Are Orcs the victims of Orcphobic Racism from Elves, Men and Dwarves?

[Drewtate]

Was watching The Rings of Power recently and it never occurred to me that the orcs were the victims of racism and religious bigotry from Gondorian nationalists, Elven Supremacists, the alt-Rohirim and Dwarven militia groups.

Can Aragorn really make Gondor great again and when was Gondor really great?

Should middle earth be free from the River Anduin to the sea as Sauron claims?

[Oliverlogan263]

Woah dude, I never really thought about it like that before but you might be onto something! I always just saw the orcs as the bad guys cuz they fight for Sauron. But when you think about it, they're just tryna survive same as anyone else. It ain't their fault they were made the way they were. And Sauron's probably the only one who ever looked out for them, you know?

As for Gondor and stuff, man the history books always made it sound so great back in the day. But I bet there was still problems everywhere, even then. And Aragorn seems like an okay guy, but no way can one dude fix everything wrong with a whole country overnight, right? There's probably more to the story than what they teach us.

And the orcs living wherever they want, from the river to the sea... I mean that's their home too, yeah? We always act like it belongs to someone else just cuz we've been there longer. But the orcs were made there same as anywhere. Maybe there could be a way for everyone to share the land and get along, if folks just tried talking more instead of fighting. This whole thing's real complicated when you think about the orcs' side for once. Makes you wonder what really went down, and who the "good guys" really are!

[IceCreamSandwich]

Any humanoid fantasy race with zero redemptive qualities is questionable at best in my opinion. If they have no potential for growth then they aren't even characters, they're just tools in the story, so why would you make them a humanoid race? It just seems lazy to me.

Orcs aren't a race of people as they were created for the story, they're just sentient flesh puppets to enable the real antagonists. You can't be racist against them because they haven't been given any humanity by their author. They are canonically sub-human.

[NamerOfStars]

But they HAVE- as per Tolkien, orcs are elves that have been corrupted by Sauron. And before him, Orc was very much a positive, though extremely disruptive, figure in the works of William Blake.

[IceCreamSandwich]

@NamerOfStars really? I just read the LotR and the hobbit, but if there's more backstory that could make it more complicated. If they don't have capacity to change or grow as characters in the present though, I still don't think they're real characters, even if they were in their past. If corruption is total and unchangeable then its basically death of their souls. I know Tolkien isn't the only writer to use orcs though, and most fantasy races are changed at least slightly by each author, so I'm sure there are cases where orcs are not just used for evil.

[NamerOfStars]

Oh, yes- the Silmarillion adds quite a bit.

[strateguy632]

absolutely! their actions have no "legitimate" criticism! lol.

[Joshydavid25]

These Orc bastards are rowdy, loud, and violent.. I've been the the Gondor hoods.. Filthy places.. Round em up..

[Sharkstealth]

I always thought of them as the Nazis and same as with the stormtroopers. Apparently that wasn't so though.

[zagor]

Orcs are victims of lookism, being generally an unattractive race.

[Drewtate]

Agreed they lack elven privilege

[Dongie]

Orchestra are evil, not victims. They eat each other.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Brilliant. Well played.

[laly520]

oh yes thats what we needed

[handsomelad70]

WHAT?