Racism in Tolkien's Works
Racism in Tolkien's Works
"Who told you, and who sent you?" — Gandalf
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    "For years, Tolkien scholars have waged a fight on two fronts: against an academic establishment that for the most part refused to take the author's work seriously, and against white supremacists who have tried to claim the professor as one of their own." 
    ― David Ibata, Chicago Tribune[1] 

Haradrim from The Lord of the Rings (film series)
John Howe - Easterlings

Fans and critics of Tolkien's works have observed several ambiguously Racist and race-based elements; these go further into stereotyping or symbolism of good versus evil in the Tolkien's legendarium. As early as the first edition of the Lord of the Rings this topic was discussed, including by C.S. Lewis who wrote that people who dislike a clear demarcation of good and evil "imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people."

Tolkien's legendarium also makes many references to topics related by extension to racialism, such as eugenics, bloodlines, and (by extension) even the superiority of heredity over other authorities.

Some of these accusations of racism may be partially explained by a wider reading of Tolkien's works or a deeper thematic analysis, and others are more difficult to dismiss. In Tolkien's extensive letters one can find both comments that can be interpreted as racism as well as defense against the accusations.

Christine Chism mentions the issue of racism in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, where she distinguishes accusations as falling into three categories: intentional racism, unconscious Eurocentric bias, and an evolution from latent racism in Tolkien's early work to a conscious rejection of racist tendencies in his late work.

In the Foreword to the revised edition of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien cautioned strongly against viewing it as an allegory, saying that he disliked allegory himself. Furthermore, according to his own claims, Tolkien denounced Hitler, Nazi beliefs, "race-doctrine" and apartheid and praised the Jews, calling them a "gifted people" (see below).

The global popularity of The Lord of the Rings (film series) has done much to perpetuate popular interest in, as well as criticism of, Tolkien's writing.
Contents
[hide]

    1 Indications
        1.1 Orcs
        1.2 Light vs. Dark
        1.3 Evil Men
        1.4 Racism in Middle-earth
        1.5 Dwarves as Jews
        1.6 Numenoreans
    2 Counterindications
    3 Lord of the Rings and Fascism
    4 Relevant Passages from the text
    5 Tolkien on Racism
    6 External links
    7 References

[edit] Indications
[edit] Orcs

The mostly white Free Peoples of Middle-Earth doing battle with the hordes of beast-like orcs is seen by some as an indication of racism.

Of the orcs, the Uruk-Hai are described as "black [2] and a smaller orc, a tracker, is described as "black-skinned".[3] All orcs are often described as "slant-eyed" and the Uruk-Hai at least refer to the Rohirrim as 'white skins.' In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as "...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."(Letter 210)

While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer, "(to Europeans,)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).

Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as irredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves or men. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race.
[edit] Light vs. Dark

Some critics have declared that there is racism in Tolkien's works through his use of the words such as "light" and "white" vs. "dark" or "black". In 2002, John Yatt in The Guardian wrote: "White men are good, 'dark' men are bad, orcs are worst of all."[4]. Other critics such as Tom Shippey and Michael D.C. Drout disagree with such clear-cut generalizations of Tolkien's "white" and "dark" men into good and bad.

The whole of Tolkien's Legendarium contains a conflict between literal light (The Trees, the Silmarils) and darkness (the literal absence of light). Morgoth's standard was "sable unblazoned" (that is, plain black). "Mordor" means "black land" in Sindarin. This ongoing clash may be interpreted as containing racial symbolism of light skinned versus dark skinned peoples, although Eol, father of Maeglin was known as the Dark Elf, and the Moriquendi were called the Elves of Darkness, although both these terms refer to remaining outside the light of the two trees, not to skin tone. The Black Númenóreans are likewise named because of the color of their allegiance to Sauron and their heraldry, not their skin tone.

