General Discussion

"There are two novels that have a lifelong impression on smart 14 year old bookish boys - Atlas Shrugged and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. One is an unrealistic fantasy and the other has Orcs..."

Unfortunately, with his Afrikaans background, the Rand fantasy made more of an impression the Tolkien fantasy, even though Tolkien was from South Africa himself.
Tolkien would hated Apartheid. His heroes always prevailed through diversity and inclusion of different talents and experiences.
Segregation was a weakness in his world.
FWIW, when he described his orcs, tended to have mottled greyish skin, and both the Hobbits and "Strider" - later the Returned King Elessar - were described as being brown skinned or swart (extremely tanned).

Thiel admires Saruman. Has been said by those who know him that he's commented Saruman should have been the hero, he could have defeated Sauron and his orcs sooner - but of course, it could just be him being the urbane troll he is.