From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (965th day) — I have to confess that when I first watched Lord of the Rings on a big screen in a movie theater, I didn’t like it. I couldn’t get past the ugliness of the orcs. My physical disgust for the visual image blocked my mind from appreciating the amazing world that Tolkien had created—this mega parable, full of metaphors and parallels to our own reality.
Now, after 965 days of ruzzian invasion the appearance of orcs doesn’t offend me that much. Watching Orcs in the Rings of Power series, I keep thinking about how appropriate that depiction of evil is. The war crimes we have seen in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Izum and many other places in Ukraine reveal the ugliness of evil that can’t be matched even by Tolkien’s orcs’ appearance.
There are so many parallels in The Rings of Power with today’s world. The way Sauron manipulates, creating alternate realities, easily replacing truth with lies, the way he uses what individuals value/desire to corrupt and enslave them to his power and influence, the way he “pushes the buttons” by using just the right words to flatter egos, satisfy greed or to convince that he is the one “who keeps the storm at bay” reminds not only of ruzzian propaganda technics. Those techniques are widely used in the democratic world as well. “Once the deceiver obtains a being’s trust, he gains the ability to sculpt their very thoughts.”
I haven’t watched the last part of The Rings of Power yet. In the 7th episode, the darkness, the evil, seems too powerful and undefeatable. However, as someone said, “Darkness in Tolkien’s world is but a temporary reality that requires huge effort to maintain and is always fragile and desperately vulnerable to the inbreaking of light. Indeed, it is the very effort required to maintain the dark that will lead to the eventual undoing of its lord.” We know that’s true for the darkness and evil in our world as well – it will be defeated – even if some leaders of our world want to make deals with the evil or falsely claim that darkness is unbeatable (as one leader recently showed his lack of knowledge of history stating that “ruzzians fight wars and win, they beat Napoleon and Hitler.”)
Voice of Ukraine 