But white is not associated only with Good. Saruman the White has the White Hand as his symbol. Similarly black is not only associated with evil as Gondor uses a black standard bearing the White Tree, and the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith wore black chain mail. In The Peoples of Middle-earth, three Númenórean ships are followed by a boat with black sails. One of the mariners explains to a native of Middle-earth, scared that the black sails indicate doom, that the blackness is in fact a thing of beauty, the night sky of Elbereth (who kindled the stars). Indeed, Tolkien states that one of Morgoth's (literally, the Black Enemy) victories was in associating darkness and night with fear and evil.
[edit] Evil Men

One potentially racist element in Middle-Earth is that the majority of the men who serve Sauron are the dark-skinned peoples of the Easterlings and Southrons. They come from the South and East of Middle-Earth, corresponding with Asia and Africa in the loose connection between Middle-Earth geography and that of the real world. The Easterlings are aligned with Morgoth or Sauron with the exception of Bór's folk. They are described as being of fairly dark skin complexion, swarthy and exceedingly cruel. The Southrons (or Haradrim) are described as black-skinned, cruel and evil, and are apparently at least inspired by Indian cultures with traits such as fighting on Mumakil-back.

In some cases, people having the slightest blood relation to enemies, like Freca and Wulf, who are related to the Dunlendings, are presented as evil themselves, as if evilness is hereditary. Some of these are also called "swarthy" (dark). Bill Ferny is said to be swarthy, and this can be traced to his Dunlending ancestry.

While the Easterlings and the Haradrim are dark-skinned people in the service of the Enemy, the Woses are primitive, small, and alien compared to other peoples (their chief Ghan-buri-Ghan only wears a grass skirt) yet they are valuable allies (in The Return of the King). While Tolkien does not mention their skin colour, they were considered monsters by the Rohirrim who hunted them as animals, which the narrative explicitly condemns. However in the First Age they were counted as Edain, or noble Men, and were allies of the Elves.

However, not all enemies are non-white. Noteworthy examples are Saruman, Gríma, Gollum, and at least two of the Nazgûl. Also Lotho Sackville-Baggins and the ruffians are white-skinned characters who ravage and take over the Shire. Indeed, while during the timeframe of Lord of the Rings those enslaved and serving Sauron are darker skinned people from the South and East, during the history of Middle-Earth many of the white races of man and even some Elves were fooled and coerced by the Enemy.

Tolkien also wrote that the Blue Wizards, who do not appear in 'The Lord of the Rings narrative, were sent into the South and East lands to spread dissent and resistance against Sauron. While he wrote on one occasion (as given in Unfinished Tales) that they failed, on another occasion (as given in The Peoples of Middle-earth) he wrote that they were successful, making Sauron's hold on these lands throughout the centuries significantly weaker than it should have been. This prevented Sauron from overwhelming the West with his armies and ultimately contributed to his defeat in the War of the Ring. This means that Southrons and Easterlings resisting Sauron were meant to exist, only that their stories remain untold.
[edit] Racism in Middle-earth

Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between Legolas and Gimli is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When Gimli takes a strand of Galadriel's hair, he is described as having "look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."

It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called snaga (slave).

The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them. They are not without prejudice, however, and Gandalf is shown reprimanding Frodo for his comments on Barliman Butterbur.

The Númenóreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the Kin-strife), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Númenórean Castamir while the hero was the half-Númenórean Eldacar.
[edit] Dwarves as Jews

Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews:

    ""The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."" 
    ― J.R.R. Tolkien[5] 

One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language Khuzdul to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" (Letter 176)

Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of the dwarves (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people.

However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the Seven Rings. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews.
[edit] Numenoreans

Tolkien has divine beings blessing or gifting peoples or persons and their descendants, having thus the concept of the chosen people who differ from others — in Tolkien's case, the Dunedain (literally "Men of the West") of Numenor. It should be also noted that according to Theosophy, Ariosophy and Nazism[6], the Aryan race is supposedly descended from Atlantis.[7]
[edit] Counterindications

Tolkien's defenders assert that many criticisms of racism and elitism leveled at The Lord of the Rings and other writings are oversimplifications and generalizations, and do not take account of everything the author may have written concerning these matters.

    The symbolism of light as good and dark as evil is a prehistoric dichotomy present in a great many cultures, Western and otherwise. It is also a part of Christianity (John 8:12 Jesus Christ said, "I am the Light of the World, Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."). Variations such as the Manicheeist heresy and further the ancient religion of Persia - Zoroastrianism. 

    Tolkien was English, and wanted to make a mythology for England. Therefore he wrote The Lord of the Rings according to his people's point of view. He could not make his protagonists, say, Incan or Japanese, or even put the setting anywhere else than (an alternative) North-western Europe, in spirit if not in actuality. 

