[Lalwendë]

I often wonder myself about modern values and how these are represented in Tolkien, such as race relations, class, gender etc. But what I find when I dig down is that Tolkien seems to have put in so many examples which fully support our modern viewpoints. So for example we do have the Numenorean 'master race', but to counter them we also have the Druedain, an ancient, primitive (in terms of contemporary Third Age society) people, who have been cruelly treated by the Rohirrim but prove themselves to be above mere vengeance and demonstrate to these same people that in many ways they are better than them, by helping them instead of sticking them full of poisoned arrows. Vengeance might be what the reader might expect, but Tolkien turns this on its head and shows us a marginalised race rising above the treatment they've received - and makes a point in the process about so-called 'civilised' people.