Hey everyone, I’m taking a little break here from a long and intricate article I’m writing about central bank digital currencies. In the meantime, I’ll entertain you with my thoughts about Orcs. The reason I’m thinking about orcs is my 9-year-old son, Cary. It’s his table manners. Just kidding. He is a perfect little gentleman, just like his father. Thanks to an older friend, Cary has taken a precocious interest in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). I’m quite familiar with the game, having played its first version as a teenager. It was inspired by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, in which Orcs were a race of evil, filthy, brutish humanoids under the power of the dark lord, Sauron. In my youth, Tolkien’s
You know orcs were elves once? Captured by Melkor and taken to Tangorodrim where they were tortured and twisted into parodies of Elves, hating the world and their master for what had happened to them. Sounds familiar...
Yes Charles the pain of realising “ I Orc “ is a deep one . It’s an expulsion into the dark that i have been accustomed to these last few years . More so in this period “the pandemic “. I have found my opinions fluctuating as I responded to new knowledge as for me I am a clinician and scientist and for myself it was data above narrative . Indeed there are two narratives that stand as a dichotomy and for myself as a flexible person I am more of a dialectic . It’s lonlley in this place of displacement as o can find neither tribe to belong to , I wander , but not aimlessly in a no man’s land. . In covid vaccination I see a narrative that has hidden control yet I admire the scientists mostly female that have emerged this vector of medicine . Indeed this vector may herald a new phase of science that saves millions of lives . It may also create a lockstep to being less human and identified mostly as numerical . Additionally in the anti vaccine movement i sense great hate as well as acceptable fear and distrust , I see a willingness to create anarchy without a willingness to actually take responsibility . We are all right and we are all wrong as far as I can see , this neutrality is Orc world . As a man who is mixed race I’ve been shunned by both black and white . Here in the foggy place of no man’s land I wander . I would see no one hated , and would like to be heard by both groups and I would want them to embrace again . Like in Romeo and Juliet the warring families destroy the very nature of love , I decry any path that dehumanises . Vax to non vax , ukrsmusn to Russian , Brexiteer to European . There are just too many devisions and I do not seek membership of any one
I found myself wondering whether the Orcs might not get along with the Klingons of Rodenberry’s Star Trek, or the Empire-aligned warriors of Lucas’ Star Wars, or the Spice-harvesting classes from Herbert’s Dune…
Plus, whether Orcs, Elves and Dwarves shared common genes & chromosomes (or whether Orc-facing, Dwarf-facing, Hobbit-facing or [Other]-facing would be acceptable. Ditto for Trans-identification. How about just Orc-dressing (Orc-vestitism)?
But I’m most intrigued by your own discovery of your personal ich-Orc-phobia:
“At its deepest level lurks the most terrifying monster of all. It is the fear not only that the mob will turn on me, but that the mob will be right to do so. It is that I am unacceptable. That I am evil. That I only pretend to be an acceptable, full human being, but that in reality, it is I who am the Orc.”
I don’t feel that. Not at all. I’ve been repulsed by the virtue-signaling, public mask-wearing, chest-thumping “proud vax-recipient”, “supporters of “The Science TM” for the past two years. If anything, I’ve become more convinced of the need to resist (in public!) against this ominous wave of thought control, driving human society to ruin, like lemmings over a cliff.
Through it all you remain a voice of compassion that acts as a balm to the soul when we are deeply dismayed by what the breakdown inevitably reveals. Thank you for your courage and sharing the gift of self reflection. 🙏🏻
A beautifully written piece. I will say, that we ought to allow for the existence of evil and other absolute states in fantasy. Rejection of concepts in story, leads to rigidity. Metaphors must be allowed to do their work.
The orc is *not* human. It's not a 'species' as latter editions of D&D would have us think...it *can* be, but it needn't be (indeed, orcs and other monsters as products of materialist naturalism, is pretty problematic in my opinion). Another view of the orc, sees it as a collection of ideas given a degree of agency. As a spirit.
Take for example the 'idea of toxic masculinity'. Can that idea be rehabilitated without recourse to changing what it is? How about the 'idea of murdering children' ?
