Subject: Yes, but no.
Author:
Posted on: 2023-12-20 21:48:25 UTC

I mean, on its face, the idea of interbreeding between creatures descended from a common ancestor is not that weird. Saying this is odd is like saying wolf-dogs are odd because dogs are essentially corrupted wolves. (And you can't look at a pug or a bulldog and tell me they're not.)

The problem with this is really the problem of orcs in all of fantasy from Tolkien on down: they're an "evil race," and the only way an "evil race" has offspring with a "good race" is via an act of evil. It's deeply problematic and gross—and Tolkien knew it, too. He's on record as being uncomfortable with the idea that any people could be completely evil. The only justification for it in Arda is that they were forced into being by an evil Power, so their evilness isn't due to their own culture or choices, because they weren't allowed any of their own.

IMO, one of the better things about Rings of Power is their attempt to give the orcs and Uruk-hai more nuance. After centuries of existence, and given goblins/orcs have had their own self-governed kingdoms by this time, I believe nuance could very well come to be, and in time, given the chance, they could leave the stain of their origin behind and become a real society.

I'd read the heck out of a story like that.

~Neshomeh

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