    Tolkien only made precise geographic correspondences of Third Age Middle-earth locations to those in the real world. For example, Hobbiton was at the latitude of Oxford. The Shire was based upon, but was not actually rural England, since "the lands have changed" since then. Tolkien made no precise correspondences regarding the peoples concerned. Though the Hobbits were based upon rural English folk, they were not literally ancient Englishmen. He never said that Harad was Africa, nor the Eastlands Asia, nor their inhabitants ancestors of Africans or Asians. The Silmarillion presents tales of a time when the Earth's lands were different from that in the Third Age. 

    Not only the East and South are associated with evil, and neither were they always so. In the First Age, evil came from the North when Morgoth based himself in Angband. Also, all Men and Elves first awoke in the East. Boromir is introduced as a "man of the South" without qualification (actually South-west). 

    The white but darker-skinned Dunlendings themselves are descendants of the Edain (through the House of Haleth), therefore distant though unrecognized relatives of the Dunedain of Numenor, and their ancestors grew hostile to the Dunedain due to the latter despoiling their forests. The mostly benign and hearty men of Bree are descended from Dunlendings. 

    In the War of the Ring, the human enemies are not truly evil, since they are described as deceived, enslaved or exploited. Sam sees a dead warrior of Harad and wonders if he was truly evil — or rather deceived or coerced to go to war (see below). The Dunlendings are persuaded by Saruman to attack Rohan, playing on their grievances due to Gondor giving what they considered their land to the Eotheod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Earlier, Sauron persuaded their ancestors to fight against the Numenoreans, the cause of their relocation from forests into the hills. 

    Tolkien does not actually mention the physical features of the Easterlings in The Lord of the Rings; however the Easterlings of The Silmarillion are described as either sallow or swarthy. There is no certainty that the Easterlings of the First Age are the same people as those of the Third Age though: in fact, many of the "white" Men of Eriador are indicated to be descendants of the First Age Easterlings. 

    Tolkien first describes the Haradrim in The Lord of the Rings as tall, dark, and looking fierce and nasty (according to Gollum), with long black hair, painted faces and gold earrings and ornaments. Later a warrior of Harad who falls at Sam's feet has black plaits of hair braided with gold. Notably, the author does not describe them as black, nor their hair as kinky, nor give them any other typical sub-Saharan African features. 

    All the "superior" people, be they Elves, Edain or Dunedain, have no direct analogues in peoples of the real world. If the Dunedain could be put somewhere, they would belong in Atlantis, since Numenor was Middle-Earth's counterpart to Plato's Atlantis. The Rohirrim, who have been parallelled to blond and fair Europeans, are "inferior" to them, being Middle Men, in their view. 

    Kings, princes, heirs and noblemen as protagonists is not necessarily an advocation of blood nobility, since it is a theme and concept common in myths and fairy-tales. Also, Samwise Gamgee represents the common man, and sees insights that more "noble" characters apparently do not, such as the true situation of the human enemies. Note that in a letter (#131), Tolkien states that Sam is the chief hero of the whole book. 

    There are no truly "perfect" peoples in Tolkien's writings, save perhaps the Vanyar. Given that Tolkien loved trees and nature in general, having his Numenoreans wantonly cut down trees for ships is decidedly negative. The Noldor rebelled against the Valar and killed their fellow Elves. 

[edit] Lord of the Rings and Fascism

In Italy, Lord of the Rings is considered fascist by some groups and Italian fascist organisations are allegedly using the book for recruiting.[8] According to Italian website Caltanet, Alleanza Nazionale, a right-oriented Italian political party, had taken a picture from Fellowship of the Ring movie to promote a speech by his leader, Gianfranco Fini.[9]

Tolkien's works have also been embraced by self-admitted racists such as the British National Party.[10]
[edit] Relevant Passages from the text

    "It is not unlikely that they [Orcs] invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them"" 
    ― The Hobbit, "Over-Hill and Under-Hill" 

    "It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace." 
    ― The Two Towers, "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit" 

[edit] Tolkien on Racism

    "I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any Bestätigung (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine." 
    ― Letter 29 — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin 

    "Thank you for your letter... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone [sic] of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people." 
    ― Letter 30 (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent) 