Humans acting out an idea (say a murderer) can heal, can be rehabilitated. But the idea remains simply what it is.
I'm not drawing any conclusions here beyond... myths are ideas clothed in forms we can recognise. And maybe that in some universes, some realities, orcs must necessarily die.
That sounds awful, I know. But the infinite vicissitudes of infinite realities don't really care for my feelings.
Anyway, great stuff. Hope I've not come over too psychotic.
I have such tremendous respect for you, Charles, both for your willingness to examine and publish the Mob Morality and the Unvaxxed piece, and now this. Just last week, amdist doing my own inner work, with my own "demons" I had the realization that I save a lot of energy if I allow it to be a dance instead of an attempted banishment. Letting go of the immense amount of energy it takes to hold the "inner Orc" at bay frees up all kinds of energy for other things. It's the kind of insight that can be hard to remember, so thanks for helping my mind go back to it today.
I have often wondered at the depiction of orcs in LOTR (and goblins in The Hobbit). It often seems they are living their lives as legitimately as the dwarves, elves, hobbits or humans; but they are passionately hated by the above, and the main proof that they are "evil" and worthy of hate and destruction is that they are unsightly, smelly and rude. In short they are aesthetically unappealing.
And so I wonder about telling my kids these tales. At the same time, I don't like PC versions of folk tales, and do think that children need to grow up on tales of good vs. evil.
Eventually though, I think as we grow, the understanding of struggle between good and evil needs to become more refined and mature. Life is not about "our tribe" (or any identity group) being the good and another being evil. It's about a war to overcome selfishness and ignorance. The parts of us that are hurting or encumbering us need to be exposed to the light and killed, in a sense. But this is not a killing of personal hatred but of understanding and letting go.
Middle Earth is the collective unconscious. The orcs are the archetype of evil and darkness that resides within us all. They are the shadow.
When we cast about looking for orcs to slay somewhere out there in the world, we become agents of evil. The task of the hero is to confront and integrate the orcs within.
Criticisms of LOTR as racist or pro-colonialism or simplistic depictions of good vs. evil are misinterpreting what is one of the most powerful myths of our age.
As a child & teenager, I was obsessed by Tolkien’s Middle Earth, it’s rich mythology so scrupulously scalped from ancient cultures, the depth & detail involved (evidently I am also a self confessed nerd). As an adult going back to read it I was dismayed to realise how often the Southrons & other allies of the Dark Lord were literally dark-skinned, & usually ugly to boot. I was further dismayed by the movie version to note how Orcs looked to be predominantly Maori people with tattoos & piercings, & poor hygiene (with prosthetic ugliness attached). This ‘othering’ in the movie seemed to be a cheap shot at an alternative sub-culture that preferred body adornments such as tattoos & piercings instead of blood-diamonds & gold, & honoured wisdom in many First Nation cultures. Thank you for bringing this up, Charles, I appreciate your dedication to unveiling the devil in the detail in the current climate & popular culture.
Thanks for this, Charles. Very appropriate too in this week of the Christian celebration of the Passion and how Jesus turned the scapegoat victim story on its head and so, in a sense, ended it or created the possibility of ending it which Girard explains so well. This is so powerful once we are able to 'de-religionise' it.
Very nice column! When you wrote a column from the perspective of the Sith, I commented that we could apply this a lot of different sci-fi/entertainment properties. You might consider making it the theme of a whole book! To re-work multiple different franchises in this way. (I don't know how the copyright would work out on that, though!)
I'm afraid I have to be "That Guy" -- as an avid D&D player, and point out something new, which has just occurred in the last few years. D&D players count the "woke" among them (if you'll pardon the phrase), so there has indeed been a movement within the D&D community which recognizes the perniciousness of these stereotypes. That all creatures of one race have the same character or alignment. We recognize that this is a flaw in the source material (Tolkein and his many imitators).
This has not made it into a hardcover rulebook yet, as far as I know, but some of the official magazines and publications have floated a new system where, instead of an "alignment" (good or evil, neutral etc.) each character has two new qualities: "Heritage" and "Culture". So for example, if an orphaned orc was raised by halflings, this orc would not necessarily be Evil -- but he would have the genetic heritage of an orc, while enjoying peace and indulgence the way that a Hobbit does!
