ludicrous. DELETE IT! --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 21:30, 15 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::I say: don't delete it. We could improve it as a refutation (rename as "Perceived Racism in Tolkien's Works" or something); it is clear that Hippy never read the letters. There are, on various spots on the net, refutations ([http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist this one] for example, or [http://imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/nest/4761136 this] could be used to "harvest" stuff for the article). As we are an Encyclopedia that covers more than just the text-internal elements, ignoring perceived racism would be bad form. The problem with books is, kinda like feminist book reports (nothing personal), that if you want a book to have a certain bias, you will obviously "find" "clear evidence" through cherry picking of that bias, blatantly ignoring anything that does not match your already fixed conclusion. It's called confirmation bias, the bane of reason. -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 03:27, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
::PS Speaking of feminism, should we have a "perceived anti-feminism in Tolkien's works" too?<br />
::Edit: [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml This] has some useful sources on extreme right use!<br />
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::: I dont think this page should be deleted because it brings up some interesting issues and to ignore them would be to cover up a potentially less desirable angle on Tolkien's works. To ignore it would be to foist modern political trend onto a work that is, from a certain angle fundamentally racist. I agree with Ederchil that it should however be presented as a balanced argument with no real conclusion one way or another. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:35, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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::::You obviously haven't read the letters Death. I believe having a balanced page with no real conclusion is, no offense, a ridiculous idea. There is a final answer to this and that is Tolkien based the Evil Men on Africans, Arabs, and possibly Asians. So what! This would be a non-issue if we were talking about Black Numenoreans, and the Fallen Numenoreans of the Second Age. --[[User:Dwarf Lord|Dwarf Lord]] 18:13, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::::Let me start off my reply by stating, as I think we all agree, the current content on the article definitely needs to be rewritten entirely, and should obviously include the several quotations by Tolkien on this matter. [http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=racism+tolkien&btnG=Google+Search tolkien and racism] brings up over 100,000 results on Google; this subject is something which has been discussed frequently and I think an article on racist elements in Tolkien's works (as well as the un-racist reasonings) is more than welcome on the wiki. I do agree with Ederchil that a more neural title may be necessary but for now it is probably fine. Dwarf Lord, I don't think anyone here is arguing that Tolkien is a racist, there's a lot of information out there on this subject so why not gather it all together so fans can read all the facts. Simply deleting a controversial article is only going to leave more people uninformed. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:15, 16 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: Not so obviously Dwarflord as i have in fact read them. While you may think that one line in a book is enough to base an argument on i assure you it is not and i think as Hyarion says the issue does need to be addressed since there is so much said and written about it. I myself would not call Tolkien a racist by the standards of the time, however to modern readers his views may be considered that way and so as a reliable and open source of Tolkien knowledge we should be willing to face those accusations and provide the facts of the issue allowing the readers to make up their own minds. No need to be rude and confrontational about it and cast aspersions on my (i think you'll agree)excellent knowledge of the subject. [[User:Dr Death|Dr Death]] 05:34, 17 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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:::: I just made the article so that the issue could be addressed. I relied on the other nerds of this site to flesh it out and make it less biased. I basically just wrote down all the racist shit I could think of in Tolkien's works and waited until other people made it better. Which you have, so thank you. And thanks to this page, I believe that Tolkien Gateway is now a more well-rounded site. [[User:TheOneCleanHippy|TheOneCleanHippy]] 05:13, 12 July 2008 (EDT)<br />
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==The Rewrite==<br />
Or, less talk, more action.<br />
As for Hyar's google search, we're currently 4th ranked. Above us, it's a 1,5-1,5 draw. So here's some suggestions as to what the article should (IMHO) have:<br />
*More neutral name<br />
*Introduction<br />
*Use of Tolkien's work by Extreme right groups (BNP et al.).<br />
*Claims and refutations. This should by generalized into things as "Racism", "Nordicism", not a point by point ragtag analysis of "Dark bad, white good".<br />
*There's a good quote against the nordicism claim in Letter 294. Racism has four hits in the index. Letter 30, Letter 61, Letter 81 and once again 294. It's basically about Nazi Übermensch doctrine and Apartheid, and he clearly states he's "appalled by thinking in colour".<br />
*As for racial purity, [[Kin-strife]], much? Snaga, much?<br />
*A certain temporal relativity should be clear throughout the article. To today's western standards, Tolkien was a racist. But in his time, he wasn't. Same goes for people famed for being not racists like Lincoln and Darwin. <br />
*We should mention Stephen Shapiro's claims - the top google rank. Reading the article makes me wonder whether we read the same book. His claim of the "uber-aryan fellowship" falls flat on its face. Rediff is an Indian site (target audience?), Shapiro is into ''"writing and culture of the United States, particularly the pre-twentieth century period; Cultural Studies; literary theory; historical formations of gender and sexuality; marxism, world-systems analyses; urban and spatial studies, and critiques of the bourgeois lifeworld as a mental disease. More broadly, late Enlightenment, 19 and 20/21C narrative"''[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/academic/shapirodrstephen/]; he's neither a linguist (who would not use "Aryan" in that sense) nor a Tolkien scholar. <br />
