Following are the primary sources I use in my research. I do not by any means rely solely on one Page 102
source for my research into historical or archaeological questions (although Malcolm Todd has a pretty good reputation for writing books that appeal to mass audiences).
Books such as those by Fonstad and Foster are really secondary sources and they contain mistakes, but they are good reference volumes nonetheless without which I would be hopelessly lost on some issues.
Carpenter, Humphrey
--ed., THE LETTERS OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981.
ISBN 0-395-31555-7
Fonstad, Karen Wynn
--THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH, Revised Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991.
ISBN 0-395-53516-6
Foster, Robert
--THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO MIDDLE-EARTH, Ballantine, 1978. ISBN 0-345-27520-9
Hammond, Wayne G., and Christina Scull
--J.R.R. TOLKIEN: ARTIST & ILLUSTRATOR, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.
ISBN 0-395-74816-X
Todd, Malcolm
--EVERYDAY LIFE OF THE BARBARIANS: GOTHS, FRANKS, AND VANDALS,
Dorset Press, 1972. ISBN 0-88029-176-1
Tolkien, Christopher, ed., THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH
--Vol. I, The Book Of Lost Tales, Part One, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984.
ISBN 0-395-35439-0
--Vol. II, The Book Of Lost Tales, Part Two, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984.
ISBN 0-395-36614-3
--Vol. III, The Lays Of Beleriand, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985. ISBN 0-395-39429-5
--Vol. V, The Lost Road And Other Writings, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
ISBN 0-395-45519-7
--Vol. X, Morgoth's Ring, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993. ISBN 0-395-68092-1
--Vol. XII, The Peoples of Middle-earth, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.
ISBN 0-395-82760-4
--Vol. VI, The Return Of The Shadow, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.
ISBN 0-395-49863-5
--Vol. IX, Sauron Defeated, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. ISBN 0-395-60649-7
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--Vol. IV, The Shaping Of Middle-earth, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.
ISBN 0-395-42501-8
--Vol. VII, The Treason Of Isengard, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989.
ISBN 0-395-51562-9
--Vol. XI, The War Of The Jewels, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ISBN 0-395-71041-3
--Vol. VIII, The War Of The Ring, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990. ISBN 0-395-56008-X
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Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel
--THE ANNOTATED HOBBIT, Douglas Anderson, ed., Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.
--THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.
ISBN 0-395-48931-8
--THE RETURN OF THE KING, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.
ISBN 0-395-48930-X
--THE TOLKIEN READER, Ballantine Books, 1966.
--THE ROAD GOES EVER ON, with Donald Swan, Ballantine, 1967.
--THE SILMARILLION, Christopher Tolkien, ed., Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977.
ISBN 0-395-25730-1
--THE TWO TOWERS, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993. ISBN 0-395-48933-4
--UNFINISHED TALES, Christopher Tolkien, ed., Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980.
ISBN 0-395-29917-9
Shippey, T.A.
--THE ROAD TO MIDDLE-EARTH, Acacia Press, Inc., 1992. ISBN 0-261-10275-3
Parma Endorion
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Appendix A:
New Information
Orcs
Since I first published the revised Parma Endorion, I've been contacted by several people who have pointed out a great blunder for me concerning the appearance of Orcs. I unwittingly omitted what is perhaps the best-known and certainly most controversial description for Orcs J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote. How could I possibly have done such a thing? Well, we all make mistakes. At the time when I first wrote the essays for Parma Endorion my knowledge of Tolkien's world was less than what it is today. I had not yet acquired a copy of Tolkien's letters, and so did not have access to a great deal of material. When I revised the essays in 1998, I was in a state of transition in my personal life and dealing with many conflicts. So I overlooked some important information. (It may also be that, for some reason now long-forgotten, I may have felt the passage too controversial for inclusion. Such a decision, if I made it, would have been incorrect.)
In 1958 J.R.R. Tolkien reviewed a preliminary script for a proposed film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Based on his acerbic response to the script, most fans are pleased that movie was never made. Tolkien wrote a letter to Forrest J. Ackerman in which he provided many corrections and complaints. The one point concerning Orcs has become fixed in Tolkien arcana and its exclusion from even the revised edition of Parma Endorion is inexcusable. On the other hand, once I'd posted the Web site, altering it was out of the question. I have finally decided to include the citation here in a new appendix, which causes the least disruption to the design of Parma Endorion.
In Letter 210, Tolkien wrote "19. Why does Z put beaks and feathers on Orcs!?." ("Z"
stands for Morton Grady Zimmerman, the first person ever to have written a screenplay based on
Tolkien's work.)
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"The Orcs," Tolkien continues a little further on, "are definitely stated to be corruptions of the
'human' forms seen in Elves and Men. They are (or were) squat, broad, flat nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."
Essays On Middle-earth
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Much has been made of this citation. Some people have gone so far as to call Tolkien a racist, alleging he was implying the Orcs were to be equated with Asian peoples. He is careful to say, however, that the Orcs were "degraded and repulsive versions" of those Mongol peoples who would be least attractive to European sensibilities. Some people have suggested Tolkien may have been referring to the Huns, who left an indelible mark in the western European psyche.
Whether the Orcs are intended to be "degraded and repulsive versions" of Huns is a mystery we cannot resolve, but it is clear that Tolkien felt a Mongoloid base was necessary for Orcish appearance. Not because he equated Asians with evil, or thought them ugly. But because he needed a human model which, when distorted beyond realistic appearance, might appear monstrous and corrupted. In fact, many Asian cultures represent demons and evil gods in a similar fashion. I feel Tolkien's choice was inspired by a broad understanding of mythology, and not by racism.
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