January 15, 2003

Re: Racism
Mithril Miner

Laurie, I agree with you when you say that it is not intended to be racist. The different races in Middle Earth have different characteristics because of the places they live and who they decended from.

The orcs live in the mountains, and so they are obviously going to be a little more worn with dirt and other stuff. (I agree with you again, Laurie, on the orcs skin. Even in the movies they are shown to have more greenish skin. And I don't know about the dreadlocks. I mean, there are such diverse hairdoes in the movie that I don't think there is really any argument on this point. Why debate over hairdoes?)

In contrast, the elves are people of the woods, people of the stars. Most live in great halls and houses, and therefore have fairer skin.

You could compare the whole situation to the lords and ladies of a medieval fiefdom to its workers. Obviously they are going to appear differently. They live different lives.

I hope my response was not too vociforous or audacious, but I think the racist thing is complete balderdash.