*Links to other sites like [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html] and [http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/v4/alleszutolkien/news/news20030103.shtml] (more shapiro), maybe some others that are above-blog entry level, maybe something from the Tolkien Estate (the site is minimal at the moment).<br />
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Anyone has any other ideas? -- [[User:Ederchil|Ederchil]] 13:54, 18 April 2008 (EDT)<br />
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Late reply: Only today this article came to my attention. I pasted a great bulk of text that comes from a deleted Wikipedia article, unacceptable since it is Original Research and the claims are not easily verifiable. It still needs some cleanup since it contains many repetitions. I hope that helps [[User:Sage|Sage]] 11:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)<br />
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I moved the article to a more neutral title. --[[User:Pinkkeith|Pinkkeith]] 15:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)<br />
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==Evil Men==<br />
I gutted the Evil Men section as it seemed (besided horribly worded) based primarily on the films. The Southrons are described as wearing bronze plate armor and riding horses, so it is erroneous to say they are clearly based on African tribes. There is also nothing fundamentally "Mongollian" or "Middle Eastern" about the Easterlings (which are two wildly different cultures and I'm not clear how one could be both at once). <br />
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An aknowledgement of their geography and skin colors is really the most accurate way of describing the unfortunate racist implications of the Haradrim and Easterlings. It is not the Professors fault if someone paints them as Aftican (although in the Jackson films, the Haradrim are inspired by South Pacific cultures). <br />
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The "Good Side" section was unsalvageable. Elves are not "general Europeans" (what does that even mean?) and The Rohan are clearly based on Anglo-Saxons, not the Norse. I suspect the original author doesn't know what 'fair' means, because most of the men of Gondor are not described as fair in the slightest. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 17:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90524Racism2010-01-15T17:12:09Z<p>TheBoost: /* Good Side */</p>
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<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
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[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
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In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
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[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
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==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
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Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
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The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
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In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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===Evil Men===<br />
One of the clear racist elements in the Tolkien universe is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned African and Asian influenced peoples of [[Easterlings]] and [[Southrons]]. <br />
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The Easterlings are usually depicted as a Mongolian and Middle-eastern culture and are always aligned with [[Morgoth]] or [[Sauron]] with the single exception of [[Bór]]. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. <br />
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The [[Southrons]] (or [[Haradrim]]) are apparently inspired by African cultures with Indian influences such as fighting on [[Mumakil]]-back. They are stated to be black-skinned and cruel, evil, and uncompromising. <br />
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Another element that could be percieved as racists is that the [[Númenoreans]] who suvived the destruction of [[Númenor]] yet were still loyal to [[Sauron]] were called [[Black Númenóreans]] and mixed with the southern peoples of Middle-earth, uprising the [[Corsairs of Umbar]].<br />
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===[[Orcs]]===<br />
The main racist element present in orcs is that they are always depicted as black-skinned, though this may be due to their filthiness and said to resemble monkeys (black people resembling monkeys being a main racist claim). <br />
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Another possible offensive theme present in orcs, is the fact that when the orcs talk, they often use the same phrases and accents that the English working-class is known to use.<br />
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==Indications==<br />
Tolkien's writings, especially ''The Lord of the Rings'', contains elements some people find racially insensitive and inflammatory.<br />
<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
*Tolkien uses the colour black to stand for Evil. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. In contrast, his heroes are generally "fair" or "pale" (white).<br />
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*In ''The Lord of the Rings'', enemies come mainly from the East ([[Easterlings]]) or South ([[Haradrim]]). Some take this to correspond to Asia and Africa, and thus to non-whites. The protagonists are mostly from the north-western regions of Middle-earth, Northwestern Europe, and its people must therefore be white. Likewise in ''The Silmarillion'', those Men that betray the Elves and other Men are described as ''Easterlings''.<br />
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*The enemy horsemen of the Easterlings are vaguely reminiscent of Huns, Arabs, Indians, Persians, Turks, and other historical horse-peoples. Likewise the Oliphaunt-riders of the Haradrim are vaguely reminiscent of Africans. Some claim this reminiscence is not accidental, and equate all Easterlings with orientals, and Haradrim with Africans.<br />