    "There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done." 
    ― J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944 

    "I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White." 
    ― From a Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford in 1959 

    "As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long." 
    ― Letter 61 — Written to Christopher Tolkien who was stationed in South Africa during World War II 

    "Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge—which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light." 
    ― Letter 45 
from stormfront:
 Tolkien, His Dwarves -- and the Jews
J.R.R. Tolkien was a linguist and he delighted in inventing new, artificial languages. He mantainted that he produced his various writings on Middle Earth to provide a backdrop or framework for these tongues, and especially for the Elvish languages of Quenya and Sindarin. But as it turns out, the primary history of Middle Earth ("Arda") is its racial history, not its linguistic history, for languages do not make history (not even pseudo-history), people do.

In addition to human beings, Tolkien populated his universe with a number of non-human, yet human-like, species. Chief among the peoples of Middle Earth are Men (humans), Elves and Dwarves. Individuals of each of these peoples has his or her own individual personality, but also possesses a racial personality, that is, characteristics that are common to their kind.

OF JEWS AND DWARVES

The Dwarves play only a minor, secondary role in Tolkien's best-known work, the three-volume The Lord of the Rings, in which they are represented primarily by a single character, Gimli, son of Gloin. In The Hobbit, prequel to LOTR, however, they stand centerstage, for the plot revolves around a quest of a group of Dwarves to reclaim their lost homeland and its treasure.

In 1971, in an interview broadcast over BBC 4 in the United Kingdom, Tolkien made a startling claim concerning his conception of the Dwarves: he modeled them on the Jews. His exact words:

    "The Dwarves are quite obviously--woundn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic."

I was confused when I first read this statement, because it felt completely wrong to me. The names of the Dwarvish characters are taken from a list of dwarvish names in the Elder Edda. I imagined them as being Germanic, not Judaic, in nature. Certainly, as portrayed in Tolkien's books, they stood out as an honorable, warrior-like folk--hardly Jews at all!

Then one day, in re-reading The Hobbit for the umpteenth time, I came upon this passage, to which I had never paid attention previously:

    "There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much." (Chapter XII, "Inside Information")

If we substitute "Jews" for "dwarves," as Prof. Tolkien suggests we do, this sentence sounds very much like the testimony of someone who has had dealing with the Jews--dealings that were not always pleasant or satisfactory!

But even more arresting information was later revealed with the publication of The Silmarillion in 1977. This book includes the complete mythological background to Tolkien's invented universe. Tolkien was a man torn by conflicting affinities. On one hand, he was a devout Roman Catholic; on the other, he had an intense, lifelong interest in the pre-Christian heritage, religion, values and folkways of the Northen European peoples. One of the ways that he reconciled this spritual divergence was by creating a mythological system that fused Christian and heathen belief.

At the top, there is Eru, the One God, who is synonymous with the Christian god. He is also called Iluvatar, which means the All-Father, just as in the heathen tradition. But created by and subordinate to the All-Father are a group of beings known as the Valar ("The Powers"), who correspond to the heathen or pagan deities of pre-Christian Europe. And beneath the Valar is another level of supernatural beings, the Maiar, ("The Helpers") who correspond to the angels of Christian tradition. (Tolkien stated explcitly that the 3,500-year old wizard Gandalf, for example, is one of these angels.)

In addition to these supernatural races, the All-Father created the Elves (known as the Firstborn) and Men (known as the Followers). They are the Children of God. But the All-Father did NOT create the Dwarves.

In Chapter 2 of The Silmarillion, "Of Aule and Yavanna," Tolkein relates that the Dwarves, rather than being the children of the One God, were created by a subordinate deity, Aule, without the knowledge or permission of the All-Father. The Dwarves honor Aule as their creator, and upon their death they souls return to him in his hall; they do not go be with the All-Father, as do the souls of Men.

The implications of this are quite stunning: Tolkien is saying that in the universe that he has created, Dwarves (= Jews) are not the children of God, but are of a lesser order of creation, who have a different god at the center of their belief system than the One God, and whose souls do not go to heaven to be with God when they die.

No wonder the Jews are so quick to denounce Tolkien as a "racist!"

