23 ms·
You're presupposing (jokingly, of course) allegorical meaning behind the work, which Tolkien explicitly rejected. Middle Earth was meant as a foundational myth
by wooster 16y ago
You're presupposing (jokingly, of course) allegorical meaning behind the work, which Tolkien explicitly rejected.
Middle Earth was meant as a foundational myth of the British Isles. A sort of stand-in for the real history. A modern-day Beowulf.
If you're looking for parallels with The Real World, you might be better off comparing the war in LoTR to WWI, in which Tolkien served in combat and witnessed some of the most horrific combat in human history, caused mostly by industrial advances. It's a lot easier to see why his nostalgia might be piqued when you think of most of his peers getting mustard gassed, shelled, shot, stabbed, or otherwise dying horrific deaths.
- loxs 16y agoExactly. Just compare the map of the Middle Earth to Europe and you will see how well it fits in WWI setup. Good Little Hobbits (Britain), some humans (France, Italy), a dwarf (maybe a Scandinavian?), some Elves (Russians?) form the Good Alliance (of Christianity?) and fight against the Evil (muslim?) Empire of Mordor (Ottoman Empire) and its allies (Germany and Austria = Saruman's army?) who are traitors. And also, the good Elves of Eastern Europe migrate to America after the war, because "the world has changed".
- Symmetry 16y agoI think its actually pretty clear, given the geography, that Mordor is Germany. Depictions of Germans in WWI propaganda posters are very similar to how orcs are described.
- gmac 16y agoInteresting analogies. I always thought the most obvious sermonising was about industrialisation and the loss of an innocent rural way of life (as described here, for example: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngbeyond/rings/influences.html#indust http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngbeyond/rings/influences....)