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*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*Characters and peoples such as the Dunedain express some degree of elitism if not racism, forming political nomenclature such as ''[[High Men]]'' and ''[[Men of Darkness]]'', as well as ''[[Middle Men]]'' between them (who were not enemies, but not 'as noble' as themselves). Elitism is also present among the Hobbits, with the Shire as a class society, with Sam Gamgee as the deferential servant to "Master Frodo".<br />
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*Connected to racism is some advocation of "blood nobility". Many of the main characters have a noble heritage. All races and peoples rely on royal lineage or noble heritage for government. Only in two cases are democratic customs mentioned (the election of [[Master of Lake-town]] and the office of the Mayor of the Shire). Aragorn, a royal heir, has rights and superhuman abilities that comes from his heritage. Although he is but a Man, he is able to vanquish Sauron's mind, that of a [[Maia]], in the ''[[palantir]]'' only because he is its rightful user. He is also able to command the [[Dead Men of Dunharrow]] and heal the victims of the Ringwraiths' [[Black Breath]].<br>In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are far too few to discard the allegations of racism. The most commonly cited example is Saruman. However, Saruman is evil primarily because he joined hands with the enemies of the "good" races, and thus his evilness in fact presupposes the goodness of those races. Additionally, too few members of Tolkien's "good races" are evil. While Grima and Saruman are evil, the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. The paucity of bad examples in the fair races reinforces the claims of racism.<br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. Some see a connection between the Dwarves' strife with the Elves — who are the greatest of the "[[Children of Iluvatar|children of God]]" — to the Jews' conflict with the Nazis, who viewed the Aryans as the "master race". Note that in turn, Elves are then often considered to be an idealized version of the white race in popular culture. Some consider Tolkien's Elves his version of the Aryan race. Also, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
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Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
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*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light.<br />
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*White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White (or of Many Colours) has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly, Black is not only associated with Evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west). Even so, it is possible that this is compared to the Vikings which the British fought before they went on their first crusade.<br />
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*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually an angelic spirit in a white body) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths are white men turned into ghostly pale wraiths (one, [[Khamul]], was an Easterling king, and three were Numenoreans). Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. Tolkien also mentions a people called the "Variags" of Khand among the allies of Mordor. Since historically this word is used to refer to a certain Viking people who served as guards of the Eastern Roman Empire, some assume that they are white.{{fact}}<br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing (and for some, acquitting himself of) Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
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:''Much has been made of this citation. Some people have gone so far as to call Tolkien a racist, alleging he was implying the Orcs were to be equated with Asian peoples. He is careful to say, however, that the Orcs were "degraded and repulsive versions" of those Mongol peoples who would be least attractive to European sensibilities. Some people have suggested Tolkien may have been referring to the Huns, who left an indelible mark in the western European psyche. Whether the Orcs are intended to be "degraded and repulsive versions" of Huns is a mystery we cannot resolve, but it is clear that Tolkien felt a Mongoloid base was necessary for Orcish appearance. Not because he equated Asians with evil, or thought them ugly. But because he needed a human model which, when distorted beyond realistic appearance, might appear monstrous and corrupted. In fact, many Asian cultures represent demons and evil gods in a similar fashion.'' <ref>http://www.michael-martinez.com/books/parma_endorion.html</ref><ref>http://www.free-ebooks.net/fan_fiction.html</ref><br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
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*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
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*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
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*The superiority of some races (eg. Dunedain), as in nobility, longevity, and foresight, is because of supernatural factors (a blessing by God, and divine or Elvish ancestry) and therefore cannot apply to reality and modern theories of Aryan superiority.<br />
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*The concept of the chosen people is also present in other contexts such as that of the [[Hebrews]] and in [[Judaism]]. Even though the Numenoreans were blessed by God, most of them were punished for their pride with the destruction of their land. <br />
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*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
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*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
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*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
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*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
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*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
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*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
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*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
