Orque (créature)Les orcs, ou orques, humanoïdes à l'aspect repoussant et aux mœurs barbares, forment un peuple imaginaire typique du genre de la fantasy. Créatures inspirées d'une variété de mythes et légendes, les orques acquièrent leurs traits distinctifs dans l’œuvre littéraire du professeur d’université anglais . Également philologue, cet écrivain baptise ses créations d'après les orcnēas, monstres énigmatiques brièvement mentionnés dans le poème épique anglo-saxon Beowulf.
Tolkien's mapsJ. R. R. Tolkien's maps, depicting his fictional Middle-earth and other places in his legendarium, helped him with plot development, guided the reader through his often complex stories, and contributed to the impression of depth and worldbuilding in his writings. Tolkien stated that he began with maps and developed his plots from them, but that he also wanted his maps to be picturesque. Later fantasy writers also often include maps in their novels.
Tolkien and raceJ. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings have often been accused of embodying outmoded attitudes to race. However, scholars have noted that he was influenced by Victorian attitudes to race and to a literary tradition of monsters, and that he was anti-racist both in peacetime and during the two World Wars. With the late 19th century background of eugenics and a fear of moral decline, some critics believed that the mention of race mixing in The Lord of the Rings embodied scientific racism.
