Tolkien's moral dilemma

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illustration by Tom Loback

Roman Catholic,[T 1] created what he came to feel was a moral dilemma for himself with his supposedly evil Middle-earth peoples like Orcs, when he made them able to speak.[1][2] This identified them as sentient and sapient; indeed, he portrayed them talking about right and wrong. This meant, he believed, that they were open to morality, like Men.[1] In Tolkien's Christian framework, that in turn meant they must have souls, so killing them would be wrong without very good reason.[1] Orcs serve as the principal forces of the enemy in The Lord of the Rings, where they are slaughtered in large numbers in the battles of Helm's Deep and the Pelennor Fields in particular.[T 2][T 3]

If Tolkien wanted killing Orcs not to be such a problem, then they would have to be without any moral sense, like ordinary animals.[3][4][5] Both Tolkien and other scholars have been aware of the contradiction implied by this position: if Orcs were essentially "beasts", then they should not have had a moral sense; if they were corrupted Elves, then treating them as "other" to be slaughtered was straightforward racism.[2][6] Tolkien made repeated attempts to resolve the dilemma, trying different approaches but not arriving at what he felt was a satisfactory solution.[T 4][T 5][T 6]

Context

Further information: J. R. R. Tolkien and Middle-earth

Roman Catholic, he described The Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work", rich in Christian symbolism.[T 1]

Implied morality

Men and elves

In the

Halls of Mandos on Valinor.[8]

Anthropomorphized animals

great eagles, giant spiders, Smaug the dragon, ravens and thrushes. Hartley states that the Wargs on the other hand do not rise above the level of beasts, as they do not "speak the language of humans; they do not act independently; they do not possess autonomous wills or build civilizations. He notes on the other hand that Tolkien writes about Wargs' actions using verbs like "[to] plan" and "[to] guard", implying in his view that the Wargs are monstrous, "more than mere beasts", and have no morality.[9]

Tolkien faced the question of the Great Eagles' nature with apparent hesitation. In early writings there was no need to define it precisely, since he imagined that, beside the

Huan the Hound, in Tolkien's own words, "have been rather lightly adopted from less 'serious' mythologies".[T 10] The phrase "spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles" in The Silmarillion derives from that stage of writing.[T 11] For some time Tolkien considered the Eagles as bird-shaped Maiar.[T 12] However, he had already said in The Lord of the Rings that Gwaihir and Landroval were descended from the Eagle Thorondor, so no supernatural origin was involved.[T 10] Tolkien had also, long before then, rejected the notion of their being "Children" of the Valar and Maiar.[T 13] In the last of his notes on this topic, dated by his son Christopher to the late 1950s, Tolkien decided that the Great Eagles were animals that had been "taught language by the Valar, and raised to a higher level—but they still had no fëar [souls]."[T 10]

Orcs

A more serious problem arose for Tolkien, especially with apparently wholly evil beings, especially Orcs, but it applies also to others such as Wargs and Trolls. Since in Catholic theology evil cannot make, only mock, Orcs cannot have an equal and opposite morality to that of Men; but since they can reason about their lives and have a moral sense (though they are unable to keep to it), they cannot be described as wholly evil.[2][10]

Medieval image of cosmology of higher and lower beings
Scholars have noted that Middle-earth assumes a fixed hierarchy of beings, like the medieval great chain of being.[4] (Ramon Llull's Ladder of Ascent and Descent of the Mind, 1305, pictured)

All of this implies, as various scholars have commented, a hierarchy of races comparable with the medieval great chain of being, representing a range of moral complexity from Men – unquestionably sapient and subject to moral judgement – down to mere beasts, which are free of morality. In between, however, are several peoples, which at least sometimes have the power of speech, but that Tolkien implies are wholly evil and without morality, raising questions about what that could mean.[3][4][5]

Towards a hierarchy of beings

After completing The Lord of the Rings, and realizing he had created a variety of theological problems with his races of beings, Tolkien moved toward a more carefully defined hierarchical system.

