Subtle Racism in Lotro

[Nemulas]

8skyfaller makes some very good points. My own contribution to this thread is clumsy and the same points have been better made by people who continued to study literature after their 16th birthday. But anyway..

Tolkien's mythology arose from his studies of the origins of the English language, and northern European mythology. He was writing something that would appeal to our* cultural background, he didn't attempt to incorporate elements of African, Hindu or Far Eastern Mythology.

Now, in high fantasy such as this, you need good (the Elves, the Dunedain), Evil (Orcs, the Dark Lord, monsters) as well as ordinary folk, who are mostly good. In the end, absolute evil is destroyed, but absolute good is also lost to us, and Men are left to find their own path.

Elves and Men both awoke in the east but migrated to live in the west, the promised land, much as our european ancestors had done.

They came to be hemmed in on all sides by the forces of the Dark Lord. In the Silmarillion, he dwelt in the northern wastes. In LOTR, he now abides in the South and East, controlling all of the lands off the edges of our map, though the grey mountains in the far north remain an abode of goblins and worms.

The only side on which we are not beset is West - where lies a vast ocean, beyond which the valar are said to dwell - thither only the Elves may travel, and none can return.

The unfortunate thing about this mythology is that rather than simply becoming orc food /enslaved, these humans living in occupied territories fall under Sauron's influence and end up fighting on his side. Thus the book gives an unflattering account of African / Eastern humans.

It is worth remembering that in the second age, Sauron ruled over the men living in the west of middle earth too. Yes, that's us white skinned western europeans, worshipping Morgoth and practicing evil. Tolkien moderated Sauron's absolute evil somewhat - rather than practicing genocide, Sauron was content to assume the role of "king of men" - because he wanted to show that man is capable of following evil.

Within the Tolkien universe, it is only an accident of strategic geography that kept men of northwestern middle earth (mostly) free of his influence in the third age. As a practical matter, the legend was told from a European perspective, therefore this is where the "last stand" of civilsation would take place.