While reading about the Uruk-Hai, I couldn't help but notice how it is impressed upon the reader that they are far more evil than just Orcs.
Later it is revealed that they are half-breeds. A mixture of men and orcs. (I swear I read that somewhere but now I can't find the quote to save my life...)
In a land where each race is isolated from the other, either through distance or ancient feuds, could it be that the mixing of blood is what makes the Uruk-Hai so great a threat to Middle Earth?
-Kelly Huber
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
I think it may also be that the Uruk-Hai have the qualities of both men and orcs. They have the physical strength of orc along with the mental strength of man, and that can make them a huge threat.
I don't think that it's really racism. I think it's more of being horrified that someone would mix the race of men with a group of beings that were soley created for evil purposes. So is it racism when it's disgust for a breed that's created to do evil and wreak havoc on the world? I don't really think so.
The orcs amaze me with their ability to just keep going without a break. Men don't have that. However, men do have the wit to track the orcs, which the orcs do realize, therefore showing that they display some of the wits of men. I think Tolkien does a good job of showing how powerful the orcs are. Later in the book, he also does a great job of displaying how hard they are to be destroyed.
I think this is a very interesting topic, which runs in several directions. On the one hand, the physical and linguistic characteristics of orcs have racial overtones, interbreeding is a problematic topic (e.g. between humans and elves, and as Kelly notes above, Uruk-Hai orcs), and the way in which Aragorn possesses superior qualities because he is from a purer blood-line than other humans...yet on the other hand Tolkien is a supporter of pluralism , e.g. the need for many groups to live in harmony together with each possessing qualities to be proud of.
There's a recent article worth looking at (available from Project Muse):
"Why is the Only Good Orc a Dead Orc? The Face of Racism Examined in Tolkien's World." by Anderson Rearick
thats quite a contradiction to tolkiens beliefs even though we need harmony amongst others breeding between on another is frowned upon. The only reason i believe the overtones set in this book was to promote goodwill and peace amongnst nations since of course he wrote this book after world war I and in between the beginning of world war II.
I don't think the Uruk hai would be MORE evil than the orcs per se. I remember reading that the Uruk hai were killing the orcs before they even thought of killing Merry or Pippin, because they wanted to follow orders from Saruman and the orcs didn't. As someone mentioned before they are smarter than orcs and stronger than men. So yes it's likely that the mixing of blood is what made them such a threat, but not in a racist sense. Speaking of racism lets not forget the elves and dwarves. The book makes it pretty clear that they hate each other, but Legolas and Gimli get along fine at this point in the story. Maybe Tolkien was using this idea of "mixing" as a way to show his support of pluralism and that things would be better off, in all aspects.
Interesting point. It is extrenely true that the Middle Earth is very segregated, and it only makes sense that a being of mixed races would be discriminated against.
I have to agree that I don't see it as racism at all. I think it just portrays the Uruk-Hai as men who are out to do nothing but evil. I also agree that it might be just mixing the strength and size of men with the evil of orcs, because when I think of an orc, I consider them smaller and sneakier than a man.
I've made a copy of Anderson Rearick's article "Why is the Only Good Orc a Dead Orc? The Dark Face of Racism Examined in Tolkien's World" on Blackboard under 'course content'
Just playing devil’s advocate here, but isn’t saying, “The only good orc is a dead orc” the equivalent to saying, “The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi” or “The only good Jew is a dead Jew?”
Post a Comment