This movement came about because every game I have participated in for at least a decade, has included at least one player (often more) who wishes to play a character "against type" -- for example, an orc who was raised by monks and is thus kind and contemplative, or a Drow who rebelled against his cruel society and government. The message is getting out there.
Like D&D, like Tolkien, armed battles between "good" and "evil" exist only in fantasy realms of the mind. At best, it is base entertainment & at worst it smothers us with hopeful nonsense thinking we are (or can be) "good" and prevail heroically in battles against "evil".
Not even remotely do these stories speak to human realities. To be human is to possess both orc and hobbit traits, and everything else in between. Therefore, there is no enemy other than the ones we create in our heads. In the actual human theatre, all armed conflicts are evil vs. evil. Power-mind vs. power-mind, with both sides imagining "we are the good ones". No winner is ever "the good guy". The winner can only be this or that bad guy. Nothing mythic or epic about it. Super heroes too are all idiotic fantasy tools pandering to the powerlessness within us to keep us stuck wallowing in it and seeking out rescuers, leaders, lawmakers & keepers of order.
Those of us who live as actual good people do not seek power over others or engage in armed conflict other than as personal self-defense to fend off insane invaders/robbers/enslavers/abusers/perpetrators/predators. In the real world, the good go about their simple, peaceful business while evil stalks it, hunts it down for whatever reason, personal gain or sick enjoyment. Good people are always on the run (more or less), always outnumbered to a distressing degree and are fearlessly able to exist in the same space with anyone at all, that is, until they feel themselves being drained. Then they must take their leave.
It is really hard to be good. One must be very alert, aware of oneself and unflinchingly present at all times (to the extent that this is possible). Being truly good can get very lonely as kindred spirits are few and far between and they likely enjoy their wandering solitude very much. They are very much at home in the natural world, less so amongst their fellow humans.
On the other hand, it is very easy to be slack, foolish & evil and as such one always has lots of company as people like this are constantly avoiding pain through distraction and are desperate for attention & acceptance amongst themselves. These folks are always invaders/predators, some more so than others, as they simply can't help it-- constant inner hunger resulting from parasitic slack living drives them to eat other people, and good people, esp. children are very sweet.
The only actual battle going on between good vs. evil is within the heart/mind of the human individual. And as some here may know, the minute you try to rid yourself of the evil within, you create a perpetual enemy (yourself) because "evil" always exists within us as does "good", given that we are emotionally-driven creatures. Passion is our power. We use it to love and we use it to kill.
If one has not mastered the self, allowed equal space within for "evil" to exist as well as "good", then one cannot help but operate from picky-choosy power-mind rooted in powerlessness, helplessness, constant defeat and morbid fear of sadness, pain & death. From here, there can be no end to grand futile gestures of control such as organized rule over people (gov't), administration of "justice", social hierarchies, ever-escalating abuses of power, revolution, war, and on and on and on. The lost, yet well-intended may then find themselves speaking out uselessly & repetitively toward "positive systemic reformation" that cannot, and will not, ever happen.
I was preschool age and had a fear of monsters in the closet and under the bed. One of my protective strategies was to make sure no part of me, hands, feet, head, stuck out from under the blanket. The closet door had to be fully shut. One night my mother found me like this and I told her I was afraid of something in the dark spaces. She said the monsters were lonely because everyone was afraid of them. When she came back to check on me a little while later, she found me under the bed. I told her I was trying to make friends with the monsters.
Your ending, Charles, reminds me of something Jesus is credited with having said: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40, 45)--both points (your ending, Christ's words) point to a revolutionary kind of love, a radical love, that excludes nothing--a challenging approach to how we treat those who have mistreated so many, maybe even us--I hope we're all gearing up for the challenge!!
I love this, Charles! Please keep giving in to your distractions from the digital currency opus (although I look forward to that too.) I read Lord of the Rings as a kid by the bathroom light, laying with my head in the hallway so I could scurry back to bed if my parents came up. And now, it's that good-evil morality that's bothered me and how pervasive it is in our subconscious.