DISCUSSION

Let me make it clear: I do not believe that J.R.R. Tolkien was an "anti-Semite" or a "racist" in the way that these terms are commonly used today. He specifically spoke out against racism, segregation and apartheid. He further rejected both the social anti-Semitism of his day, as well as the political anti-Semitism of National-Socialism. And yet ...

Clearly, Tolkien was conflicted on a number of issues. I mentioned earlier that he was of two minds concening religion: his intellect drew him to Catholicism, but in his heart he harbored an affection for heathenism. I would suggest that his feelings about the Jews were also conflicted. On one hand, he opposed to what he perceived to be the persecution or unfair treatment of the Jews, either as individuals or collectively. On the other hand, he felt that there was some fundamental difference between the Jews and the rest of humanity. Further, this difference was not just one of kind, but was also one of human quality.

The Jews may consider this to be "anti-Semitism": goodness knows, they denounce every gentile who does not put Jewish interests ahead of his own interests as a "Nazi!" But I would say, rather, that Tolkien was not an anti-Semite, but a racial realist. 
 Tolkien’s Jewish Question
Although perennially opposed to directly explicit allegory, Tolkien himself states in letter 176 “I do think of the ‘Dwarves’ like Jews.” The Jews are a group that may seem at first left out of Tolkien’s reluctantly allegorical and religiously influenced work. The Christian connections are explicit, as the world can easily be interpreted in a Christian liturgical context; such context gives the story all the more meaning, but does it not leave out then entire groups from Tolkien’s fantasy? Tolkien’s extended allegories it seems also have elements of Nordic and Jewish theology, leaving room for further engagement on multiple religious tracks.
There are several features of the Dwarves that enhance their “Jewishness,” but the first that I will discuss, perhaps the most evident, are the negative stereotypes. The Lord of the Rings is itself already in a pseudo-medieval context, so this lends a good frame for viewing treatment of various races. What common ground do Elven stereotypes of Dwarves have in common with Medieval European stereotypes of Jews? Tolkien based his Dwarves on the traditional mythological Germanic Dwarves, as recounted in Old Norse Sagas (particularly those of Snorri). These characters physically were shorter than other races, had larger and hooked noses, and their curly hair was often red (a common trope to indicate the Jewishness of a character). Furthermore, Dwarves, especially Tolkien’s Dwarves, are greedy and proud creatures who care primarily about gold and its acquisition, as well as stashing it. The Dwarves, like the Jews, are noted craftsman, workers of stone and metal.
Politically, the Dwarves are highly insular, worrying little of matters outside their own nations. Although they do sometimes take sides, they are very hard to sway often accused by the Elves of being stubborn as the rock they so adore. Historically, the Jews were political wildcards as well; European states often did not know what sides Jews would take in conflicts, if any, and it was hard for them to involve themselves politically in much outside their own “nations.” In Tolkien’s world this neutrality is especially evident regarding the rings; Sauron is unable to subjugate the Dwarf ringbearers, and these incredibly powerful objects have little effect on them, merely increasing their avarice and desire for wealth.
The Dwarf communities also exist in parallel with European Jewish ones; Dwarves, like Jews, tend to live in smaller communities near or around communities of Elves or Men. Although the Dwarves and Jews adopted the languages of the countries within which they lived, they retained their own private language for use within their own communities. Tolkien’s Dwarves speak heavily Semitic-influenced language, Khazad, which heavily follows Hebrew phonology. Here there actually lies an important distinction between the Jews and the Dwarves, and that is that Khazad is a highly conservative language, essentially unchanged since its origins, whereas the Jews in Europe generally spoke Yiddish, an incredibly dynamic and fusion language. Yiddish exists in many dialects and varieties, taking on local vocabulary and characteristics from the countries in which the various Jewish communities lived, with some varieties more Slavic or more Germanic, although they all retained a large Hebrew influence. Why does Tolkien draw this distinction? For one, Tolkien may have just wanted a clear difference between Dwarves and Jews, to avoid too much overlap. Perhaps he did this to reflect population trends- Dwarf populations have massively decreased in Middle Earth, and they are almost dying out, whereas Jewish communities continued to grow in Europe until Zionism and the Holocaust.
Zionism brings up another great comparison between Jews and Dwarves: the search for a homeland. Both groups live in diaspora and in the shadow or larger, foreign communities, so we often see the desire to found a homeland. The first example of this is in The Hobbit, where Thorin seeks to lead a pilgrimage of sorts to reclaim the Lonely Mountain, a “lost homeland” of the dwarves. Moria is yet another example, with an even more Zion-like status. Moria was founded by Durin in the Years of the Trees, which essentially serve as Middle Earth’s biblical age. However, Khazad-dûm was eventually lost to the dwarves, and the various Dwarf/Orc wars over it could possibly be interpreted as analogous to the crusades. It’s hard, however, to think of an analogue for Durin’s Bane, the Balrog, and perhaps there isn’t one. An attempt to construct one might be done by looking at Gandalf in this situation; I would postulate that Gandalf is the British Empire, who destroys the current power occupying the area, and makes the land safe for the Dwarves/Jews to return. This would imply that Durin’s Bane is the Ottoman Empire, however this does not function historically very well, as the Ottomans (and Muslim empires in general) were in fact kinder and more hospitable to the Jews than many European powers, allowing them to peacefully coexist as dhimmi (People of the Book). Maybe Durin’s Bane is something nobody expects, like the Spanish Inquisition?
As a final point in closing, I think is worthy of note is how the Dwarves are driven from their lands- and that is generally by fire. Dragons drive them from Erebor and the Grey Mountains, and a fiery Balrog drives them from Moria. The Dwarves’ history of being genocided mirrors the Jews, in fact, the Holocaust is literally Greek for “death by fire.” True, The Hobbit, detailing Smaug’s genocide of the Dwarves at Erebor, was written prior to the Holocaust, the other events are all detailed in The Lords of the Rings and The Simarillion, which of course were written many years after the Holocaust.

