Just a topic to chat about.

  • Feanor@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/j-r-r-tolkien-from-a-letter-to-christopher-tolkien Found the whole letter. Tolkien was clearly against industrialisation and the modernity. He prefered the shire which is anarchist, the have no government. Seeing the ring as a metaphor of absolute power is a fair reading and the only way to save middle earth is to destroy the symbol of ultimate power. There are anti authoritarian themes throughout the legendarium. Sauron is the ultimate dictator who wants to order the world as he wishes. Using power to overthrow him will lead to a new dictator rising up. The power needs to be destroyed for peace to be possible. His view on kings seemed to be: you can sit on a throne but leave us alone. Analysing tolkiens work through an anarchist lens makes more sense than one might think