Likenesses in Middle Earth - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Luinalatawen · 02-13-2005, 11:34 AM

I most definitely agree - there are many similarities between the races of ME and the races of our world. But this then brings up the issue of racism in the works of Tolkien, which I presume has also been discussed at length here somewhere (yes, it has). I wonder if this was intentional or not. Perhaps Tolkien made the Haradrim slant-eyed because humans seem to tend to consider their own race 'good' and other races that they don't understand 'weird,' etc (not necessarily 'bad'). But is the fact that they sided with Sauron saying something else? If each ME race is truly representative of a race in our culture, what does that say about the sides of good and evil in the war of the ring?

02-13-2005, 11:34 AM	#5
Luinalatawen Wight Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 122	I most definitely agree - there are many similarities between the races of ME and the races of our world. But this then brings up the issue of racism in the works of Tolkien, which I presume has also been discussed at length here somewhere (yes, it has). I wonder if this was intentional or not. Perhaps Tolkien made the Haradrim slant-eyed because humans seem to tend to consider their own race 'good' and other races that they don't understand 'weird,' etc (not necessarily 'bad'). But is the fact that they sided with Sauron saying something else? If each ME race is truly representative of a race in our culture, what does that say about the sides of good and evil in the war of the ring? __________________ My philosophy: A chapter of a Tolkien book a day keeps Sauron's hitmen away.