I figure we can discuss this to its fullest without any agitation, but in the unlikely event that it gets too wild (I legitimately have faith in this awesome fanbase) I'll take this down.
I saw in an article recently that D&D has decided to reevaluate calling its orcs and humans "races" because of "racist undertones." They have proposed to start calling them "species." Political nonsense aside, this is scientifically inaccurate. Species can reproduce together, but members of two different species cannot. Hybrids of these beings exist in D&D unless I'm mistaken, therefore from a biological standpoint they are the same species, and the nest division should be race.
Of course, there are some complications. Hybrids of Tolkien orcs, elves, and men exist, but they clearly aren't the same species. Perhaps our modern scientific classification just doesn't work in a fantasy world like this. Thoughts?
(Sorry if I go off, these are opinions, not criticism at you)
The modern classification definitely does not work. For this I think that Tolkien had called them "races" so we should stick to that term or have no term at all. And D&D being picky kind of annoys me. It's a game, so it really doesn't have to be politically correct.
Feel free to disclose opinions, that's why this post is here. Contrary to popular belief, you can talk about opinions without traumatizing anyone.
I think the modern classification system works well enough for our current purposes, but there are some weird exceptions. There are a lot of big cat hybrids, for instance, but nobody is calling to merge their species. Same thing with mules and horses.
And yes, politics should not delve into every aspect of our lives. It's literally science fiction.
Well, Tolkien also uses the term 'peoples' as the Free Peoples, and that can work as well. The One Ring Roleplaying Game (and Adventures in Middle-earth) avoids the issue by referring to these different groups as Cultures: Bardings; Beornings; Dwarves of the Blue Mountains; Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain; Elves of Mirkwood; Elves of Lórien; High Elves of Rivendell; Hobbits of the Shire; Men of Bree; Men of the Lake, Rangers of the North; Woodmen of Wilderland; etc. Interestingly enough the Men of Bree include both Hobbits and common Men of Bree-land.
But it is not completely accurate to say that different species cannot reproduce. Related species can often produce offspring, though this usually results in sexually infertile 'mules'.
I actually really like the concept of "kinds" created by the Biblical Creationist model and based around Noah's flood. According to this model, the animals that got off of the ark were incredibly genetically dense and thus had huge amounts of biodiversity potential. As things carried on and different groups adapted to their environments, they became genetically isolated and mostly lost the ability to interbreed, with the obvious exceptions mentioned before. This would work largely the same way that humans have created a laundry list of dog breeds from a far smaller list of preexisting breeds.
Unfortunately, the Biblical Creationist model does not work in the real world. However, the more magical nature of Middle-earth could make some such unions more viable. Tolkien even allowed in a letter to Peter Hastings (Letter 153) that Elves and Men might actually comprise a single species.* Animal breeding is a completely different matter and follows different rules. Different breeds of dogs are still all dogs and are genetically only barely separate from wolves.
* Tolkien wrote: "Elves and Men are evidently in biological terms one race, or they could not breed and produce fertile offspring".
Very true. Elves and Men are one species. Orcs, having originally come from Elves, and Hobbits perhaps being a type of Men, are also part of the same species. Dwarves, Trolls, and Ents are different.
Medieval legends include stories of humans who marry and have children with other folk, so from a literary point of view, there's precedent for that. Of course, these stories existed long before we understood genetics.
I'm fairly certain the modern definition of species was established at that point (Darwin wrote about it in 1859). I did, however, find that the definition includes "similar" organisms that can interbreed. I suppose this is what separates lions and tigers, for instance, as they can interbreed but aren't the same species because they aren't similar.
True, but not all Catholics necessarily believed in the Theory of Evolution. Various Popes had different opinions about it. I don't know Tolkien's views on the matter. However, he was approaching his stories as a kind of mythology. He wasn't interested in making his world scientifically accurate. Keep in mind that in the Silmarillion, the solar system is geocentric, not heliocentric. And the world was flat until the drowning of Numenor. So the whole point of humans and elves interbreeding isn't a sticking point with most people.
Keep in mind that the Elves represent Mankind in an unfallen state, ie free from Original Sin. While groups of Elves - particularly most of the Noldor - fell from grace, the Elves as a species did not.
The whole sin thing gets screwed up in Tolkien, because instead of death being the wages of sin, it's literally a gift of God.
I found this video. It's a bit long, so watch it when you have spare time. Well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZvH4wIKGCM