“The Lord of the Rings is racist. It is steeped in the logic that race determines behavior. (Ibata 2). Many people have tried to perpetuate the myth that JRR Tolkien was racist. They quote various scenes from The Lord of the Rings, both in the books and in the films. These people are lying or ignorant. JRR Tolkien was not a racist, nor did he ever intend for his novels to be seen as such. There is plenty of evidence to defend Tolkien from these claims such as: the themes of his novels, such as The Lord of the Rings; the clear messages in his personal writings and education; and the characters in his novels. The themes evident in works like The Lord of the Rings are not clearly racist. The triumph of the “little man” is one of the main themes of The Lord of the Rings. “Nothing could be more contrary to the assumptions of racism than a hobbit as a hero.” (Anderson 872). At the beginning of Tolkien's epic, hobbits are despised by the other races of Middle-earth. They are constantly overlooked, in fact Treebeard and the Ents do not recognize them at all, stating "If I had seen you before I heard you, I would have simply trampled you, taking you for little ogres". (The Two Towers 67). However the hobbits soon prove worthy of admiration, both Merry and Pippin fight like any other man, and Frodo and Sam destroy the Ring. Treebeard himself echoes his remarks made when he first met the hobbits, asking them to have one last drink with him before they parted ways. (The Return of the King 260). The Ring has a corrupting influence, but it also gives its wearer great power. It is not difficult to understand, then, where the theme that power can corrupt comes from. The theme itself does not contradict...... half of the document ......rch, 1998.Reproduced in the Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2010. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRCAnderson, Rearick III. “Why is the Only Good Orc a Dead Orc? The dark face of racism examined in Tolkien's world.” Modern narrative studies. 50.4 (2004): 861-874. Platinum Periodicals, ProQuest. Web.Ibata, David. “The Lord of racism”. Chicago Tribune January 12, 2003.Kim, Sue. “BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE: RACE AND POSTMODERNISM IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS”. Modern Fiction Studies 50.4 (2004): 875-907. Platinum Periodicals, ProQuest. Web.Tolkien, JRR. The Fellowship of the Ring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954Tolkien, JRR. The Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966Tolkien, JRR. The return of the king. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955Tolkien, JRR. The Two Towers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954