Tolkien a Racist?

      Okay, so for many years now I have read and heard debates about Tolkien being a racist—that only the “white man” achieves anything in middle earth, with the white pigment being synonymous to the Elves, Dwarfs, and many humans. But before anyone brands Mr. J.R.R. Tolkien a racist I would like to present his story in a more realistic way and then allow each of you to be the judge.

                 

First of all, before the Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, I believe everyone knows this. It was for all ages and individuals—then World War 2 broke out and the Lord of the Rings was written during the events of WW2. The Orcs in J.R.R. Tolkien’s mind were analogous to the Nazis of Germany who believed that their race was superior to any other race. Keep in mind that Nazi’s believe in Aryan superiority and fall under the race umbrella of white. Evidence of Tolkien thinking this way is best analyzed in his notes which talk about how destructive the Orcs are, how they were considered of noble stock at one point (before being transformed into Orcs from Elves), and their use of machines/industry the way Nazi’s utilized these weapons of war—are all things to consider before branding J.R.R. Tolkien a racist. Now remember, Orcs are Nazis not Germans as a whole!

                 

 Next we have the argument of “the white elitist warriors” aka all the good guys are white and the evil guys are people from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia which are represented by Southrons, Variags, and Easterlings respectively. Now while many individuals feel justified from this position, they rely only on the movie interpretations and thus fail to look at the bigger picture, or the total essence of Tolkien’s works. I will now discuss some heroic Easterlings.

                 

 In the Silmarillion, Bor, Borthand, Borlad, and Borlach are all allied to Maedhros (aka White Elitist hero guy as branded by many), and they kill those who betrayed him—this is bewildering to those who don’t know this story so I’ll try to summarize. The Easterlings began to worship Morgoth (Satan) and Bor’s clan and sons did not want to worship the devil, so they turned the tide at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears and aided the Noldo or High Elves. This shows (along with a many other examples I could list) that Tolkien believed in goodness of all races.

                 

 Next we have Numenor—where they were considered by many to be mostly white men. We see them briefly in the intro of the Fellowship of the Ring. So many do not know the history of this great civilization and how they fell. Numenor (made mostly of white men/women) took Sauron captive and made him their King’s chief counselor. This is when Numenor becomes corrupted and takes part in many barbaric acts and human sacrifices to the Dark God Morgoth. Sauron is so influential that he even convinces Numenor to attack the Valar (aka a level of heaven connected to the world). Here Valinor (as this level is called) is removed from the planet and Eru (God himself) sunders Numenor and traps all the evil Numenorians that invaded Valinor in the Caverns of Time—locked away until they fight with Morgoth at the end battle.

                  

        So in essence many of the whites are condemned to hell. Not only do the majority of Numenorians following Ar-Pharazon (current King and most evil of Numenor) go to hell, but many of those who are called “Black Numenorians” fight for Sauron and suffer the same fate. We see one of these individuals listed in the Extended Version of Return of the King aka Mouth of Sauron. The thing is though, when Sauron is destroyed—(those black numenorians left over), the southrons, variags, and easterlings all have a chance for redemption—something that J.R.R. Tolkien was big on given that he was a Catholic.

 J.R.R. Tolkien cannot be branded a racist. Based on the evidence of his stories, the historical significance, and his own personal religious convections—we can honestly see that every race is corruptible (Elves, Maia, Men, Dwarfs, Ents, etc.) but all have the possibility for redemption. Many of us can preach hate and say that Mr. JRR Tolkien is a racist—but more than anything he is a pragmatist, and I believe that he would really care about being called either one right now. If we look at all the evidence presented, JRR believed that anyone could be saved and become a good individual as noted with the above stories. If anyone has anymore examples as to why JRR is or is not a racist please post on here. Thanks for the readings.

--Gene