Did JRR Tolkien invent the Orcs?
Tolkien is considered to be one of the pioneers in "midieval" fantasies. His books has spawned many other fantasy books and inspired a lot of RPG's, video games, etc.
So, my question is: Did he invent the Orcs?
How about elves? I know he probably didn't invent them, but he may have invented them in their current form. Tall, slender and great with bows.
he had no allegories
Originally posted by Captain REX
Also his works had Christian things tied in. The Ring was like sin, tempting people. See if you people can find any more...I think he did invent the Orcs. Their cool, which makes up for their stupidity and ugliness...
Tolkien hated people like you that would take his works and make allegorical statements with them 😠
Guys does it really matter,
A) he might have said and thought it he might have not, I dunno, I do believe that he might or might not have changed his opinion on that
so there for it matters lil'
B) I don't think Tolkien would have minded it if that was just someone his "opinion" (using "'s to state that I don't know wether or not I can really call it your opinion) it is not like cpt. rex is writing it in papers or using other forms of mass media
C) most of all I think Tolkien wanted ppl to read his books and while doing so enjoying themselfs and learning a few things about life and themselves
Justaguy, please tone down that attitude. Aside from anything else you are wrong. Do not confuse subtext and allegory!
Tolkien is quoted as saying that he avoided overt Christian references in his books because the subtle approach "communicated Christian values more effectively precisely because they were less obvious."
(this lot taken from a Tolkien website)
___According to Tolkien and his close associates, the writings were grounded in an unstinting Christian conviction that, at the end of time, God would finally and forever defeat evil.
___Tolkien rooted that conviction in his own faith in Christ.
___Tolkien said the only criticism of "Lord of the Rings" that ever bothered him was that it "contained no religion."
___He described his fictional Middle Earth as "a monotheistic world of 'natural theology.'"
___The fact there are no churches, temples or religious rites and ceremonies "is simply part of the historical climate depicted" in his fiction, he said.
___"I am in any case myself a Christian," he said, even if his "Third Age" was not a Christian world.
___Tolkien believed eternal truths established in creation would be recognizable even in his fictional "sub creation."
___"We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth which is with God," he told C.S. Lewis during their late night discussion that resulted in Lewis becoming a Christian.
___More insights into the hidden spiritual currents that drive Tolkien's work are found in an acclaimed but lesser-known work, "The Silmarillion."
___The bible of Tolkien's mythical world recounts millennia of history, along with the mythological structure of Middle Earth, including an all-powerful deity, angelic beings and a version of "the fall" of some of those beings.
___The deeper framework allows Tolkien to explore profound questions of destiny and free will, the reality of evil and the task to struggle against it.
Yes, he hated allegory. But none of that WAS allegory!
yes, what Ush says. and to finish it off:
From Tolkiens Letter #142:
"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like `religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. "