It’s easy to draw on a few apparent characteristics and jump to a conclusion; but Tolkien goes beyond that, his comparison of the Dwarves and Jews is far-reaching, relating them not just in their stereotypes, but their politics, anthropology, language, and history. Those who might attribute shared negative traits (avarice specifically) to anti-Semitism would do well to read a letter Tolkien wrote in response to a German publisher’s inquiry into his lineage: “But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.” We would all be well reminded that Tolkien showed vice in not just the Dwarves, but in all races: Man, Elf, Hobbit, and Maiar alike.
Tolkien’s races

Noisms at Monsters and Manuals suggested in comments that a “formalist” reading of Tolkien is necessary to properly understand how the races in Middle Earth might reflect real racial differences. Others online have suggested that Tolkien didn’t give any formal characteristics to his races – that he never said elves are white and Haradrim are black – and that subsequent racially-specified images of them reflect the readers’ prejudices.  But reading Tolkien doesn’t support the view that his races weren’t racialised. For example, here is the first Haradrim we meet:

    “…a man fell, crashing through the slender trees, nearly on top of them. He came to rest in the fern a few feet away, face downward, green arrow-feathers sticking from his neck below a golden collar. His scarlet robes were tattered, his corslet of overlapping brazen plates was rent and hewn, his black plaits of hair braided with gold were drenched with blood. His brown hand still clutched the hilt of a broken sword…“

We’re talking here about a race with brown skin and black braided hair, which lives in the Jungles and deserts of a hot Southern land, and which rides elephants. I don’t think the racial symbolism of this accidental. They were in the thrall of Sauron and fought for him, so also therefore presumably evil.

There is very little about the physical nature of Easterlings in the descriptions in the novels, because they don’t play a big part; but their most famous contingent are the Wainriders, who pretty clearly represent the mongol hordes. The Easterlings are clearly also allied with Sauron, and are evil. As we will see in the next section, Easterlings were of a different racial stock to the Men of the West. Whether they were physically distinguishable, they were clearly racially distinct.

Tolkien himself described the Orcs as

    …squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types

and some Orcs are black-skinned. They are clearly racially distinct from humans and elves, and by definition evil. He also clearly associated the Dwarves with Jews in one of his letters. Details of this controversy over race in LoTR are given a very balanced exposition at the Tolkien Gateway.

