random question about LotR race capitalization...

[JoshBrown]

Hi everyone, I have a sort of random question and I'm not even really sure that this is the correct forum, but here it goes.

When writing about Tolkien's world and his creatures, is is appropriate to capitalize races such as Orc, Elf, Dwarf, Goblin, etc.? Is Human / Men included in that?

How about when writing about the same creatures, but not taking place in Tolkien's world, i.e., your own work of fiction or a game campaign/setting?

[tchernabyelo]

Tolkein himself often capitalised Men. I'd have to check how much capitalisation there was in LotR, which is a narrative, but certianly there's lots of it in The Silmarillion (though again I don't think it's universal).

To some extent it depends how you treat these groups (calling them "races" in itself is arguably problematic; there's a whole rant I could go on here that's probably not appropriate). If they are the equivalent of nations, then they get capitalised (Greeks, Chinese, etc). If they are separate species, it's questionable as to whether they should (no-one capitalises gorillas or chimpanzees).

If you can be conistent and justify your choice, no-one is likely to complain.