Quote:
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Originally Posted by Cave
Middle-earth's "castes" were defined by metaphysical differences in each race from the others; for example, Elrond was greater than Bilbo not because of aristocratic privilege, but because he was inherently mightier and wiser by virtue of his elven nature.
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Now there's the rub. We have all these super-duper Elves swanning around with their superior beauty and superior crafts-elf-ship and superior fighting skills and superior lifespans etc. (they sometimes make me feel a bit sick to be honest, on a superficial level), and so what does this say about Race in Middle-earth? Of course some have said "Whoa! this makes Tolkien a racist!".
Except it doesn't, because right at the end of Lord of the Rings we learn something, and that's that it wasn't an Elf, nor was it a Wizard, nor was it a Dwarf, and nor was it a Man who destroyed the One Ring. It was a Hobbit. supposedly the 'lowliest' of Races. It's at that point of realisation that we realise Tolkien's point that
no Race was mightier than any other!