Oxonmoot 2024

Tolkien’s environmental commentary is well discussed, but the analysis and application of Arda as a dynamic, ecological planet is less clearly defined. In considering Arda as an Anthropocene, specifically as a world geologically altered by its inhabitants, Arda can act as a means of revisioning and rethinking the planet we inhabit, the damages wrecked upon it, and the ways we may cope with and grow from them. This analysis will present two formulations of Arda as Anthropocene.The first, the Orcopocene, investigates the implications of power and ownership in Middle-earth, and poses Sauron, Sauraman, and by forced association the Orcs as fundamental drivers of global change in Middle-earth. The second, the Elfopocene, inverts the former thinking and examines the influence of the Elves and affiliated magical beings for their environmental impact on Middle-earth, examining in the process environmental grief and the optimism of “The Scouring of the Shire”.