Hear me out, he’s right but for the wrong reasons.

Tolkein’s framing of good and evil in all of his works is heavily based on order and disorder, purity and impurity. You can notice this in LOTR but it’s much more apparent in the silmarillion, where the ‘birth of evil’ occurs when the Ainur sing the world into creation in perfect symphony, but Melkor deviates from the melody to sing his own tune, creating disorder and discord. Thus, perfection in homogeneity and discipline is framed as ‘good’ and disorder in individual expression and deviation from the majority is framed as ‘evil’.

The same theme is repeated in the peoples of Arda. The Valar (those of the Ainur that came to live on Arda) recognise a strict racial hierarchy, where elves are closest to the gods and hence are allowed to live in the undying lands, Men/dwarves/hobbits are secondmost due to being ethnically related to the Numenoreans who allied themselves with the early elves, and all other races are equally worthless.

The orcs in particular are despised by the Valar because they are descended from elves who were mixed with other races by Melkor - again the theme of disorder and impurity being ontological to evil. The same goes for Saruman’s Uruk-Hai and the goblins.

In contrast, Melkor (and Sauron) never discriminated between the peoples of Arda, welcoming Men, Orcs, Elves, and all other peoples equally. The Men from the south of Gondor (Haradrim) who allied themselves to Sauron are frequently described as being racially impure in LOTR in some of Tolkeins most xenophobic-sounding writing.

One could make an argument that the racial purity-obsessed Valar are the true entho-fascists by the time of the third age, especially as all the books are effectively written from the perspective of the Valar. Tolkeins personal unease over the changes in the world during the mid-20th century, espcially industrialisation, war and mixing of different peoples, are apparent in the strangely out-of-place chapter “the scouring of the shire”, and the same themes are evident in the broader narrative. From this perspective, “evil” as described by Tolkein is a manifestation of the 20th century changes he personally exprienced, breaking the rural “purity” of the rural english towns he grew up in (obviously represented by the Shire), which is essentially a deeply reactionary way to frame it.

I’m fairly sure Thiel isn’t making the same point though, given his own comments about race.

Mordor started the war, they have less technology then the rest of middle earth, and act foolishly and randomly.

outside of mordor, a complex world functions well, cooperative distinct cultures cultivating and producing resources for a happy, healthy population.

thiel is such a dumb bitch.

Yes, the quote is real. Peter Thiel said “Gandalf’s the crazy person who wants to start a war…Mordor is this technological civilization based on reason and science. Outside of Mordor, it’s all sort of mystical and environmental and nothing works.” in a July 2022 interview with UnHerd titled “Peter Thiel on the dangers of progress”.

This is part of Thiel’s contrarian reading of The Lord of the Rings, where he explicitly states a preference for Mordor and Sauron, interpreting Mordor as a rational, technologically advanced society. The quote has been widely cited by multiple sources, including Current Affairs and Unpopular Front.

Is everything this bastard says the exact opposite of reality? Are his brains in his ass instead of his head or something?

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Weird, this is essentially the plot behind a Russian reinterpretation of LOTR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

Can’t Thiel at least come up with his own bad ideas?

Technologically advanced does not mean better. That’s manifest destiny in a trenchcoat and speaking with a neoliberal accent.

What the… this is one of the most unhinged takes I’ve ever seen

If being stupid would make you a billionaire:

Wait… …

Wormtongue.