XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message    
   Stan Brown  spoke these staves:   
   >   
   > On Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:03:21 -0500, Steve Morrison wrote:   
   >>   
   >> I've recently kept coming across a purported quote from Tolkien,   
   >> and I'm not sure whether it's authentic (though I suspect it   
   >> isn't). The quote is this:   
   >>   
   >>    We were all orcs in the Great War.   
   >>   
   >> I can't find any source for it (I'm sure it isn't anywhere in   
   >> /Letters/). But I can't think of any way to prove Tolkien didn't   
   >> say it, either.   
   >   
   > I agree with you.  It doesn't sound like something Tolkien would   
   > say, and it *does* contradict in spirit other things he has said.   
   > It *does* sound like the way some nameless subeditor would "punch   
   > up" a quote from an interview with Tolkien.   
      
   I agree. There are many references to this on the great interweb, but   
   I have found none that actually provide a verifiable source, and I   
   very much doubt that this is something that Tolkien actually did say.   
      
   A few inquiries may be in order, but if this draws a blank also from   
   other knowledgeable people, I shan't think it's real . . .   
      
   > But there's no way to prove Tolkien didn't say or write it.  You   
   > could, I suppose, challenge the person making the quote to provide   
   > a cite.   
      
   Since the notion so expressed contradicts what Tolkien said elsewhere   
   (though he did acknowledge that there were orcs on both sides, as   
   e.g. in the quotation that Steve gave at the top of the thread), I   
   think it is fair to say that the burden of proof is on the shoulders   
   of those claiming that Tolkien /did/ say or write this -- and   
   'proof' in this case must be something other than someone claiming it   
   on the internet ("but Troels said that Tolkien thought that the moon   
   was made of green cheese . . .")   
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer    
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
       It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal   
       nothing.   
    - Frodo Baggins, /The Return of the King/ (J.R.R. Tolkien)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)