arcade13

I have never heard of any of these so this was a great read!

Interesting article, however, I feel that you are missing a large part of Tolkien’s motivations for his depictions of Moria, Mordor and the Orcs. Tolkien was an avid lover of nature and grew up in a rural area of England that he adored. He is frequently quoted as being distressed by the rise of industrialisation in the surrounding area, particular those advances which took out swathes of his local wildlife. I do agree that the military and WW1 played a huge role in his formation on the enemy but I think there are more components to his depictions then what was outlined above. Many attributes of the enemy people and lands come from his disgruntled outlook on this industrialising situation, which was further developed from his experiences in the great war.

I’ve always felt that the lack of overt religiousness was in itself a commentary on religion for these books. It was nice to read this article as it cemented some of my thoughts on the matter.

I’ve always found LOTR interesting because I’ve found that in many books (especially since the release of the movies), it is almost stereotypical to chose the least likely person to be the hero. There is now a fascination that comes from having the predictable leader shown as the weakest and having the weakest team member rise to a challenge. I think of books like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, all of which tend to ridicule and dehumanise those who are obvious picks for heroes.

I enjoy Tolkien’s works because it is a genuine story of the weakest gaining emotional and physical strength. Sometimes it feels like, these days, people try too hard to make every situation the opposite so that it feels fresh and interesting.