|
From my perspective your analogy with the French is faulty. You say that people defend on the basis of what they see and know. The French built the Maginot Line and could never have anticipated the sheer power of the Nazi war machine that came two decades later. But the people of Laketown are looking up into the skies and they see a fire breathing dragon the size of a large building flying towards them at a very quick speed. And what is their reaction to this?
Quick - destroy the bridge.
For me, and I guess it just me, that does not even approach the level of believability that I need to suspend disbelief. It does not pass the smell test.
The answer to the problem has absolutely nothing to do with the problem.
The reaction of the town would make perfect sense if they got word of an advancing army marching on foot towards them. Yes, destroy the bridge to prevent them from easily marching across right into town. But this is a flying dragon for heavens sake. Not an army marching on land. Anyone with eyes looking into the skies of Laketown can see that.
And allow me a personal thought. One reason why I love Tolkien so much is that is so tightly written. It seems that every page, every paragraph, every line, every character and every event was written and rewritten and rewritten again until it was right in every possible way. When I come across things like "destroy the bridge" to stop a flying dragon or a Dwarf who turns into an ultra-marathoner with no training, it just sticks out like a sore thumb because JRRT is such a great writer. I expect better. And 99.9% of the time he delivers.
|