Maiar, "angelic" spirits that "arrayed" themselves in bodily forms of the incarnates or of animals,[T 11][T 10] and were able to communicate both by thought and speech;[T 14] and finally animals, mere beasts, unable to speak.[T 12]

The Tolkien scholars Paul Kocher and Shippey note that in The Hobbit, the narrator provides a firm moral framework, with good elves, evil goblins (Orcs), and the other peoples like Dwarves and Eagles somewhere in between. The narrator says that the Eagles are "not kindly birds", and clearly carnivorous enough to eat a small rabbit-like Hobbit.[T 15][12][13][14]

Speech and morality of Tolkien's Middle-earth peoples
People Able to speak
The Hobbit		 Able to speak
Lord of the Rings
 Moral sense Origin So, they have souls?
Men Yes Yes Yes, leading to constant struggle Created sapient Yes, unproblematic
Orcs Yes Yes Unable to live up to own standards Corrupted Elves? Yes?
Great Eagles Yes Yes Helpful but carnivorous Derived from beasts? No?
Wargs Yes No None, uniformly evil Derived from beasts? No?
Trolls Yes Yes[a] None, uniformly evil Derived from beasts? No?
Beasts No No None Created non-sapient No, unproblematic

Dilemma

Wholly evil, or with a moral sense

The hero Tuor, a Man, slays the Orc Othrod: scholars have suggested that for Tolkien, Orcs were a conveniently wholly evil enemy that could be slaughtered without mercy.[15] 2007 illustration by Tom Loback

Scholars have noted that Tolkien's Orcs are depicted as wholly evil, meaning that they could be slaughtered without regret. All the same, Tolkien made them human-like both in being able to speak, and in having a similar concept of good and evil, a moral sense of fairness, even if they are totally unable to apply their morals to themselves. This presented Tolkien, as a devout Roman Catholic, with a theological problem: since "evil cannot make, only mock", the at least somewhat morally-aware Orcs could not have been created by evil as a genuinely new and separate species. Tolkien considered an alternative, that they were corrupted from one of Middle-earth's free peoples, such as Elves, which would imply that they were fully moral and possibly even had immortal souls, but found that option equally unpalatable.[1][16][17] Tolkien realized that some of the decisions he had made in his 1937 children's book The Hobbit, showing his goblins (Orcs)[18] as even slightly civilised, and giving his animals the power of speech, clearly implied sapience; this conflicted with the more measured theology behind his legendarium.[9]

An Orc's view of morality

'It's my guess you won't find much in that little fellow,' said

Gorbag
[an Orc]. 'He may have had nothing to do with the real mischief. The big fellow with the sharp sword doesn't seem to have thought him worth much anyhow – just left him lying: regular elvish trick.'

The Two Towers, book 4, ch. 10 "The Choices of Master Samwise"[T 16]

Shippey writes that the Orcs in The Lord of the Rings were almost certainly created just to equip Middle-earth with "a continual supply of enemies over whom one need feel no compunction",[15] or in Tolkien's words from "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics", "the infantry of the old war", ready to be slaughtered.[15] Shippey states that all the same, orcs share the human concept of good and evil, with a familiar sense of morality, though he comments that, like many people, Orcs are quite unable to apply their morals to themselves.[10] He notes that in The Two Towers, Tolkien has the Orc Gorbag disapprove of the "regular elvish trick" of abandoning a comrade, as he wrongly supposes Sam has done with Frodo. Shippey describes the implied view of evil as Boethian, that evil is the absence of good; he notes, however, that Tolkien did not agree with that point of view, believing that evil had to be actively combatted, with war if necessary—the Manichean position.[19]

In a 1954 letter, Tolkien wrote that Orcs were "fundamentally a race of 'rational incarnate' creatures, though horribly corrupted, if no more so than many Men to be met today."[T 17] Zach Watkins wrote that Tolkien had "constructed the orcs to be at least potentially moral beings"[20] Robert T. Tally wrote in Mythlore that despite the uniform presentation of orcs as "loathsome, ugly, cruel, feared, and especially terminable", "Tolkien could not resist the urge to flesh out and 'humanize' these inhuman creatures from time to time", in the process giving them their own morality.[2] Stentor Danielson describes the Orcs as cutting trees "just for fun" and "out of pride in their ability to do so", noting that the character Treebeard calls the behaviour "orc-mischief".[21]

Tolkien's search for a resolution

Tolkien attempted to resolve the dilemma about his Orcs by proposing several semi-contradictory theories for their origins. In

Melkor who fared abroad doing his evil work".[T 18] In The Silmarillion, Orcs are primal Elves "corrupted and enslaved", tortured, and bred by Melkor "in envy and mockery of the Elves"; later on, Elves of Beleriand thought them "perhaps to be Avari who had become evil and savage in the wild; in which they guessed all too near, it is said."[T 4] They bred like Elves and Men: "For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar".[T 4] In "The Fall of Gondolin" Morgoth made them of slime by sorcery, "bred from the heats and slimes of the earth".[T 5] Or, they were "beasts of humanized shape", possibly, Tolkien wrote, Elves mated with beasts, and later Men.[T 10] Or again, Tolkien suggested, they could have been fallen Maiar, perhaps a kind called Boldog, like lesser Balrogs; or corrupted Men.[T 6] If they were just "beasts" then they should not have had any morality of their own; but if they were fallen Elves or Maiar, then they certainly did, and valuing them as "other", to be killed without mercy, would in the opinion of Tolkien scholars like R. T. Tally be straightforward racism.[2][6]

