March 5, 2003

Re: The 'Racist' Issue
Jocelyn

In response to Elf Girl's question about why weren't there dark-skinned elves or "Mexican" hobbits, we have to make allowances for the type of world Tolkien created. It's impossible to compare the modern, diverse, real world with the world based on Medieval Earth in which Lord of the Rings is set.

"Racial" differences (within a race, as opposed to species differences like we see in Tolkien's world) are on the most basic level regional differences, caused by human adaptation to their surroundings for a long period time (ie skin pigmentation, eye shape, etc.) The reason there wasn't more diversity WITHIN the societies Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits was because they weren't spread out all over the world for a long enough period of time for physical differences to develop.

Remember, the reason human society is so mixed now is because easy methods of travel make it possible for the residents of different continents and regions to interact. Middle Earth's fastest mode of transportation is horseback (or eagleback if you're lucky!) Hardly conducive to racial interaction.

Elf, Dwarf, and Hobbit societies were confined to very small areas, meaning that while you might see a Hobbit with a tan, there wouldn't be much variation in the way they looked. Their people grew and developed in one small space, so their bodies/physical appearances didn't alter.

So why weren't there dark-skinned Gondorrim or Mexican hobbits? The same reason there weren't dark-skinned European knights and Mexican Vikings! There weren't Mexicans or Africans in Europe! And people in Gondor didn't develop differing skin tones, nor did hobbits. They simply lived in too small a geographic area. Men as a whole, however, were more spread out in Middle Earth than any of the others, which is why they branched into races like the Easterlings and Haradrim.

So was Tolkien a racist by having those groups ally themselves with the bad guy? I tend to think not, but rather that if we brand him a racist, we must brand the entire population and society in which he was raised and in which he wrote his books as racist--and to an extent it was. But Tolkien also recognized that when different groups of the same species (races of men) form different alliances, it's usually done on a regional basis. Some call that racism, others call it realism.