The Morlocks: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Sometimes, the course of human evolution can lead to a sub-division. Those in the position of power become a higher caste of human being, and those in the working class develop blue skin, leech-like mouths and a taste for human flesh. Darwin didn't really think about this possibility, but H.G. Wells certainly did.

--Except that the book implies that it is kind of a [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: the Eloi have no conception of altruism, art, love or even the future tense. They don't actually have a culture. The Morlocks, on the other hand, are actually productive society members: they just breed the Eloi like cattle, [[To Serve Man|and for the same purpose]]. The narrator speculates that, as the upper class constantly pushed the lower class below ground, the upper class lost the ability to think and work for itself, leaving the lower class adapted to operating heavy machinery and thinking logically. The entire thing is commonly interpreted as a critique on Victorian society.

 

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* The Morlocks in [[The Time Machine]] were actually the more advanced race, providing all the food and luxuries the mentally deficient Eloi depended on.

* The creatures in H. P. Lovecraft's ''Lurking Fear'' are somewhat like Morlocks as they are carnivorous de-evolved apelike humans.

{{quote| ''If there is hope, it lies in the proles.''}}

* The Orcs of ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' are [[Flip Flop of God|sometimes identified]] as originally Elves who were subverted by the will of Morgoth, Sauron's master from ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. Other times they're the result of Morgoth trying to create his own version of the children of Iluvatar (elves and men). Tolkien went back and forth on the matter repeatedly, and hadn't settled on a definitive version even when he died, mainly due to trying to reconcile his dislike of [[Always Chaotic Evil]] with his belief in Evil as inherently incapable of creativity.