I just put out my YT on Manufacturing Contempt, that is related to your theme. I'm working on the Subscript version with text but I'll post the YT link here. It's about how anti-vaxxers and the nuclear war-hesitant were made into Orcs: https://youtu.be/Z7SJoMQVIVE
You know orcs were elves once? Captured by Melkor and taken to Tangorodrim where they were tortured and twisted into parodies of Elves, hating the world and their master for what had happened to them. Sounds familiar...
Yes Charles the pain of realising “ I Orc “ is a deep one . It’s an expulsion into the dark that i have been accustomed to these last few years . More so in this period “the pandemic “. I have found my opinions fluctuating as I responded to new knowledge as for me I am a clinician and scientist and for myself it was data above narrative . Indeed there are two narratives that stand as a dichotomy and for myself as a flexible person I am more of a dialectic . It’s lonlley in this place of displacement as o can find neither tribe to belong to , I wander , but not aimlessly in a no man’s land. . In covid vaccination I see a narrative that has hidden control yet I admire the scientists mostly female that have emerged this vector of medicine . Indeed this vector may herald a new phase of science that saves millions of lives . It may also create a lockstep to being less human and identified mostly as numerical . Additionally in the anti vaccine movement i sense great hate as well as acceptable fear and distrust , I see a willingness to create anarchy without a willingness to actually take responsibility . We are all right and we are all wrong as far as I can see , this neutrality is Orc world . As a man who is mixed race I’ve been shunned by both black and white . Here in the foggy place of no man’s land I wander . I would see no one hated , and would like to be heard by both groups and I would want them to embrace again . Like in Romeo and Juliet the warring families destroy the very nature of love , I decry any path that dehumanises . Vax to non vax , ukrsmusn to Russian , Brexiteer to European . There are just too many devisions and I do not seek membership of any one
Good analogy, metaphor, parody, …
I found myself wondering whether the Orcs might not get along with the Klingons of Rodenberry’s Star Trek, or the Empire-aligned warriors of Lucas’ Star Wars, or the Spice-harvesting classes from Herbert’s Dune…
Plus, whether Orcs, Elves and Dwarves shared common genes & chromosomes (or whether Orc-facing, Dwarf-facing, Hobbit-facing or [Other]-facing would be acceptable. Ditto for Trans-identification. How about just Orc-dressing (Orc-vestitism)?
But I’m most intrigued by your own discovery of your personal ich-Orc-phobia:
“At its deepest level lurks the most terrifying monster of all. It is the fear not only that the mob will turn on me, but that the mob will be right to do so. It is that I am unacceptable. That I am evil. That I only pretend to be an acceptable, full human being, but that in reality, it is I who am the Orc.”
I don’t feel that. Not at all. I’ve been repulsed by the virtue-signaling, public mask-wearing, chest-thumping “proud vax-recipient”, “supporters of “The Science TM” for the past two years. If anything, I’ve become more convinced of the need to resist (in public!) against this ominous wave of thought control, driving human society to ruin, like lemmings over a cliff.
So please expound.
Through it all you remain a voice of compassion that acts as a balm to the soul when we are deeply dismayed by what the breakdown inevitably reveals. Thank you for your courage and sharing the gift of self reflection. 🙏🏻
A beautifully written piece. I will say, that we ought to allow for the existence of evil and other absolute states in fantasy. Rejection of concepts in story, leads to rigidity. Metaphors must be allowed to do their work.
The orc is *not* human. It's not a 'species' as latter editions of D&D would have us think...it *can* be, but it needn't be (indeed, orcs and other monsters as products of materialist naturalism, is pretty problematic in my opinion). Another view of the orc, sees it as a collection of ideas given a degree of agency. As a spirit.
Take for example the 'idea of toxic masculinity'. Can that idea be rehabilitated without recourse to changing what it is? How about the 'idea of murdering children' ?
Humans acting out an idea (say a murderer) can heal, can be rehabilitated. But the idea remains simply what it is.
I'm not drawing any conclusions here beyond... myths are ideas clothed in forms we can recognise. And maybe that in some universes, some realities, orcs must necessarily die.