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*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
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==Relevant quotations==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
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{{quote|I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.|Foreword to the Second Edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''}}<br />
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{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
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{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Racism&diff=90523Racism2010-01-15T17:08:12Z<p>TheBoost: /* Evil Men */ Discussion is of Tokien's work, not adaptations</p>
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<div>{{sources}}<br />
{{quote|For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own.|David Ibata, ''Chicago Tribune''<ref>http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/chi-030112epringsrace,0,341461.story</ref>}}<br />
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[[Image:Haradrim.jpg|thumb|225px|''Haradrim'' from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]]]<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Easterlings.jpg|thumb|''Easterlings'' by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously '''Racist and race-based elements'''; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the [[Arda]] [[legendarium]]. <br />
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In the Foreword to the revised edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).<br />
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[[The Lord of the Rings film trilogy]] has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.<br />
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==Synopsis of the controversy==<br />
Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' draws upon a deep background of folklore and myth. It is common ground that fairy tales and many other types of traditional story can be viewed as the codification of stereotypes; some of which relate to the issue of positive and negative attributes. Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] contains a wide variety of races; the [[Elves]] and [[Men]] can in some cases intermarry, but otherwise these may be biologically separate. Tolkien's creation arguably rests upon the same kind of oversimplification that racial prejudice does. In descriptive terms, he can be said to depend on superficial details: (such as physical features, language, clothing); the exaggeration of common aesthetic values of beauty and ugliness to extremes; the wholesale assignment of values of good and evil to a whole class of creatures. On this basis his writing has been criticized, for displacing human contact and nuance.<br />
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Tolkien's defenders contend that the various "races" are exaggerated personifications of broadly accepted value judgements, along a wide spectrum of traits from benevolent and just to wicked and perverse. A perspective that can be supported from Tolkien's own discussions of his work is that he distributed human traits: none of the types represents a complete person.<br />
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The main drive of the narrative, in any case, extends from the two-dimensional stereotypes into the concept of power as wicked and corrupting. Tolkien's defenders tend to argue that the symbolism of the ring as the paramount quest of the story far outshadows the stereotypes. Critics argue that the deeper meanings of the story are interpreted, and that its literal and vivid use of a race like the [[Orcs]] as virtually axiomatically determined carries too much resonance. To draw meaning from an interpreted moral requires less visceral reaction and greater consideration.<br />
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In Italy, ''Lord of the Rings'' is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting[http://www.johnreilly.info/ata.htm]. [[Natalia Aspesi]] from the Cannes Film Festival called the movie 'naziskn'. According to Italian website [http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema/ Caltanet], [[Wikipedia:Alleanza Nazionale|Alleanza Nazionale]] a right-oriented Italian political party had taken a picture from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' movie to promote a speech by his leader, [[Wikipedia:Gianfranco Fini|Gianfranco Fini]]<ref>http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1001628604</ref><br />
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===Evil Men===<br />
One of the clear racist elements in the Tolkien universe is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned African and Asian influenced peoples of [[Easterlings]] and [[Southrons]]. <br />
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The Easterlings are usually depicted as a Mongolian and Middle-eastern culture and are always aligned with [[Morgoth]] or [[Sauron]] with the single exception of [[Bór]]. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. <br />
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The [[Southrons]] (or [[Haradrim]]) are apparently inspired by African cultures with Indian influences such as fighting on [[Mumakil]]-back. They are stated to be black-skinned and cruel, evil, and uncompromising. <br />
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Another element that could be percieved as racists is that the [[Númenoreans]] who suvived the destruction of [[Númenor]] yet were still loyal to [[Sauron]] were called [[Black Númenóreans]] and mixed with the southern peoples of Middle-earth, uprising the [[Corsairs of Umbar]].<br />
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===[[Orcs]]===<br />
The main racist element present in orcs is that they are always depicted as black-skinned, though this may be due to their filthiness and said to resemble monkeys (black people resembling monkeys being a main racist claim). <br />
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Another possible offensive theme present in orcs, is the fact that when the orcs talk, they often use the same phrases and accents that the English working-class is known to use.<br />
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===Good Side===<br />
[[Image:Brothers Hildebrandt - Ghân-buri-Ghân.jpg|thumb|[[Rohirrim]] and [[Ghân-buri-Ghân]] by [[Brothers Hildebrandt]]. This scene from ''[[The Return of the King]]'' shows a member of a wild tribe to ally with and help the fair and white Rohirrim.]]<br />
