Context. Tolkien endured ww I and it’s horrors. When he wrote of returning to the world he left, he knew it was impossible IRL. That time had gone, never to

Context. Tolkien endured ww I and it’s horrors. When he wrote of returning to the world he left, he knew it was impossible IRL. That time had gone, never to return. One could argue that both Moorcock and Tolkien ended up with the same world, with the Elves and Dwarves being gone, Men as the only players and the spirit of technology (or Saruman reformed) diffused everywhere. With politics, with VR, perhaps future people will look back on the Matrix as documentaries about the struggle with reactionary “realists” trying to disconnect people from the world. The world is too similar to the 1930’s and people should be frightened by that.