Evil, LoTR, and Glorantha

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_...>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 09:52:10 -0500

One thing I dislike about LoTR is the way that the whole race of orcs is presented as evil because they were made that way. Tolkein was a Christian and I'd have hoped he would allow for the possibility of an orc overcoming its background. No sentient being should be beyond the possibility of redemption.

D&D amplifies this, by giving most races fixed alignments and encouraging the idea that it's automatically OK for the good guys to kill any member of evil races.

One of the great assets of Glorantha is the way the world resists being organised into neat alignment systems. The nearest there is to an absolute evil is Chaos, but the Lunars, the most enlightened culture by modern standards, embrace it.

Andrew