I disagree with pretty much everything on that article. In fact the author clearly shows his ignorance of Tolkien’s works several times throughout the post, obviously never having read any of the accompanying material.
I’m not even sure he’s read the Silmarillion (which is required reading for any discussion of Tolkien) -- the only reference from there (Angband), he mispells; and I doubt the guy would be saying that Tolkien adhered to the “black-white” contrast perfectly if he had even heard of Feanor or Turin Turambar. Frankly even Gollum alone ought have taught him better than that.
Let alone any of the History of Middle-earth volumnes (which is required reading for any serious discussion of Tolkien).
I’m not even sure he’s read the Silmarillion (which is required reading for any discussion of Tolkien)
To be fair, if we’re talking about what liberties we are allowed to take with LOTR, it’s important to remember that the Silmarillion was never a finished work, at least not by J.R.R. On some topics that are important to this discussion—the origin and nature of Orcs, for instance—Tolkien revised himself repeatedly. “The question of Orc origin may have been one of the problems Tolkien tried to solve by completely changing the cosmology and prehistory of Arda....Tolkien died before he could complete this upheaval of the cosmology, however, so the Elf origin was adopted in the published version of The Silmarillion.”
The text of LOTR suggests that every individual Orc was irredeemably evil. At least, there are no counterexamples, and there’s no suggestion that the good guys ever took any Orcish prisoners. This view doesn’t really fit with the general idea, expressed in Tolkien, that all creatures are originally good, and that evil can create nothing of itself.
Interesting point (and important if we consider the author as a Tolkein critic). But I’m not sure if evil Orcs is totally inconsistent with Tolkein. If they’re Elves who have been perverted mentally and physically, then they could end up effectively evil. It’s also worth noting that they still have some deep senses in which they are good-oriented in the Catholic sense that Tolkein works with. I think there’s a line about them essentially needing proper food, and also something about how they hate their leaders and creators. There’s a sense in which they know they’re WRONG.
Surely the Lord of the Rings is capable of standing on its own to someone who has not read any of the supplementary novels. Otherwise, you’re accusing 90% of the readers of Tolkien of misreading him.
You could think of the Silmarillion as a world within which the Lord of the Rings can exist, and the Last Ringbearer as another one—just as the real numbers can be constructed within multiple different set theories, and remain the same object.
Certainly LOTR is capable of standing on its own, same way that “Hamlet” is capable of standing on its own. But if you want to discuss Shakespeare seriously (the same way author discusses Tolkien as an author), then you better have read a few more of his works as well.
Instead of saying something to the point of “Shakespeare consistently only wrote tragedies about kings partaking in murderous plots” based just on your reading of Hamlet and Macbeth, while never having read “Midsummer Night’s Dream” or “The Taming of the Shrew”.
I agree that for Tolkein scholarship you have to read the Silmarillion and beyond, and that they present a much broader view of elves etc. But I didn’t take that as the purpose of the fanfiction in this case.
I disagree with pretty much everything on that article. In fact the author clearly shows his ignorance of Tolkien’s works several times throughout the post, obviously never having read any of the accompanying material.
I’m not even sure he’s read the Silmarillion (which is required reading for any discussion of Tolkien) -- the only reference from there (Angband), he mispells; and I doubt the guy would be saying that Tolkien adhered to the “black-white” contrast perfectly if he had even heard of Feanor or Turin Turambar. Frankly even Gollum alone ought have taught him better than that.
Let alone any of the History of Middle-earth volumnes (which is required reading for any serious discussion of Tolkien).
To be fair, if we’re talking about what liberties we are allowed to take with LOTR, it’s important to remember that the Silmarillion was never a finished work, at least not by J.R.R. On some topics that are important to this discussion—the origin and nature of Orcs, for instance—Tolkien revised himself repeatedly. “The question of Orc origin may have been one of the problems Tolkien tried to solve by completely changing the cosmology and prehistory of Arda....Tolkien died before he could complete this upheaval of the cosmology, however, so the Elf origin was adopted in the published version of The Silmarillion.”
The text of LOTR suggests that every individual Orc was irredeemably evil. At least, there are no counterexamples, and there’s no suggestion that the good guys ever took any Orcish prisoners. This view doesn’t really fit with the general idea, expressed in Tolkien, that all creatures are originally good, and that evil can create nothing of itself.
Interesting point (and important if we consider the author as a Tolkein critic). But I’m not sure if evil Orcs is totally inconsistent with Tolkein. If they’re Elves who have been perverted mentally and physically, then they could end up effectively evil. It’s also worth noting that they still have some deep senses in which they are good-oriented in the Catholic sense that Tolkein works with. I think there’s a line about them essentially needing proper food, and also something about how they hate their leaders and creators. There’s a sense in which they know they’re WRONG.
Surely the Lord of the Rings is capable of standing on its own to someone who has not read any of the supplementary novels. Otherwise, you’re accusing 90% of the readers of Tolkien of misreading him.
You could think of the Silmarillion as a world within which the Lord of the Rings can exist, and the Last Ringbearer as another one—just as the real numbers can be constructed within multiple different set theories, and remain the same object.
Certainly LOTR is capable of standing on its own, same way that “Hamlet” is capable of standing on its own. But if you want to discuss Shakespeare seriously (the same way author discusses Tolkien as an author), then you better have read a few more of his works as well.
Instead of saying something to the point of “Shakespeare consistently only wrote tragedies about kings partaking in murderous plots” based just on your reading of Hamlet and Macbeth, while never having read “Midsummer Night’s Dream” or “The Taming of the Shrew”.
I agree that for Tolkein scholarship you have to read the Silmarillion and beyond, and that they present a much broader view of elves etc. But I didn’t take that as the purpose of the fanfiction in this case.