All of the good men and elves are all always very fair and white. The men of [[Rohan]] are clearly modeled after the [[Norse Mythology|Norse]], and the men of [[Gondor]] and the [[Elves]] are just general Europeans. The single good non-white person was again; [[Bór]]. The entire Tolkien universe is the white West versus the non-white rest of the continent, which is an allegory to the white Europeans versus the non-white Africa and Asia.<br />
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==Indications==<br />
Tolkien's writings, especially ''The Lord of the Rings'', contains elements some people find racially insensitive and inflammatory.<br />
<!-- These are not to be taken as definite. This list cites claims pointed out by critics, right or wrong. In case they can be 'countered', this is discussed in the next section --><br />
*Tolkien uses the colour black to stand for Evil. Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. In contrast, his heroes are generally "fair" or "pale" (white).<br />
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*In ''The Lord of the Rings'', enemies come mainly from the East ([[Easterlings]]) or South ([[Haradrim]]). Some take this to correspond to Asia and Africa, and thus to non-whites. The protagonists are mostly from the north-western regions of Middle-earth, Northwestern Europe, and its people must therefore be white. Likewise in ''The Silmarillion'', those Men that betray the Elves and other Men are described as ''Easterlings''.<br />
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*The enemy horsemen of the Easterlings are vaguely reminiscent of Huns, Arabs, Indians, Persians, Turks, and other historical horse-peoples. Likewise the Oliphaunt-riders of the Haradrim are vaguely reminiscent of Africans. Some claim this reminiscence is not accidental, and equate all Easterlings with orientals, and Haradrim with Africans.<br />
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*In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as ''"...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."''([[Letter 210]]) Inside the story some Orcs, like the Uruk-hai, have black skin. Furthermore lesser Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitars, which are historically associated with orientals).<br />
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*Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the [[chosen people]] who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor.<br />
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*Characters and peoples such as the Dunedain express some degree of elitism if not racism, forming political nomenclature such as ''[[High Men]]'' and ''[[Men of Darkness]]'', as well as ''[[Middle Men]]'' between them (who were not enemies, but not 'as noble' as themselves). Elitism is also present among the Hobbits, with the Shire as a class society, with Sam Gamgee as the deferential servant to "Master Frodo".<br />
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*Connected to racism is some advocation of "blood nobility". Many of the main characters have a noble heritage. All races and peoples rely on royal lineage or noble heritage for government. Only in two cases are democratic customs mentioned (the election of [[Master of Lake-town]] and the office of the Mayor of the Shire). Aragorn, a royal heir, has rights and superhuman abilities that comes from his heritage. Although he is but a Man, he is able to vanquish Sauron's mind, that of a [[Maia]], in the ''[[palantir]]'' only because he is its rightful user. He is also able to command the [[Dead Men of Dunharrow]] and heal the victims of the Ringwraiths' [[Black Breath]].<br>In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like [[Freca]] and [[Wulf]], who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark).<br />
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*Usually, those whose appearance was 'unpleasant' ([[Maeglin]], [[Bill Ferny]]) and disliked by the main protagonists, turn out to be traitors. Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry. Maeglin was an Elf and thus light-skinned, although his father [[Eol]] was always referred to as "the Dark Elf".<br />
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* While there are some exceptions to the concept of white (color or race) being good, these are far too few to discard the allegations of racism. The most commonly cited example is Saruman. However, Saruman is evil primarily because he joined hands with the enemies of the "good" races, and thus his evilness in fact presupposes the goodness of those races. Additionally, too few members of Tolkien's "good races" are evil. While Grima and Saruman are evil, the members of their races are overwhelmingly good. The paucity of bad examples in the fair races reinforces the claims of racism.<br />
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*Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews: <br />
{{quote|"The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."|J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/jrrt_int.htm</ref>}}<br />
:One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language [[Khuzdul]] to Semitic languages. Some see a connection between the Dwarves' strife with the Elves — who are the greatest of the "[[Children of Iluvatar|children of God]]" — to the Jews' conflict with the Nazis, who viewed the Aryans as the "master race". Note that in turn, Elves are then often considered to be an idealized version of the white race in popular culture. Some consider Tolkien's Elves his version of the Aryan race. Also, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the [[Seven Rings]]. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. Finally, both the Jews and the Dwarves, spent much of their history as refugees in exile.<br />
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===Counterindications===<br />
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Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism levelled at ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters. <br />
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*Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'' according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. <br />
