One thing that's always fascinated me about Tolkien is, to put it crudely, his politics.
Quote:
My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs) -- or to 'unconstitutional' Monarchy. Letters, 51
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We see, roughly, an example of enlightened 'Anarchy' in Rivendell, and King Elessar's realm is nothing if not the model for Tolkien's ideal monarchy. What I find interesting is the vast chasm between Tolkien's political and social views and the reality of his (and our) time. The idea of self-sustaining anarchy in the time of WWII would have been laughable, and monarchy in any form was rapidly becoming archaic. Tolkien, I think, spurned 'practical' politics altogether, in the sense that his confessed "political opinions", as well as his almost regressive (not necessarily in a negative sense of the word, mind you) social ideals, seem divorced from the reality of the time . Tolkien, it seems to me, lived in the political idyll of his mind--and, to an extent, of Middle-earth.
These thoughts are cursory at best. I do not claim to have great insight into the subtlety of Tolkien's values. And I have said nothing of C.S. Lewis, who I am far less familiar with; I will leave it to others to comment on his beliefs.