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skip spence · 07-30-2008, 10:34 AM

A few things I'd like to add...

Firstly, although I agree that the technological and cultural entropy of Tolkien's world is quite unrealistic, it is also very poetic and on the whole I thinks it adds rather than detracts from my enjoyment of his works. I quite like the idea of a golden age when the world was magical and mythical, when there was beauty and craftmanship unsurpassed, when the grass was greener, the sky more blue and the mountains taller and more majestic.

Secondly, there is in fact an indication of printing presses in the Shire as Bilbo is reading a newspaper when Galdalf first arrives although in truth JRRT would have regretted this anachronism later on when his legendarium became more developed.

Thirdly, while there are no guns in ME there are two instances in LotR where a form of gunpowder presumably is used. The first one is Gandalf's fireworks, the other one is during the siege of Helm's Deep (as seen in the movies).

I've also wondered why the likes of Melkor and Sauron couldn't or didn't help their minions develop better weaponry and such. The armies of the bad guys always seem to be have poorer equpiment than the good guys where IMO it should have been the opposite way around. Take Melkor for instance. He was said to have had a part of the gifts of all his Valar brethren and to have been the greatest of them all in terms of power, although much of it was later spent. His first priority would also have been to conjure up a way to win the war. I would think he should've had the brains to invent some decent weapons for his minions, such as the machinegun, the mustard gas or the anti-personel mine.

07-30-2008, 10:34 AM	#37
skip spence shadow of a doubt Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Back on the streets Posts: 1,125	A few things I'd like to add... Firstly, although I agree that the technological and cultural entropy of Tolkien's world is quite unrealistic, it is also very poetic and on the whole I thinks it adds rather than detracts from my enjoyment of his works. I quite like the idea of a golden age when the world was magical and mythical, when there was beauty and craftmanship unsurpassed, when the grass was greener, the sky more blue and the mountains taller and more majestic. Secondly, there is in fact an indication of printing presses in the Shire as Bilbo is reading a newspaper when Galdalf first arrives although in truth JRRT would have regretted this anachronism later on when his legendarium became more developed. Thirdly, while there are no guns in ME there are two instances in LotR where a form of gunpowder presumably is used. The first one is Gandalf's fireworks, the other one is during the siege of Helm's Deep (as seen in the movies). I've also wondered why the likes of Melkor and Sauron couldn't or didn't help their minions develop better weaponry and such. The armies of the bad guys always seem to be have poorer equpiment than the good guys where IMO it should have been the opposite way around. Take Melkor for instance. He was said to have had a part of the gifts of all his Valar brethren and to have been the greatest of them all in terms of power, although much of it was later spent. His first priority would also have been to conjure up a way to win the war. I would think he should've had the brains to invent some decent weapons for his minions, such as the machinegun, the mustard gas or the anti-personel mine. __________________ "You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way" ~ Bob Dylan Last edited by skip spence; 07-30-2008 at 12:26 PM.