One of my favorite books, as cliche as it sounds, is the Lord of the Rings. The prose, the ideas, and the characters are literally what has made fantasy what it is today. That said, it isn’t a perfect book by any means. One of my criticisms of the book is how Tolkien used Mordor and Sauron. If you ask anyone to describe Sauron as a character, all you’ll get is evil or some aspect that most would include as their definition of evil. Mordor itself is a blasted wasteland where nothing can live. The implication was that this was the fate of the entire world if Sauron was to regain the ring or just simply win the war.

My question is, why would anyone join such a force? If you’re a greedy, power crazed madman, you would still OPPOSE this creature. Why? If Sauron wins, you lose, period. If I hate Rohan and Gondor, the most I might do is nothing. If Mordor wins, they’ll be weakened and I’ll be the conqueror. If not, then I can take on Gondor and Rohan in their weakened state. I win, either way. If I join Mordor, what do I gain?

In reality, there are reasons why people would found, join, fight and die for a horrible country besides fear and mass brainwashing. The best way is to do one of two things: take an otherwise reasonable idea to an extreme or mix it with authoritarianism (or both). Here are some examples:

Nationalism

Civic pride, patriotism, culture, and common cause are all great aspects of national pride. Everything from the Olympics and World Cup to the United Nations are all based on the idea of nationalism. However, nationalism taken to an extreme can lead to racism, jingoism, and xenophobia. Increase this even further, and you’ll get people oppressing or prosecuting others for not being patriotic enough. Mix in an unhealthy dose of authoritarianism, and you get a government requiring loyalty tests, neighbors informing on neighbors, and even genocidal wars.

Religion

A sense of community, inspiration for art, and a touchstone for a country’s ethics are positive aspects of religion. Take religious zeal to an extreme and you can get intolerance of people who believe something even slightly different, witch trials, and crusades. There is no reason that the religion has to be inherently evil. Simply having missionaries supported by sufficient military force can make the empire a truly terrifying enemy.

Ideology

Pretty much any idea taken to an extreme can become dangerous. For example, in my world, the Druid Wars was a conflict between a group of, in effect, environmentalists and increasingly nationalistic governments. The conflict spun out of control to the point where literally millions died, whole countries were destroyed, and inquisitions slaughtered untold multitudes of people. Who was right? The Druids claim their intervention was required for the sake of the planet. Most of the countries affected claim they were simply defending their sovereignty.

Government

Taken to an extreme, pretty much any form of government can become tyranny. Most of the issues above only become a really big problem when they are attached to the government. An ultranationalist group can be dangerous in a local area, but put them in charge of a government and you get a possible source of world wars. Obviously, limiting the authority of the government helps this, but even that can be taken to an extreme. Remove the ability of the government to do anything, and you get anarchy. Remember, just because the government doesn’t have control doesn’t mean no one does.

If you are creating an enemy on the scale of an entire country, think about how they keep their economy running, their military operating, and the people behind it. Remember, if the government is too oppressive, it will likely be internally focused: quelling rebellions, stopping assassinations, and the like. That works well if your protagonists are in the country and opposing the regime. If you are looking for a war, then the empire must be externally focused, which means there needs to be a reason for a significant majority of the people to support the effort.

Next week, I’ll be talking about my writing and what I’ve been working on. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next Sunday!