Tolkien’s racial theories

Tolkien obviously construed the Elves as superior to Men and Dwarves. He also clearly constructed a racially deterministic world, where some races (Orcs, Haradrim and Easterlings) were evil and some (Mixed and High Men, Elves and Dwarves) were good but flawed. While his good races were capable of doing evil, his evil races were incapable of doing good, or at the very least were so vulnerable to the thrall of evil that they were for all intents and purposes racially evil. But of particular interest here is his division of humans into two racial kinds – Wild Men and Middle or High Men. Wild Men are explicitly under the thrall of evil – they were corrupted from their genesis. On the other hand, the Edain escaped from Morkoth and were contacted by the elves, who gave them special gifts (of long life and magic) which ennobled them. They then returned to Beleriand, and settled in the western half where they slowly intermingled with the Middle Men, and diluted their special gifts. Some of these Middle Men (such as the Dunlendings) are described as swarthy, and were oppressed by the Edain.

The strongest and most obvious example of this racial theory in action in the books is Aragorn. Racially pure, he has retained the gifts of High Men and so has special rights to command his undead ancestors, to use the special magical devices of his old people, and to use magic no-one else knows. Some of these properties are drawn from his noble lineage, but some are a consequence of his racial purity. Noble lineage in the third age is, of course, associated with racial purity, and with nobler traits.

Aryan Racial Theory

The Aryan Invasion Theory is a theory of classical history, used to describe the civilisations of the Indus valley particularly, which posits that a bunch of horse-riding nomads destroyed or captured the peaceful civilisations of the Indus Valley and subsequently learnt the culture of the Indus valley, before writing the greatest religious texts of India. The original theory is mildly neutral or pro-Indian, suggesting that the Aryans were barbarians who were civilised through contact with the Indus valley; but subsequent incarnations of this theory in the interwar period held the Aryans to be a superior Norse race who civilised the Indians. There is no evidence that any of this history ever really happened, and the theory is roundly hated by Indians for its obvious racist overtones.

There is evidence in Tolkien’s letters that he at least knew of Aryan racial theory, and subscribed to it, because he had the singular misfortune of having to argue with Nazi publishers over his books, which would not be published in German unless he could prove he was Aryan. He appeared to subscribe to elements of this theory:

    I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects.

though his letters make it pretty clear he doesn’t like Nazi racial theory, at least as it pertains to Jews. Like most scholars of his time, he probably believed the then-mainstream theories about racial history which pervaded the academy, but whether he extended this to his perceptions of the relative superiority of whites over blacks or asians at the time is not known, nor to be assumed.

Tolkien’s novels seem to contain a kernel of this racial theory, in that the most superior race ennobles the Edain, who then ennoble the mixed men they encounter, but are in turn brought low by interbreeding with them. It’s clear that the most noble races are white and the least noble (Orcs and Haradrim) are swarthy or black – there is a colour spectrum here. This pattern follows the pattern of the more racist incarnations of Aryan theory extant when he wrote – particularly those of Abbe Dubois, which were translated in 1897, and the archaeologists who uncovered “evidence” of western influence in the Indus in the early 20th century. It also follows some other theories floating about then about the influence of Nordic culture on the “inferior” slavic and Eastern races, the development of which can be read about in any good (or bad!) text about the antecedents of Nazi racial theory. While these theories are discredited today, they were not at all unpopular or disputed at the time that Tolkien wrote.

Aryan Racial Theory and Fascism

Hitler loved Aryan Racial Theory, which became the cornerstone of Nazi demography, social science, biology and history. Some of the theories on racial mixing – particularly about Jews – propounded by the Nazis can be read online at the Calvin University Nazi Propaganda archive, which is a fascinating way to pass an afternoon. Hitler also took up the Aryan Invasion Theory and ran with it, as part of his two-pronged mission of retaking Europe and founding Nazi colonies overseas. The Nazis believed that Western culture owed all its best properties to the Nordic races, and all its worst properties to the “untermenschen” of the East and South. Any model of racial history which supported this belief was imported and adapted, particularly if it supported any claim to lost homelands in the East or overseas.

Aryan Racial Theory is also very popular with modern Nazis. David Duke (to whom I will not put a link) has a very telling essay on his webpage about the Aryan invasion of India and the effects of inter-breeding with the locals on the morality of the paler Aryan overlords. Modern and WW2-era Nazis both believe strongly that races shouldn’t mix – the Nazis presented the Japanese as racially superior because their island nation had prevented “mixing” with degenerated mongols, for example, while the whites of the US were degenerate through association with Jews and blacks.

