Raven Crowking
First Post
If you're going to set a game in Middle Earth, the Elven Name Generator in the back of the Silmarilion is going to be of use, anyway.
As far as Middle Earth being mostly hostile, I would agree. By the time of LotR, Mirkwood might be getting a bit better, but it was still a dangerous place. To the north was the Withered Heath from which the dragons came. There were the dunlendings and the hillmen that Saruman sent against the Rohirim and interbred with his orcs. The balrog in Moria predated Sauron (it was a servant of Morgoth), and it is hinted that other strange creatures might lurk in the depths.
Not every orc served Sauron or Saruman; the orcs of Moria were independent (although they banded with the Mordor orcs and the Isengard orcs when Merry and Pippen were captured) and even the orcs of Mordor had dreams of escaping and going off elsewhere (as is overheard while crossing Mordor).
Moral ambiguity in LotR is, admittedly, more subtle than in Eberron. The sin of Sauron isn't that he is simply evil, but that he wants to order the world to match his own vision, and then to keep it timeless. This is what the Three Rings of the elves were made to do (which is why Rivendell and Lothlorien are untouched, and time passes differently there), and is the sin of the elves that forces them to ultimately dwindle and return to the West. Also, of course, they weren't supposed to be in Middle Earth in the first place.
From the thirteen dwarves in The Hobbit through Gimli in LotR, the dwarves talk a good fight but often fail to match their talk with action. They are susceptible to the lure of gold, and it is noteworthy that Gimli eschews monetary reward for three hairs from the head of Galadrial. It is a major theme in Tolkein's work that one should beware what one possesses, lest ultimately one's possessions possess their owner.
Beorn is where the good-aligned werebears come from, but Beorn himself is not good-aligned, and were it not for Gandalf's cleverness and the fact that they shared a hatred of goblins and wargs, the dwarves would have received no help -- indeed, they might have been slaughtered. When Thorin suggests that they simply keep Beorn's loaned ponies, Gandalf tells him exactly how foolish he is being.
Gollum himself is a study in the greyness of subtle moral ambiguity. He deserves death, many times over. He has robbed babies from cradles to consume them, and begins his career with the Ring by murdering his best friend. Yet he is also deserving of pity, and ultimately, he is capable of redemption, even if he never has the chance to be redeemed.
Saruman, too, is deserving of pity, and capable of redemption, as is recognized by Gandalf, Treebeard, and Frodo. Likewise Wormtongue. Again, although they don't redeem themselves, this is dealt with by Tolkein as a tragedy rather than as a justice.
I paraphrase Gandalf: "Many who live deserve death. And many who die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Than do not be too quick to mete out death in punishment." (Or words to that effect.)
What Tolkein posits is a world that is filled with beings that are either basically good, or that basically wish to be good, or to lead good lives, but that are constantly tempted out of that path by the world itself, and the things within it. The temptations of the world must be resisted, but even the Wise fall under their sway. Even Sauron did not start out evil. Even Sauron is to be pitied.
RC
As far as Middle Earth being mostly hostile, I would agree. By the time of LotR, Mirkwood might be getting a bit better, but it was still a dangerous place. To the north was the Withered Heath from which the dragons came. There were the dunlendings and the hillmen that Saruman sent against the Rohirim and interbred with his orcs. The balrog in Moria predated Sauron (it was a servant of Morgoth), and it is hinted that other strange creatures might lurk in the depths.
Not every orc served Sauron or Saruman; the orcs of Moria were independent (although they banded with the Mordor orcs and the Isengard orcs when Merry and Pippen were captured) and even the orcs of Mordor had dreams of escaping and going off elsewhere (as is overheard while crossing Mordor).
Moral ambiguity in LotR is, admittedly, more subtle than in Eberron. The sin of Sauron isn't that he is simply evil, but that he wants to order the world to match his own vision, and then to keep it timeless. This is what the Three Rings of the elves were made to do (which is why Rivendell and Lothlorien are untouched, and time passes differently there), and is the sin of the elves that forces them to ultimately dwindle and return to the West. Also, of course, they weren't supposed to be in Middle Earth in the first place.
From the thirteen dwarves in The Hobbit through Gimli in LotR, the dwarves talk a good fight but often fail to match their talk with action. They are susceptible to the lure of gold, and it is noteworthy that Gimli eschews monetary reward for three hairs from the head of Galadrial. It is a major theme in Tolkein's work that one should beware what one possesses, lest ultimately one's possessions possess their owner.
Beorn is where the good-aligned werebears come from, but Beorn himself is not good-aligned, and were it not for Gandalf's cleverness and the fact that they shared a hatred of goblins and wargs, the dwarves would have received no help -- indeed, they might have been slaughtered. When Thorin suggests that they simply keep Beorn's loaned ponies, Gandalf tells him exactly how foolish he is being.
Gollum himself is a study in the greyness of subtle moral ambiguity. He deserves death, many times over. He has robbed babies from cradles to consume them, and begins his career with the Ring by murdering his best friend. Yet he is also deserving of pity, and ultimately, he is capable of redemption, even if he never has the chance to be redeemed.
Saruman, too, is deserving of pity, and capable of redemption, as is recognized by Gandalf, Treebeard, and Frodo. Likewise Wormtongue. Again, although they don't redeem themselves, this is dealt with by Tolkein as a tragedy rather than as a justice.
I paraphrase Gandalf: "Many who live deserve death. And many who die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Than do not be too quick to mete out death in punishment." (Or words to that effect.)
What Tolkein posits is a world that is filled with beings that are either basically good, or that basically wish to be good, or to lead good lives, but that are constantly tempted out of that path by the world itself, and the things within it. The temptations of the world must be resisted, but even the Wise fall under their sway. Even Sauron did not start out evil. Even Sauron is to be pitied.
RC
