What does it mean to Write in the Spirit of Tolkien?

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

But how you got to orcs from women and gender, Celuien, is quite a feat of non-lateral thinking.

For that feat of connection making, I'll take a bow. Actually, that's the sort of thing I can be notorious for in RL. An unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on your point of view) habit of making connections between seemingly unrelated ideas and then filling in the stepwise progression later...if ever.

Originally Posted by Bethberry

I thought evil for Tolkien was the desire for power over others, even power which purports to be in service of others.

As did I. All of the paths to evil I can think of lead through a desire for power or power struggles. Saruman. Morgoth. Sauron. Even (if I may stretch the point a bit) the Kinslaying, since that was in essence the result of the Teleri's failing to bend to Feanor's will that they turn over their ships. Along with Feanor's issues with pride.

I'm quite interested in the idea of mixing the archaic and contemporary. More thoughts on that when I'm not worn out by 350 miles of driving, with unpacking still to be done...