I agree with your analysis. I think a lot of people in this thread have objected to my comments on the assumption that I am making a strong claim of racism agai

I agree with your analysis. I think a lot of people in this thread have objected to my comments on the assumption that I am making a strong claim of racism against Tolkein. I really meant it when I said casual undertones. Would that Tolkein existed in a vacuum, this would be largely inconsequential, it's just that his blueprint has become the prototype for the whole genre. There are certainly characters in Tolkein who have less black-and-white moralities, but you very quickly see that "goodness" varies as a spectrum along "race" in LOTR. I certainly agree that other authors are more racist.