History FantasticRacism / Literature

* Creator/JRRTolkien's [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Middle-earth]] is an interesting example.
** On the one hand, there is definitely a hierarchy of races, both spiritually and culturally. One's descent plays a large part in the story, and it is outright stated and accepted that certain races are objectively superior to others. Interestingly among men it is the tall and blonde-haired Rohirrim who are described as "middle men," while it is the dark-haired Dunedain as descendants of the Numenoreans who carry superior blood and culture. Meanwhile Elves are accepted as being superior to everyone, and Orcs are at the very bottom. However on the other hand, Elves and Dunedain aren't perfect. All races are represented by characters both good and evil. [[note]]Except Orcs, though even they at least get represented by a number of individuals with distinct personalities.[[/note]] Indeed generally the more "superior" the race the more disastrous the results when they go awry. While the role one's race plays in one's destiny is never questioned, the ultimate emphasis in the story is placed on individual choice. It is two hobbits, the most insignificant among the races of Middle Earth, who saved the world from Sauron's evil, while Elves, Men and Dwarves all overcome their prejudices to give them that chance.
** Also note, that J.R.R. Tolkien acknowledged the fantastic racism in [=LotR=]. He was said to have strongly regretted his depiction of the Orcs as seemingly AlwaysChaoticEvil and irredeemable, because it conflicted with his devout Catholicism. He often later defended the Orcs in later writings, claimed that they were simply misled and manipulated, and even said that "we were all orcs in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI The Great War]]." Just as the "evil" humans were misled and manipulated.
* In Creator/KimNewman's ''Literature/TomorrowTown'', a group of 1970s futurists have set up their community as a projection of the year 2000 will be like (in their estimations at least). They claim to have "[[EvolutionaryLevels evolved]]" beyond many of the divisions and problems faced by people in that time period, but at one point a member of the community makes a sneery comment to one of the outsider detectives in town to investigate a murder, calling him a "yesterday man" in the heat of the moment. The detective calmly but pointedly notes that she's been very careful not to use that term around him, the clear implication being that it's a slur towards people who aren't as similarly evolved as they are -- yet more evidence that their vision of the future isn't quite as perfect and evolved as they like to think.

* [[FurAgainstFang Vampires and werewolves]] in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''.
** The vampires, including the Cullens, are strongly prejudiced against humans. Bella accepts fairly easily that vampires are superior to human beings, never wondering why, if this is true, that the Volturi are so dedicated to keeping a supposedly inferior species from finding out about the handful of vampires in the world.

** The asuras, the PhysicalGods of the setting, look down on the mortal inhabitants of Dicathen and Alacrya as "lessers" for they perceive themselves as the SuperiorSpecies to them due to their mastery of mana. It is only thanks to their uplifting of them, which only occurred in the leadup to the DivineConflict and would not have occurred normally due to the asuras' desire to not involve themselves in their affairs, that the lessers are able to use mana, and and even after being uplifted they still pale in comparison to them.
*** While the Vritra Clan treat their mortal Alacryan subjects rather horribly, that is not to say the rest of the asuras in Epheotus view them any better. They have a rather discriminatory attitude towards the Alacryans whom due to being subjects of the Vritra they view as Always Chaotic Evil (which is not the case [[spoiler:as the Alacryans prove to be as much victims of the DivineConflict as the Dicathians are]]). Those with Vritra blood are especially scorned against as misbegotten mongrels, and part of the reason the DivineConflict started was the Vritra's interbreeding with and experimentation on the inhabitants of Alacrya.

*** Even the most benign among the asuras still exhibit a somewhat prejudiced slant towards the lessers (to the point that they still use the term "lesser" to address them when other asuras use it as a FantasticSlur). For example, Veruhn views Arthur as a curiosity, while Wren during his stint training Arthur stills looks down on him for being a lesser and calls him out repeatedly for his shortcomings (though he is a case of JerkassHasAPoint as Arthur is far from ready to face the Vritra at that point).
** The Alacryans, during their invasion of Dicathen, have a rather complicated relationship with the three races of the continent. As they are humans (albeit those with the blood of the Vritra), they treat the humans in Sapin as the same as themselves (to the point that [[spoiler:after the war, a good majority of the noble houses in Sapin become LesCollaborateurs to their new overlords]]). The dwarves of Darv also receive somewhat fair treatment as their kingdom was so heavily compromised by the Alacrya spy network it effectively became a puppet state to them during the war. However, as the biggest bastion of resistance against them, the elves of Elenoir receive appalling treatment from them. During the war, the Alacryan invasion of Elenoir sees them capture EnslavedElves by the thousands whom they treat horrifically, if not putting them to the sword where they stood.
** Even before the Alacryan invasion of Dicathen, the three races had prejudices towards one another that their ruling families sought to stamp out by forming the Council. Sapin and Elenoir had a war a few years back that left both peoples with tensions against each other, and the king of the latter despised humans because the war led to the death of his mother until Arthur's rescue of Tessia saw him undergo a HeelRealization after being called out by his daughter's rescuer, which in turn led him to form the Council. Later on, in Tessia's speech to the new students of Xyrus Academy, she implores them to put aside the differences between their races. This proves to be for naught as not only is racism.

** The Shin'a'in have been tasked with guarding ancient magic superweapons from anyone who might be able to use them and consequently have a BanOnMagic. Whenever a Shin'a'in is born with magic, they have a choice: have that gift deactivated, become a shaman, or leave the Plains (most being sent to the Tayledras). In ''The Oathbreakers'', Tarma brings her out-clan mage [[BloodBrothers oathsister]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners Kethry]] home to visit. Many of the Shin'a'in are ''horrified'' that Tarma's [[MalignedMixedMarriage paired off with a mage outsider]] and accuse Kethry of tricking her and coming for nefarious reasons. It takes divine intervention to make them accept her, but that does mean that when she has children [[ExtraParentConception they are considered also Tarma's]] and fully accepted despite clearly being of a different ethnicity. This is not the case for half-Outlander kids like young An'desha, who despite being raised on the Plains never had a place there.

** And the Andalites themselves are eventually revealed to deserve a lot of that disdain; they see humans as so far beneath them that [[spoiler:they decide to destroy the Earth after letting as many Yeerks as possible crowd onto it]], and one book centers around how an Andalite who's lost his tail blade is seen as worthless.

--->The monster’s head bent slowly and the eyes fixed themselves on Powell. Then, in a harsh, squawking voice -- like that of a medieval phonograph, he grated, "Yes, Master!"\\