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Comment by r_harriso | Hacker News Reader

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.

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The point of the article is to talk about the industrial revolution. It is no great feat of intelligence to figure out the reason something is not in a book is because the author didn't want it there. I personally thought these thoughts were a bit scattered but ultimately somewhat interesting. And the thought of Gandalf waving a .44 around is funny.

Especially when you consider that Gandalf is essentially "LARPing" a human - and has access to weapons of mass destruction if he threw off his limits.

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.

Yet, he had bellows forges. Curiously selective. And explosives, for his fireworks.

I think it was Saruman who did the industrial bit, and used wood for the fuel. (No dwarven miners to hand, I guess? But orcs like it underground.) But inventing guns all by himself seems like a tall order, even given several centuries' plotting.

Thanks for introducing a new word to me -

bucolic

relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life. "the church is lovely for its bucolic setting"

referring to shepherds related to Bullock via bucula , and maybe the bugle horn

> didn’t write an industrial revolution into the history of middle earth

He wrote it, with focus on negative effect - note ending of the book.

Curiously Shire has numerous products that require industrial base, without industrial revolution being present.

Less pointless than this comment for sure though

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.

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.

Tolkiens views weren’t subtle or complicated..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmentalism_in_The_Lord...

Wow didn’t even take as much work as I suggested.

Seems like you googled where he lived and haven’t read any analysis of his works and letters.

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.

Pretty sure that's most capital cities in europe. E.g. London, Rome

I suppose GP was being ironic ;)

Bit of a stretch to figure Oxford as "ravaged by industry" though, isn't it? The Cotswolds are suffused with bucolicity.

Oxford is known for having some quite stunning villages surrounding it. I went back in the weekend for a reunion, the city itself is still quite pretty with plenty of river paths.

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