Branch thread: Tolkien's military technology - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

blantyr · 04-09-2011, 05:52 PM

There are lots of ways I respect Tolkien and love his works, but I don't see him as a serious historian or familiar with how technology changes. I see humans as expansionist. Give them a frontier, they will expand to fill the open territory. Given technology, it will be improved. The further along the technology is, the faster it will be refined.

Middle Earth isn't necessarily like that. The Elves in the beginning were perfect, and it all goes slowly downhill. I see the ancient legendary armor being the result of a legendary will enhanced craftsmanship that the humans would call 'magic.' As the elves of Lorien made boats, cloaks and even rations at a level unheard of even in Frodo's day, they once were able to make armor far beyond what humans can.

And if a plague wipes out the population of a good sized part of a continent, it doesn't recover in a century or two, the effects are still there indefinitely.

But that isn't why I read and reread Tolkien. Those are unimportant themes not near the core of his work. Suspension of disbelief isn't hard.

04-09-2011, 05:52 PM	#13
blantyr Wight Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Settling down in Bree for the winter. Posts: 208	Going Downhill There are lots of ways I respect Tolkien and love his works, but I don't see him as a serious historian or familiar with how technology changes. I see humans as expansionist. Give them a frontier, they will expand to fill the open territory. Given technology, it will be improved. The further along the technology is, the faster it will be refined. Middle Earth isn't necessarily like that. The Elves in the beginning were perfect, and it all goes slowly downhill. I see the ancient legendary armor being the result of a legendary will enhanced craftsmanship that the humans would call 'magic.' As the elves of Lorien made boats, cloaks and even rations at a level unheard of even in Frodo's day, they once were able to make armor far beyond what humans can. And if a plague wipes out the population of a good sized part of a continent, it doesn't recover in a century or two, the effects are still there indefinitely. But that isn't why I read and reread Tolkien. Those are unimportant themes not near the core of his work. Suspension of disbelief isn't hard.