The Details of Tolkien’s Tales

               I am Melian, a Maia of the Undying Lands, wife of Thingol the king of Doriath. As queen of Doriath, I was honored to support my husband Thingol in taking in Túrin, son of Húrin, as if he were our own, after he was sent to Doriath for safety by his mother. While my husband Thingol was happy to raise Túrin, I was the only one who saw the truth of Morgoth’s doom surrounding him. I feared greatly for his future, and tried my best to be a motherly figure  for him, guiding him down the right path as much as I was able. When he fled after wrongfully believing himself to be a murderer, I warned my husband Thingol against following him, as I could see it was too late for him to be saved, much as this broke my heart to do. Despite knowing how the story would end from the beginning, I had grown attached to the boy, and wished desperately I could change his fate. But alas, he had not heeded my warnings, and then it was too late.  ...

       Despite being on the side of the defense, I believe it was fair that Feanor and his sons were found guilty. While I do understand the side I was meant to defend, of them being victims of cruel fate, they still do hold a certain responsibility for their actions. However, had I not been assigned to the side of the defense, I probably would have continued to see them as essentially villains, so this was still an interesting perspective to consider.  Aside from the fact that it does not excuse their actions entirely, I still do think in the case of Feanor and his sons it is worthwhile to take a step back and look at the situation as a whole. While they did do unspeakable things in the name of their oath, it was an oath taken in extreme frustration and grief, both of which cause people to do unspeakable things in the real world. Furthermore, once the oath had been rashly taken, I do believe that they were bound to it in every way that would have mattered to...

Chapter 17-22 of The Silmarillion expand upon and add a layer of depth to previous conversations about the morality of orcs themselves, and to what degree they were responsible for the pain and suffering they caused as a collective. While it remains true that the majority of these creatures were created through torture and coerced into following evil, nearly all-powerful leaders, one cannot ignore the sheer amount of pain they caused in some of these most recent chapters. They tortured and terrorized others in the same ways they experienced constantly, seemingly going above and beyond the call of duty even of their evil overlords.  Chapter 20 in particular stood out to me, since in the beginning of this chapter the orcs’ role as sacrificial pawns is made clear when they are sent out in small, hopeless groups to be slaughtered as a distraction. In this moment, we can easily see how they were being used by more powerful, conscious leaders against their will. Even slightly later on, w...

            The orcs are known most widely as the primary soldiers of the Dark Lord’s army, created by Morgoth. They are believed to have originally been elves that were kidnapped, tormented and twisted into darker, monstrous beings to better suit his evil purposes. The first species they encountered after this transformation were the dwarves, who ran to inform the King of Doriath of this new and terrifying threat. This led the king to seek new weapons and weapon-making methods for the first time, leading to an even further increase in the violence and destruction in the world than would have been caused by the creation of the orcs alone. After fighting in one of their major battles, the Battle of Powers, they scattered to like in dark underground environments like caves and tunnels, mysterious and secluded from the outside world. Later on, they went on to serve Sauron, although many clung to their previous ways of life and at first, resisted joining his ar...