/lotr/

Even though Tolkien was a moderate conservative who hated Nazism and Communism alike, obviously a reactionary reading of LOTR is possible: the forces of the west representing the old feudal aristocratic order, and the forces of sauron being industrial capitalism, with the orcs therefore being the proletariat.
This is similar to the fascist idea of "blut und boden" and romanticization of the rural and bucolic agrarian life over the "jewish" city and industrialism.

Another, more SJW or perhaps Holla Forums tier explanation is a racialist one: the west (elves and humans etc) representing white Europeans and orcs representing the black and brown hordes. And indeed, if you take a look at pic related, every last member of the lord of the rings cast was white, or at least a white-passing jew. As much as I remember in the books, none of the elves, dwarves or humans were described as having dark skin either.

The only obvious racial call out in LOTR was the wild men which were clearly meant as a fantasy version of filthy irishmen.

It's still the greatest film series.

To understand LOTR you have to understand the bigger influence Tolkien had, the Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner. E Michael Jones has a good book on the subject, here is the description from Amazon:

Was Sauruman /ourguy/?

No. He is how aristocrats saw the nouveau riche bourgeoisie and their obsession with muh profits and lack of concern for actual tradition.

Holla Forums likes the generic tolkienesque fantasy precisely because the premise is so uncomplicated. Unlike the real world there's no moral ambiguity and therefore very safe to them to project their binary ideals onto it.

The world is pretty morally unambiguous though. Only liberals do that whole "muh shades of grey" schtick.

It's hard to believe how long ago the early 2000s really were. That picture looks like it may as well be from the 80s.

Racist readings of it are retarded.

There largely weren't non-"European" races in the stories because they were built roughly around an analog of mythical Europe. Saruman & friends' actions were within that framework, and clearly reflections of industrialization and the concept of total war.