That sounds awful, I know. But the infinite vicissitudes of infinite realities don't really care for my feelings.
Anyway, great stuff. Hope I've not come over too psychotic.
I have such tremendous respect for you, Charles, both for your willingness to examine and publish the Mob Morality and the Unvaxxed piece, and now this. Just last week, amdist doing my own inner work, with my own "demons" I had the realization that I save a lot of energy if I allow it to be a dance instead of an attempted banishment. Letting go of the immense amount of energy it takes to hold the "inner Orc" at bay frees up all kinds of energy for other things. It's the kind of insight that can be hard to remember, so thanks for helping my mind go back to it today.
I have often wondered at the depiction of orcs in LOTR (and goblins in The Hobbit). It often seems they are living their lives as legitimately as the dwarves, elves, hobbits or humans; but they are passionately hated by the above, and the main proof that they are "evil" and worthy of hate and destruction is that they are unsightly, smelly and rude. In short they are aesthetically unappealing.
And so I wonder about telling my kids these tales. At the same time, I don't like PC versions of folk tales, and do think that children need to grow up on tales of good vs. evil.
Eventually though, I think as we grow, the understanding of struggle between good and evil needs to become more refined and mature. Life is not about "our tribe" (or any identity group) being the good and another being evil. It's about a war to overcome selfishness and ignorance. The parts of us that are hurting or encumbering us need to be exposed to the light and killed, in a sense. But this is not a killing of personal hatred but of understanding and letting go.
Middle Earth is the collective unconscious. The orcs are the archetype of evil and darkness that resides within us all. They are the shadow.
When we cast about looking for orcs to slay somewhere out there in the world, we become agents of evil. The task of the hero is to confront and integrate the orcs within.
Criticisms of LOTR as racist or pro-colonialism or simplistic depictions of good vs. evil are misinterpreting what is one of the most powerful myths of our age.
As a child & teenager, I was obsessed by Tolkien’s Middle Earth, it’s rich mythology so scrupulously scalped from ancient cultures, the depth & detail involved (evidently I am also a self confessed nerd). As an adult going back to read it I was dismayed to realise how often the Southrons & other allies of the Dark Lord were literally dark-skinned, & usually ugly to boot. I was further dismayed by the movie version to note how Orcs looked to be predominantly Maori people with tattoos & piercings, & poor hygiene (with prosthetic ugliness attached). This ‘othering’ in the movie seemed to be a cheap shot at an alternative sub-culture that preferred body adornments such as tattoos & piercings instead of blood-diamonds & gold, & honoured wisdom in many First Nation cultures. Thank you for bringing this up, Charles, I appreciate your dedication to unveiling the devil in the detail in the current climate & popular culture.
Thanks for this, Charles. Very appropriate too in this week of the Christian celebration of the Passion and how Jesus turned the scapegoat victim story on its head and so, in a sense, ended it or created the possibility of ending it which Girard explains so well. This is so powerful once we are able to 'de-religionise' it.
Very nice column! When you wrote a column from the perspective of the Sith, I commented that we could apply this a lot of different sci-fi/entertainment properties. You might consider making it the theme of a whole book! To re-work multiple different franchises in this way. (I don't know how the copyright would work out on that, though!)
I'm afraid I have to be "That Guy" -- as an avid D&D player, and point out something new, which has just occurred in the last few years. D&D players count the "woke" among them (if you'll pardon the phrase), so there has indeed been a movement within the D&D community which recognizes the perniciousness of these stereotypes. That all creatures of one race have the same character or alignment. We recognize that this is a flaw in the source material (Tolkein and his many imitators).
This has not made it into a hardcover rulebook yet, as far as I know, but some of the official magazines and publications have floated a new system where, instead of an "alignment" (good or evil, neutral etc.) each character has two new qualities: "Heritage" and "Culture". So for example, if an orphaned orc was raised by halflings, this orc would not necessarily be Evil -- but he would have the genetic heritage of an orc, while enjoying peace and indulgence the way that a Hobbit does!
This movement came about because every game I have participated in for at least a decade, has included at least one player (often more) who wishes to play a character "against type" -- for example, an orc who was raised by monks and is thus kind and contemplative, or a Drow who rebelled against his cruel society and government. The message is getting out there.
