The story fired my imagination like no other. As a 12-year-old, as a teenager, as a young adult, I immersed myself in J.R.R. Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Often I would insert an alter-ego of myself into the story, trekking across rugged wilderness, battling trolls in deep caves, visiting places of splendor, fighting the good fight against the forces of evil in the world.
It was easy to identify with the characters -- the underdog hobbits persevering against great odds; Aragorn, the rugged ranger and reluctant king (who represented my youthful ideal of manhood); Gandalf, the wise but irascible wizard; the improbable friendship between Gimli, the dwarf, and Legolas, the elf; and many other compelling heroes, villains and monsters. It was all so transporting and felt so meaningful.
And that may be the core appeal of Lord of the Rings, how meaningful it felt. Creatures great and small had a role to play in the great drama of good verses evil. And evil -- while often a temptation to men and hobbits -- had a clear, unambiguous existence, and was represented most concretely by ever-present monsters: orcs.
Yes, there was Sauron, the dark lord; Saruman, the power-hungry wizard; the undead Nazgul, trolls and other monsters; but orcs were the numerous and constant threat to human beings throughout Middle Earth (Tolkein's fictional world). They were the product of the original evil of ancient times, a corruption and mockery of the unambiguously good elves. A decent person could only do two things with respect to orcs -- avoid them or kill them. The only good orc was a dead orc. This axiom was literally true in Middle Earth.
One day, while reading people's passionate views on a political forum, it struck me that many see themselves as living in a kind of Middle Earth where powerful, malign forces are hard at work to dominate the world and it is the obligation of good and noble people to stand up to them. And it also struck me that the desire to view the world in these terms came prior to the particulars of whatever views these people held.
People want to live in a version of Middle Earth, and want there to be tangible enemies, enemies that must be defeated. In other words, people want orcs. And religious and political ideologies (particularly extremist ones) are happy to oblige. The enemies of [fill in the blank] must be destroyed!
Why do people want orcs? Perhaps it has something to do with homo sapiens being *Immature Predators, a lingering instinct from our deep past when we were not the dominant species, when humans were prey and not top predators. But I suspect the main reason is self-esteem. Viewing oneself as a warrior against the orcs of the world is elevating and romantic. It provides a sense of purpose, a sense of being important. It provides meaning.
This leads to the conundrum: There are no orcs.
