An enslaved monkey race that rose up to fling off the chains of their evil Wizard master.. I am paraphrasing, but not by much. Slave race of monkey-like humanoids. That never should have made it past the editor in this day an age.
I don’t know of a monkey-like humanoids in the real world. Humans look very much different from monkeys, esp from the ones in the illustrations. That is really a long shot.
I really don’t follow this, on a similar absurd reasoning one could claim elves in lotr are racist because the have light skin.
It’s just a story set in a fantasy world. If you mean to it’s always possible to twist anything into being offensive.
Didn't stop generations of racists from making offensive comparisons. Doesn't stop them from continuing to do so.
Racism's value system doesn't care about rationality or truth.
> On a similar absurd reasoning one could claim elves in lotr are racist because the have light skin.
Amusingly enough, Tolkien did in fact hold racist beliefs, despite his fervent opposition to the Nazis during WWII. Both of those things can be and are true. His elves are very explicitly Old Norse expys (read his letters if you don't believe me) and his constant fawning over them (as pale, beautiful, skilled, and wise) in contrast to orcs (as dark-skinned, ugly, brutish, and enslaved) was criticized then and is still criticized now.
> If you mean to it's always possible to twist anything into being offensive.
It is justified to take offense at something that is, in fact, offensive.
I agree he seems to me to have held racist beliefs, I mean the orcs and the goblins.
However, I think the elves were straight up alfar with their leaders (Gandalf, Elrond, Celbrimbor, Galadriel, the wood elf king - I never remember his name) drawn from the vanir.
I think the Rohirrim were Anglo-Saxon expys though, and I think the Hobbits were English expys. I also think Tolkien put more than a little of himself in both Theoden and Bilbo. Theoden says 'A lesser son of great sires am I'. Also, the relationship between Bilbo (who stays home, too old to fight the war against Mordor) and Frodo (the young effectively son who goes to fight the evil in foreign dark lands) a parallel to him and Christopher Tolkien.
Place names, language, all of that is evocative of Anglo-Saxons (the early vikings, later they came from Sweden and Denmark), except horses.
Wikipedia says "Tolkien grounded Rohan in elements inspired by Anglo-Saxon tradition, poetry, and linguistics, specifically in its Mercian dialect, in everything but its use of horses. Tolkien used Old English for the kingdom's language and names, pretending that this was in translation of Rohirric. Meduseld, the hall of King Théoden, is modelled on Heorot, the great hall in Beowulf." (available under CC-AS)
Wait, that says nothing of vikings...
But, "The name "Anglo Saxon" refers to the Germanic people who invaded and occupied West England from c. 500-1066 AD. These people arrived first from Saxony (NW Germany) and later (800-1066) from Sweden and Denmark. We refer to these last groups as "Vikings", and this is where Beowulf originates and takes place." - from 'Intro to Beowulf' (https://webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/Anglo%20Saxon/intro_to_b...)
To be fair, some authors lump Anglo-Saxons in with Vikings, some keep them distinct.
