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Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

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Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#31

Post by ehnto »

bloodyplonker22 wrote: post #19
r_harriso wrote: post #11

The reason that Tolkien didn’t write an industrial revolution into the history of middle earth is that he hated industry. Hated how it destroyed bucolic village life. Having this take on LoTR is pointless. Just an annoying waste of time.

Tolkien lived in a city in Oxford which was neither bucolic nor a village. It sounds more like you hate industry and wish to return to bucolic village life.

I have no idea if Tolkein loved or hated industry, but simply living in a city doesn't suddenly make you an industrialist as much as living in a village doesn't make you a farmer.

If anything, living in the city gives you an excellent perspective on the effects of industrialization, form ones own opinions from there.

Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#32

Post by chungy »

claytongulick wrote: post #21

I hate to be "that guy", but honestly I had to stop reading at: > Confession time. I have never read Lord of the Rings. I’ve tried. It’s boring as hell. When your whole article is based on something you have zero knowledge about... Sorry, I'm just not going to spend the time.

Personally, I read the books when I was 12 (slightly before the Peter Jackson Fellowship came out), and I was hooked the whole way through. I literally had sleepless nights from just reading on through the morning.

Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#33

Post by progre »

claytongulick wrote: post #21

I hate to be "that guy", but honestly I had to stop reading at: > Confession time. I have never read Lord of the Rings. I’ve tried. It’s boring as hell. When your whole article is based on something you have zero knowledge about... Sorry, I'm just not going to spend the time.

But then the author goes on to quote LOTR quite extensively and brings up all sorts of economy tidbits ("the dwarves don't farm"), so they obviously have read LOTR.

Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#35

Post by strken »

r_harriso wrote: post #11

The reason that Tolkien didn’t write an industrial revolution into the history of middle earth is that he hated industry. Hated how it destroyed bucolic village life. Having this take on LoTR is pointless. Just an annoying waste of time.

I think the point wasn't to interpret the books. The author hasn't read them, which is an obvious giveaway. As an excuse to write thousands of words about the starting conditions of the industrial revolution, it doesn't seem like a waste of time.

Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#37

Post by r_harriso »

yyyk wrote: post #28
r_harriso wrote: post #11

The reason that Tolkien didn’t write an industrial revolution into the history of middle earth is that he hated industry. Hated how it destroyed bucolic village life. Having this take on LoTR is pointless. Just an annoying waste of time.

You're of course right about the real reason, but speculating within the setting is fun (and also a waste of time by definition).

I’m definitely being too negative about something that is silly.

Im just tired of this kind of analysis. It’s common in ASOIAF space. there it is often done completely seriously. I spent a lot of time in that space, so I think I’m just overly sensitive.

Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#38

Post by RajT88 »

I have often wondered this as well.

My own pet theory is that in worlds with magic users, magic gets used to solve the problems which technological advancements would otherwise be developed for.

Of course, we get some fantasy lands like this, where magic itself was the major discovery behind the industrial revolution (see: League of Legends' animation, "Arcane", "Wheel of Time" novels).

Then you have something like "Flight of Dragons" where science can be applied to how some of the magical elements work, but still are fundamentally incompatible. Almost like "Schrodinger's wizard", once you start analyzing the magic, it starts fading.

There's a lot of different takes on it.

Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#39

Post by r_harriso »

ehnto wrote: post #31
bloodyplonker22 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tolkien lived in a city in Oxford which was neither bucolic nor a village. It sounds more like you hate industry and wish to return to bucolic village life.

I have no idea if Tolkein loved or hated industry, but simply living in a city doesn't suddenly make you an industrialist as much as living in a village doesn't make you a farmer. If anything, living in the city gives you an excellent perspective on the effects of industrialization, form ones own opinions from there.

Also, there were cities before industrialization. Can’t remember the names of any right now… but I pretty sure there were a few.

Re: Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?

#40

Post by nostrademons »

Barrin92 wrote: post #16

The industrial revolution is in the book, it's the actual antagonist of the story. Tolkien was a devout Catholic distributist and Hobbingen was his ideal Catholic community of self reliant Hobbits who answer to wizards and kings, not to factory floor managers and administrators.

Right, the industrialists are literally right there in the form of Saruman and the Orcs of Isengard:

"Together, my lord Sauron, we shall rule this Middle-earth. The old world will burn in the fires of industry. Forests will fall. A new order will rise. We will drive the machine of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist of the orc."

The orcs could be looked at as an allegory of the faceless, dehumanized, industrialized proletariat, people who had sold their soul to the machine. They can be seen crafting huge weapons of war, siege engines and such, in giant factories fueled by those coal deposits.

The reason the industrial revolution never happened in Middle Earth is because the Fellowship of the Ring prevented it.

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