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*Tolkien only made precise ''geographic'' correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, [[Hobbiton]] was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but ''was not actually'' rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the ''peoples'' concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. ''The Silmarillion'' presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. <br />
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*The contrast between Black and White used as one between Evil and Good is age-old, alluding to the universal fear of Darkness compared to Light.<br />
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*White is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White (or of Many Colours) has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly, Black is not only associated with Evil. Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, which Pippin was a member of, wore black chain mail. In [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]], a Numenorean fleet is headed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of [[Elbereth]] (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the 'Black Enemy') victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.<br />
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*Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in [[Angband]]. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west). Even so, it is possible that this is compared to the Vikings which the British fought before they went on their first crusade.<br />
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*Not all enemies are non-white. Saruman himself is a white man (actually an angelic spirit in a white body) using White as his symbol, and some of the Ringwraiths are white men turned into ghostly pale wraiths (one, [[Khamul]], was an Easterling king, and three were Numenoreans). Similarly, not all allies and heroes are white. In ''The Lord of the Rings'' Gondor's territories included provinces and fiefdoms which were populated by non-Numenoreans. Some of these people were somewhat darker-skinned than the white Numenoreans, but were counted among the folk of Gondor just the same. They were called to Minas Tirith in the face of its impending siege, and were welcomed as heroes. Prominent among them were the '''swarthy''' men of Lossarnach, whose leader, Forlong the Fat, was slain in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. In ''The Silmarillion'', not all Easterlings betrayed the Elves and their fellow Men, and those who remained faithful bravely fought to the end in the face of defeat.<br />
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*The darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the [[Edain]] (through the [[House of Haleth]]), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. <br />
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*In the War of the Ring, the enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills.<br />
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*Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in ''The Lord of the Rings''; however the Easterlings of ''The Silmarillion'' are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. Tolkien also mentions a people called the "Variags" of Khand among the allies of Mordor. Since historically this word is used to refer to a certain Viking people who served as guards of the Eastern Roman Empire, some assume that they are white.{{fact}}<br />
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*Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to [[Gollum]]), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical African features. <br />
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*While Tolkien's above statement comparing Orcs to the "least lovely" Mongoloids (or Mongolians) is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he ''does'' put a disclaimer "(to Europeans)" before "least lovely", thus recognizing (and for some, acquitting himself of) Western cultural bias. He also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", ''not'' actual "Mongol-types". [[Tolkienist]] [[Michael Martinez]] gives his interpretation in his book ''[[Parma Endorion]]'':<br />
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:''Much has been made of this citation. Some people have gone so far as to call Tolkien a racist, alleging he was implying the Orcs were to be equated with Asian peoples. He is careful to say, however, that the Orcs were "degraded and repulsive versions" of those Mongol peoples who would be least attractive to European sensibilities. Some people have suggested Tolkien may have been referring to the Huns, who left an indelible mark in the western European psyche. Whether the Orcs are intended to be "degraded and repulsive versions" of Huns is a mystery we cannot resolve, but it is clear that Tolkien felt a Mongoloid base was necessary for Orcish appearance. Not because he equated Asians with evil, or thought them ugly. But because he needed a human model which, when distorted beyond realistic appearance, might appear monstrous and corrupted. In fact, many Asian cultures represent demons and evil gods in a similar fashion.'' <ref>http://www.michael-martinez.com/books/parma_endorion.html</ref><ref>http://www.free-ebooks.net/fan_fiction.html</ref><br />
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*All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in [[Atlantis]], since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view.<br />
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*The [[Woses]], the Wild Men of the Druadan Forest, are primitive and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in ''The Return of the King''). They are roughly Tolkien's version of pygmies: diminutive like Hobbits (and Dwarves), and knowledgeable in forest life. He does not mention their skin colour, though. They were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative implicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as ''Edain'', or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.<br />
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*Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]] is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences.<br />
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*The superiority of some races (eg. Dunedain), as in nobility, longevity, and foresight, is because of supernatural factors (a blessing by God, and divine or Elvish ancestry) and therefore cannot apply to reality and modern theories of Aryan superiority.<br />
