The 'born evil' nature of the orcs was actually something that troubled Tolkien greatly. His Catholic belief that no soul is beyond redemption was something that clashed with his development of orcs and was something he never fully resolved. EDIT: What was the cartoon about the evil empire soldiers that came up a couple of times? It looks interesting. Also, I appreciate the 'timing' joke.
The purple guys? These are from the Ultron reboot. The first couple season are decent, although it's supposed to have kind of fallen apart by the time we actually get to see inside the evil empire (I stopped watching by then)
Yeah, I did find that while I was researching for this video because I really didn't want to believe that for all the thinking Tolkien did about his world he never considered the implications...but it's also not like that makes it any more okay, especially not with the impact his work has had on contemporary fantasy. In over 700,000 words of writing, even just providing one counterexample would've made a difference, I think. Like, when Christopher Paolini felt conflicted he wrote that into the fourth book by putting Urgles and humans on the same side of the battle, getting us to see them as people. He's not perfect by any means, but *that* felt like atoning and demonstrating nuance in a tangible way.
This is what irks me when people defend this trope, the very person who popularized it thought it was garbage and spent the rest of his life trying to figure out ways to rewrite it.
I don't think I ever said they were? They have racially distinct features-- to quote Tolkien himself: "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 are frequently described as 'monstrous', correlating their appearance with their actions and personality. This is opposed to the much more nuanced (allowed to act in good and evil ways) elves, who are described as beutiful. When one considers that beauty standards tend to favor in-groups as well as white people specifically, the idea of an entire 'ugly' race which is also evil...becomes a bit problematic, for tolkien himself as well as any who follow in his footsteps. While orcs aren't black-coded, they *do* play into racism itself. I hope this clarifies things (and doesn't sound *too* condescending) and I hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you for watching, and for engaging with the pauseboxes!
![Valheim: Road to Ashlands [FULL SERIES]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Lj29f6ameWw/mqdefault.jpg)
If it's any consolation, Jay, I also think you're hilarious.
I approve of the amount of RWBY footage in this.
The 'born evil' nature of the orcs was actually something that troubled Tolkien greatly. His Catholic belief that no soul is beyond redemption was something that clashed with his development of orcs and was something he never fully resolved.
EDIT: What was the cartoon about the evil empire soldiers that came up a couple of times? It looks interesting. Also, I appreciate the 'timing' joke.
The purple guys? These are from the Ultron reboot. The first couple season are decent, although it's supposed to have kind of fallen apart by the time we actually get to see inside the evil empire (I stopped watching by then)
Yeah, I did find that while I was researching for this video because I really didn't want to believe that for all the thinking Tolkien did about his world he never considered the implications...but it's also not like that makes it any more okay, especially not with the impact his work has had on contemporary fantasy. In over 700,000 words of writing, even just providing one counterexample would've made a difference, I think.
Like, when Christopher Paolini felt conflicted he wrote that into the fourth book by putting Urgles and humans on the same side of the battle, getting us to see them as people. He's not perfect by any means, but *that* felt like atoning and demonstrating nuance in a tangible way.
This is what irks me when people defend this trope, the very person who popularized it thought it was garbage and spent the rest of his life trying to figure out ways to rewrite it.
I like your funny words magic man
Worm Worldbuilding video, unless you already covered the world building in the “Meta-narrative” trilogy
Great video. I would love that you could talk about Rwby.
what's your opinion on the world of shield hero?
(more in depth than the few seconds in the video I mean haha)
Forgotten realms is not racist
Nothing the lore says can affect what you do at your own table
The orcs are not Black Coded
I don't think I ever said they were? They have racially distinct features-- to quote Tolkien himself: "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 are frequently described as 'monstrous', correlating their appearance with their actions and personality. This is opposed to the much more nuanced (allowed to act in good and evil ways) elves, who are described as beutiful.
When one considers that beauty standards tend to favor in-groups as well as white people specifically, the idea of an entire 'ugly' race which is also evil...becomes a bit problematic, for tolkien himself as well as any who follow in his footsteps. While orcs aren't black-coded, they *do* play into racism itself.
I hope this clarifies things (and doesn't sound *too* condescending) and I hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you for watching, and for engaging with the pauseboxes!
did you just conflate being 'born evil' with being black?