Well said, Charles!
Like D&D, like Tolkien, armed battles between "good" and "evil" exist only in fantasy realms of the mind. At best, it is base entertainment & at worst it smothers us with hopeful nonsense thinking we are (or can be) "good" and prevail heroically in battles against "evil".
Not even remotely do these stories speak to human realities. To be human is to possess both orc and hobbit traits, and everything else in between. Therefore, there is no enemy other than the ones we create in our heads. In the actual human theatre, all armed conflicts are evil vs. evil. Power-mind vs. power-mind, with both sides imagining "we are the good ones". No winner is ever "the good guy". The winner can only be this or that bad guy. Nothing mythic or epic about it. Super heroes too are all idiotic fantasy tools pandering to the powerlessness within us to keep us stuck wallowing in it and seeking out rescuers, leaders, lawmakers & keepers of order.
Those of us who live as actual good people do not seek power over others or engage in armed conflict other than as personal self-defense to fend off insane invaders/robbers/enslavers/abusers/perpetrators/predators. In the real world, the good go about their simple, peaceful business while evil stalks it, hunts it down for whatever reason, personal gain or sick enjoyment. Good people are always on the run (more or less), always outnumbered to a distressing degree and are fearlessly able to exist in the same space with anyone at all, that is, until they feel themselves being drained. Then they must take their leave.
It is really hard to be good. One must be very alert, aware of oneself and unflinchingly present at all times (to the extent that this is possible). Being truly good can get very lonely as kindred spirits are few and far between and they likely enjoy their wandering solitude very much. They are very much at home in the natural world, less so amongst their fellow humans.
On the other hand, it is very easy to be slack, foolish & evil and as such one always has lots of company as people like this are constantly avoiding pain through distraction and are desperate for attention & acceptance amongst themselves. These folks are always invaders/predators, some more so than others, as they simply can't help it-- constant inner hunger resulting from parasitic slack living drives them to eat other people, and good people, esp. children are very sweet.
The only actual battle going on between good vs. evil is within the heart/mind of the human individual. And as some here may know, the minute you try to rid yourself of the evil within, you create a perpetual enemy (yourself) because "evil" always exists within us as does "good", given that we are emotionally-driven creatures. Passion is our power. We use it to love and we use it to kill.
If one has not mastered the self, allowed equal space within for "evil" to exist as well as "good", then one cannot help but operate from picky-choosy power-mind rooted in powerlessness, helplessness, constant defeat and morbid fear of sadness, pain & death. From here, there can be no end to grand futile gestures of control such as organized rule over people (gov't), administration of "justice", social hierarchies, ever-escalating abuses of power, revolution, war, and on and on and on. The lost, yet well-intended may then find themselves speaking out uselessly & repetitively toward "positive systemic reformation" that cannot, and will not, ever happen.
I was preschool age and had a fear of monsters in the closet and under the bed. One of my protective strategies was to make sure no part of me, hands, feet, head, stuck out from under the blanket. The closet door had to be fully shut. One night my mother found me like this and I told her I was afraid of something in the dark spaces. She said the monsters were lonely because everyone was afraid of them. When she came back to check on me a little while later, she found me under the bed. I told her I was trying to make friends with the monsters.
Your ending, Charles, reminds me of something Jesus is credited with having said: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40, 45)--both points (your ending, Christ's words) point to a revolutionary kind of love, a radical love, that excludes nothing--a challenging approach to how we treat those who have mistreated so many, maybe even us--I hope we're all gearing up for the challenge!!
I love this, Charles! Please keep giving in to your distractions from the digital currency opus (although I look forward to that too.) I read Lord of the Rings as a kid by the bathroom light, laying with my head in the hallway so I could scurry back to bed if my parents came up. And now, it's that good-evil morality that's bothered me and how pervasive it is in our subconscious.
I just put out my YT on Manufacturing Contempt, that is related to your theme. I'm working on the Subscript version with text but I'll post the YT link here. It's about how anti-vaxxers and the nuclear war-hesitant were made into Orcs: https://youtu.be/Z7SJoMQVIVE