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by forapurpose 2933 days ago
> Tolkien didn't "dehumanize" the enemy, because the enemy were literally not humans

I think the GP is saying the same thing, but from another perspective (and I agree). Effectively, the GP says:

the enemy were literally not humans so Tolkien literally "dehumanizes" the enemy.

Another way to to look at it: In the Lord of the Rings, you can identify someone's character by their appearance and 'race': Orcs are evil; odd-looking people (some in Bree, IIRC) are questionable; Elves are just and wise; Dwarves are greedy and sturdy; etc.
1 comments
DonaldPShimoda 2933 days ago
It seems to me that this interpretation would only make sense if all of the enemy are orcs/trolls/etc. But that's not the case at all. Tolkien draws a clear distinction between the truly evil non-human creatures and the bad/misled humans.

> odd-looking people (some in Bree, IIRC)

"The Southerner", who is later speculated to in fact be a rather human-looking orc if I remember right.

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