Tolkien, Technology, and... War - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

symestreem · 05-11-2004, 03:12 PM

Tolkien's distrust of industry is well known (see Scouring of the Shire, Fellowship of the Ring if you don't know what I'm talking about). Reasons commonly given for this, and supported by the above chapter, include the corruption of nature. Is there another reason? Technology makes war easier and more impersonal; I imagine it's easier to drop a Tomahawk (or whatever missile) from an unmanned Predator than to cut someone's head off with a sword. In his books, Tolkien seems to portray war as a necessary evil (see ), but technology, as I said, makes war easier and more likely. Medieval monarchs had to think about raising an army and provisioning it. Now, weapons can kill an increasing number of people at one time, often without any risk to those who utliize them. Tolkien would have had a taste of this in WWI, with machine guns and poison gas. Technology also makes subjugation of one nation by another easier, if the other nation is a superpower. Both impersonal war and subjugation are themes Tolkien treats with dislike (although, curiously, he has no problems with Gondor's colonization of Harad after the War of the Ring); I believe all instances weapons of mass destruction in Middle-earth were utilized by the bad guys (ie dragons, siege, and the blasting fire of Orthanc), and it was the proud and corrupt Numenoreans who subjugated Middle-earth. Did Tolkien do this on purpose, or is easy war just another side effect of technology, like despolation of Nature?

05-11-2004, 03:12 PM	#1
symestreem Face in the Water Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 728	Tolkien, Technology, and... War Tolkien's distrust of industry is well known (see Scouring of the Shire, Fellowship of the Ring if you don't know what I'm talking about). Reasons commonly given for this, and supported by the above chapter, include the corruption of nature. Is there another reason? Technology makes war easier and more impersonal; I imagine it's easier to drop a Tomahawk (or whatever missile) from an unmanned Predator than to cut someone's head off with a sword. In his books, Tolkien seems to portray war as a necessary evil (see ), but technology, as I said, makes war easier and more likely. Medieval monarchs had to think about raising an army and provisioning it. Now, weapons can kill an increasing number of people at one time, often without any risk to those who utliize them. Tolkien would have had a taste of this in WWI, with machine guns and poison gas. Technology also makes subjugation of one nation by another easier, if the other nation is a superpower. Both impersonal war and subjugation are themes Tolkien treats with dislike (although, curiously, he has no problems with Gondor's colonization of Harad after the War of the Ring); I believe all instances weapons of mass destruction in Middle-earth were utilized by the bad guys (ie dragons, siege, and the blasting fire of Orthanc), and it was the proud and corrupt Numenoreans who subjugated Middle-earth. Did Tolkien do this on purpose, or is easy war just another side effect of technology, like despolation of Nature?