[Tuor of Gondolin]

I believe (Strachey?) makes an observation that the Hobbit
begins in a middle class world, moves on to the heroic,
and then returns to the middle class genre at the end.
The Master actually is a solid civil servant (if also rather
tending towards corruption) but it's of the "ordinary"
world. He has actually kept his people safe and
prosperous, wisely avoiding the dragon and it's
lair. There is an analog to the restlessness of the
laketown people and the restlessness of the
post-War of the Ring Gondorians (who in JRRT's started
Fourth Age Tale) are restless after 100 or so years of
peace and the children begin playing at being orcs.