Tolkien’s politics

Tolkien clearly objected to the Nazis’ anti-semitism, and plainly thought their race laws silly. He opposed apartheid and didn’t believe language and literature should be held apart. He didn’t like the treatment of colour in South Africa, though it’s possible he did think that blacks were degenerate, or at least that white South Africans were persuasive:

    The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long.”[1]

Tolkien was willing for his books not to be published in Germany rather than be subjected to silly German laws about racial purity, but he also strongly and openly believed that Nordic society had done much good for the world, but had been ruined by the Nazis:

    Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.

This quote again suggests an Aryan racial theory for Europe, which has been ennobled by the “supreme contribution” of the Nordic races.

Tolkien is also known to have supported Franco, on the basis of some rumours about Republican atrocities in Spanish churches[2]. His letters and stated opinions suggest a man with politics very similar to most upper class white members of the Commonwealth at the time – racial isolationism, tinged with a strong hatred of Nazism drawn from a class bias against National Socialism (“that ruddy ignoramus”, Hitler) and a conservative distrust of radical politics. But like most members of that class at the time, he didn’t necessarily strongly oppose or even disagree with the racial and political theories at the heart of apartheid or Nazism. In the 30s, particularly, Hitler’s theories were much admired in the West, and their philosophical basis had not yet been discredited. Though we don’t have clear evidence either way in the case of Tolkien, it’s difficult to read his letters and get a clear indication of a man swimming against the current of his time.

Tolkien and British Nationalism

Tolkien ended up required reading for the Youth Wing of the BNP, on the basis of its raical theory and lauding of western ideals over eastern savagery. His inclusion may have been subsequent to the movies, which are rather popular amongst people who like watching dark-skinned people getting butchered; but it is no coincidence that the far right associates his work with their message on racial identity. Fascism and racialist nationalism hasn’t moved its racial theories on from the 30s when Tolkien wrote, and there is a lot of concordance between the racial essentialism of his world and the kind of racially segregated world that the modern BNP would like to see.

What this does and doesn’t mean

It’s unsurprising that an upper class academic from South Africa, writing in the 30s and 40s, should subscribe to a racial model for the creation of his imaginary world. It’s also not surprising that his racial theories would be consistent with Nazi-era racial theories or modern nationalist writing, since all three are drawn from the same source and people at that time were generally supportive of some portion of racial theories of history.

This has obvious consequences for that stream of “High Fantasy” which is highly derivative of Tolkien’s work. Tolkien’s worlds aren’t necessarily popular because of this racial essentialism, but much of the derivative work carries these ideas with it. Some of these notions are comforting for modern writers, some are just easy, and some are fun to play with. But copied whole, they project into the modern literary world a view of race relations which is anachronistic and highly consistent with mainstream conservative views of 60 years ago. They are also congruent with modern fascist politics, which of course holds racial essentialism at its core.

This doesn’t mean that Tolkien’s work is more or less admirable. The timeless appeal of Tolkien’s work as a whole is not due to its political-racial content, but the powerful story elements, the myth-making and the characters. For these elements to maintain Tolkien’s popularity even as the politics underlying the stories becomes anachronistic, they must indeed be very well crafted. This is the miracle of literature – a story whose fundamental social and political basis is no longer valid can still appeal to us, as Shakespeare does, through the power of its non-political elements.

It also doesn’t mean that Tolkien was a fascist or a racist, at least no more than any other upper class man of his time. But most people alive today would  consider the politics of an upper class man writing in the 40s to be quite repulsive, and its no surprise that some of Tolkien’s racial theories fit this category. But being a racial isolationist or believing that mongols were inherently inferior doesn’t make Tolkien a fascist, nor does it invalidate his work or even make him a bad person. However, it also doesn’t liberate his work from the obvious criticisms : it promotes a divisive vision of racial separatism and essentialism; and as an influential work in the genre, it has been essential in the reproduction of conservatism in High Fantasy. Critical reinterpretation of this work can liberate modern High Fantasy from the racialist and fascist origins of the genre, without necessarily leading to its political debasement or politically correct caricatures. Just as Tolkien can write an inspiring and great novel with odious racial politics, modern genre writers should be able to liberate the genre from this type of conservatism and still write inspiring and great novels.