Why do I never see people discussing the fact that Tolkien was an obvious Luddite? I'm currently halfway through Return of the King, and I'm noticing a lot that I didn't as a kid when I originally read it.
These novels are obvious allegory to the evils of industrialization. For example, Orcs are always depicted burning and destroying nature (burning the fields of Rohan/Gondor, chopping down trees in Fangorn, etc.), whereas the good races are attuned to nature, living in harmony with trees and beasts. The armor and weapons of the Light races are described in great detail as beautiful and well-crafted, but those of the Orcs were described as hideous, poorly crafted, and only serving for one purpose (to kill).
Various other allusions exist such as the constant smog from Isengard/Mordor and the use of higher technology such as gunpowder being used only by the enemy.
What are your thoughts on this series?
>>8284401
>never see
Where have you been all these fucking years?
And the reason for that is he fucking hates what industrialization has done to the English countryside. And if you read some of Dickens' novel, you will know just how terrible factories were those days.
And the shitty weaponry the Orcs got is referring to mass produced stuff being inferior to carefully crafted works by humans. Industrialization destroyed Middle Ages' guilds. Now, instead of being proud of their work, people are told to stand in a factory line all day doing one work over and over and over again like a drone.
Obviously, if you've read Marx, you'd think that sounds really communistic. Don't think Tolkien is one though. He just writes of the mythical medieval ages. He says LoTR is a fairy tale for adults after all. He knows it's nothing like real life medieval ages.
>>8284401
I dunno, being a luddite seems the way to go wrt current events. Find a comfy farm somewhere and live while the rest of the world tears itself apart for glorified memes.
>>8284401
Why do i never see people discussing the fact that Tolkien was an obvious anarchist?
The ring is an obvious allegory to the power to control others. Sauron was a commie. Tom Bombadil was immune to it because "he is his own master".
What are your thoughts on this series?
>>8285639
>Tom Bombadil was immune to it because
He is God.
Not _a god_ of Middle Earth, but Tolkien's God.
>>8285736
interesting, ive never heard that theory before. what evidence is there for it in the text?
>>8284401
Is this some kind of bait?
>>8285482
this
i've been reading a lot of anarcho-primitivism and neo-luddism lately, the technological society is screwed
