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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The_Gneech" data-source="post: 5381242" data-attributes="member: 6779">I don't know that you'll find a slave, homeless person, or person brought up from the gutter in JRRT at all ... the concepts don't really work in the context of M-E, especially in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Eriador was devastated by a plague, leaving the land largely depopulated ... there isn't enough of an urban base, even in Gondor, for such complex social structures to really work. M-E is not a land of glittering cities and untold wealth, the way Hyboria is. M-E is haggard populations clinging to moldering ruins and trying to rebuild.One could argue that some of the Easterling men in Sauron's armies count as slaves, in which case there's a surprising amount of compassion for them too, considering they're "the bad guys." (Sam has a famous speech about a slain Easterling, wondering what led him to Gondor and if he wouldn't have much rather stayed at home with his family ... this was given to Boromir in the movies if I recall correctly.)Again, the closest we have to someone of supremely low stature is Sam Gamgee, who is arguably the hero of the whole dang story. He's not a slave, but he is a servant, and more importantly, of the serving class (remember, this is based on English culture and a very feudal tradition), which means that no matter what heights he may rise to, he'll always be one of the proletariat and nothing can change that. The reason he calls Frodo "Master Frodo" is because Frodo is a member of the gentry, and Sam is not.Who is lower than Sam and still a "free-willed" creature (which orcs and the like are not)? The only one I can think of is Gollum, who was of very similar social stature to Sam before the whole "murdered his best friend and stole the One Ring" incident -- and Gollum's "unworthiness" is a flaw in his own character, not a matter of social stature. Frodo, member of the gentry that he is, is much more respectful of Gollum as a person than anybody.I've never understood where the idea that Tolkien somehow sneered at lower classes came from -- not only is it not supported in the text, it's flat out refuted. They often don't have (or don't believe themselves to have) the agency to become big movers and shakers, it's true -- but that's also realistic. For every Conan who conquers the world through will to power, there are millions of Willy Lomans who are born, live, and die without ever achieving anything. LotR can, among other things, be read as a study on how and why someone who normally would never amount to anything actually does become a mover and shaker, and the effects that has on them.-The Gneech <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /></blockquote>

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