The origins and morality of Orcs: the Catholic Tolkien's dilemma
Issue Created evil? Like animals? Created good, but fallen?
Origin of Orcs
according to Tolkien 		"Brooded" by Morgoth[T 18] "Beasts of humanized shape"[T 10] Fallen
Maiar, or corrupted Men/Elves[T 4][T 6]
Moral implication Orcs are wholly evil (unlike Men).[15] Orcs have no power of speech and no morality. Orcs have morality just like Men.[19][2]
Resulting problem Orcs like Gorbag have a moral sense (even if they cannot keep to it) and can speak, which conflicts with their being wholly evil. Since evil cannot make, only mock, Orcs cannot have an equal and opposite morality to Men.[2][10] Orcs should be treated with mercy, where possible.

See also

  • Tolkien's round world dilemma – another dilemma that Tolkien never resolved, on whether Middle-earth should be a planet in space, or should have a mythological past

Notes

  1. ^ The Trolls in The Lord of the Rings do not speak anywhere in the narrative. Tolkien states in an appendix that they can speak, but rarely do.

References

Primary

  1. ^ a b Carpenter 2023, Letter 142 to Robert Murray, 2 December 1953
  2. ^ a b Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 7 "Helm's Deep"
  3. ^ a b Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 6 "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"
  4. ^ a b c d Tolkien 1977 ch. 3 "Of the Coming of the Elves"; ch. 10 "Of the Sindar"
  5. ^ a b Tolkien 1984b "The Fall of Gondolin"
  6. ^ a b c Tolkien 1993, "Myths transformed", X
  7. ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 4 "A Journey in the Dark"
  8. ^ Tolkien 1937, ch. 6 "Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire"
  9. ^ Tolkien 1987, "Quenta Silmarillion", §2
  10. ^ a b c d e f Tolkien 1993, "Myths Transformed", VIII
  11. ^ a b Tolkien 1987, "Ainulindalë"
  12. ^ a b Tolkien 1993, "The Annals of Aman"
  13. ^ Tolkien 1993, "The Annals of Aman"; "The Later Quenta Silmarillion", ch. 1
  14. ^ a b Tolkien 1994, "Quendi and Eldar"
  15. ^ Tolkien 1937, "Out of the Frying-Pan and into the Fire"
  16. ^ Tolkien 1954, book 4, ch. 10 "The Choices of Master Samwise"
  17. ^ Carpenter 2023, letter 153 to Peter Hastings, draft, September 1954
  18. ^ a b Tolkien 1984b, "The Tale of Tinúviel"

Secondary

  1. ^ a b c d Shippey 2005, pp. 265, 362, 438
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tally, Robert T. Jr. (2010). "Let Us Now Praise Famous Orcs: Simple Humanity in Tolkien's Inhuman Creatures". Mythlore. 29 (1). article 3.
  3. ^ a b c Chandler, Wayne A.; Fry, Carrol L. (2017). "Tolkien's Allusive Backstory: Immortality and Belief in the Fantasy Frame". Mythlore. 35 (2). article 7.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-3031112669
    .
  5. ^
    ISSN 2076-0787
    . Whatever else orcs may be, they are most assuredly sentient;
  6. ^ a b Fimi, Dimitra (6 December 2018). "Was Tolkien really racist?". The Conversation. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  7. ^ Carpenter 1977, pp. 111, 200, 266.
  8. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 270–273.
  9. ^ a b Hartley 2014.
  10. ^ a b c Shippey 2005, pp. 362, 438 (chapter 5, note 14).
  11. S2CID 248207455
    .
  12. ^ Kocher 1974, p. 12.
  13. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 84, 91.
  14. ^ Burns 2005, p. 161.
  15. ^ a b c d Shippey 2005, p. 265.
  16. ^ Bergen, Richard Angelo (2017). "'A Warp of Horror': J.R.R. Tolkien's Sub-creations of Evil". Mythlore. 36 (1). Article 7.
  17. ^ Fawcett, Christina (2014). J.R.R. Tolkien and the morality of monstrosity (PhD). University of Glasgow (PhD thesis). pp. 29, 97, 125–131.
  18. ^ Evans 2013, pp. 433–434.
  19. ^ a b Shippey 2001, pp. 131–133.
  20. ^ Watkins, Zach (2007). "The Morality of Orcs". The Grey Book (3): 1–3.
  21. ^ Danielson 2021.

Sources

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