One of the most incorrect ideas people heard from Tolkien and then just kept repeating without stopping to actually think about it is the whole idea that "evil cannot create anything new, only copy and corrupt".
Give it 1 minute. You can probably think of examples that completely disprove this.
I wouldn't phrase this as anything Tolkien said as well - I don't think that specific quote is from him. Versions of that come from characters in his fantasy novels discussing the capacity of his evil, divine beings to create new life ex nihilo? They have this whole thing about being jealous of their creator's capacity to do so, and corrupting life in mockery of it. But even then, good divine beings can't create life either. God has to help them do it, and it is a bit like how a toddler "helps" their parents make dinner - we all know god did all the work here. And meanwhile, evil *people* in Middle Earth absolutely have kids and write books.
Tolkien is doing a metaphor? And religious commentary that goes back to St Augustus and debates with Manicheans about the inequality between good & evil. Tolkien didn't think bad people couldn't make art! He thought the fantasy fallen angels in his worldbuilding splatbook had to corrupt elves to make orcs (and even then only maybe). I don't think it is on him if others start applying that to actual human beings.
Fair re: His own worldbuilding details. I was thinking more of how people latched onto the concept and try to apply it to everything from generative AI to "woke" adaptations, always repeating that idea as if it was some profound and applicable truth.
For sure, I was aiming to clarify not rebut - I also have seen exactly the people you describe using quotes like this, and it is like come on guys. There were evil elves. Hell, the *most evil elf* is the *most famous artist* with the *most famous kids*! He didn't mean it the way y'all are using it. Think for a bit.
#Gonna get nerd sniped into a “was Feanor evil” debate aren't I
Without descending into that particular admittedly-broad debate, we can start with - "pretty sure Feanor was less evil than either Eol or Maeglin, at least."
(Using Tolkein's standards of "evil" as opposed to, say, Yudkowsky's.)















