Posted: September 20, 1999 at 21:12:47: by Michael Martinez
: Good to see the debate back on track. I think however that what
: Michael said was that BLACK is NEVER used to represent evil in
: LotR (a claim which I cannot agree with at all).No. What I said was that Black = Evil, White = Good is an invalid identification for THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Black is used by both good and evil, white is used by both good and evil. If some people wish to rephrase this as an "imperfect symbolism", that will be acceptable, although still not correct. The point is that one cannot be sure of what is and isn't evil simply because black is associated with it. The uncertainties abound in Tolkien's world. Evil is identified by action, not by color. We shall know the tree by the fruit it bears.
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