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*The concept of the chosen people is also present in other contexts such as that of the [[Hebrews]] and in [[Judaism]]. Even though the Numenoreans were blessed by God, most of them were punished for their pride with the destruction of their land. <br />
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*The Numenoreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the [[Kin-strife]]), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Numenorean [[Castamir]] while the hero was the half-Numenorean [[Eldacar]]. <br />
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*The Men of Darkness were not the only enemies of the Numenoreans. Some of their worst enemies were their relatives, the Black Numenoreans ("Black" not because of their skin, but because of their heraldry) who stayed in Umbar (and later became the Corsairs).<br />
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*Though Tolkien contrasts the "[[Moriquendi|Dark Elves]]" with the "[[Calaquendi|High Elves]]" in ''The Silmarillion'', it was not because the former were black (which they weren't), but because they had not seen the light (literally – of the [[Two Trees]]), and so were still "in the darkness". They were not evil either. Also, while the narrative hints on the 'superiority' of the High Elves over the Dark Elves, this is because of living next to the Valar who enriched their corporal and mental power and wisdom, not because of genetic factors.<br />
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*Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, [[Sam Gamgee]] represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book.<br />
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*There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves.<br />
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*Even the Orcs themselves practiced "racism", as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called ''snaga'' (slave). <br />
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*Tolkien's comment that the Dwarves are reminiscent of Jews may not be negative, when seen in the right context — as stated above, he only explicitly says that Khuzdul is "Semitic" in the above interview. He paints a mostly positive picture of the race in his writings (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jews (see above). The arguably negative traits of Dwarves such as their greed for riches may be attributed to traditional portrayals of them, and people looking for any other negative connections may be reading too much into the above statement. In one of his letters, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "''at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…''" ([[Letter 176]]) Thus, "Dwarves-as-Jews" has more to do with status, history, and linguistics rather than prejudice.<br />
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*The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them.<br />
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==Relevant quotations==<br />
{{quote|It is not unlikely that they <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Orcs]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"|''[[The Hobbit]]'', "Over-Hill and Under-Hill"}}<br />
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{{quote|It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.|''[[The Two Towers]]'', "[[Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit]]"}}<br />
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{{quote|I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.|Foreword to the Second Edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''}}<br />
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{{quote|I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any ''[[Wikipedia:Bestatigung|Bestatigung]]'' (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.|[[Letter 29]] — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin)}}<br />
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{{quote|Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ''arisch''. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.|[[Letter 30]] (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)}}<br />
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{{quote|There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done.|J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944}}<br />
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{{quote|I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White.|From a valedictory address to the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1959]]}}<br />
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{{quote|As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." — From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, who was stationed in South Africa during World War II|[[Letter 29]]}}<br />
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{{quote|Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge--which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[Letter 45]]}}<br />
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{{references}}<br />
*[http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#Racist Portion of a Tolkien FAQ attempting to give an answer to the matter]<br />
*Relevant [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay13/view article on the movies] by [[Michael Martinez]]<br />
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/08lord.htm Critique of the Lord of the Rings as an 'epic rooted in racism' by Dr Shapiro]<br />
*[http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=17519&m=P21&aa=1 Critique of the Peter Jackson movies, pointing out possible racist messages] by Dimitris Danikas (in Greek)<br />
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[[Category:Debates]]</div>TheBoosthttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:The_Hobbit&diff=90522Talk:The Hobbit2010-01-15T16:52:39Z<p>TheBoost: New page: I removed a somewhat nonsensical section that mentioned the Hobbit as ''Bildungsroman'' and then segued into quotes from Tolkien on LOTR and allegory, which doesn't make sense as Bildungsr...</p>
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<div>I removed a somewhat nonsensical section that mentioned the Hobbit as ''Bildungsroman'' and then segued into quotes from Tolkien on LOTR and allegory, which doesn't make sense as Bildungsroman is not allegory. [[User:TheBoost|TheBoost]] 16:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)</div>TheBoost