What would the books be like if Tolkien had lived in this age.

[HCIsland]

Personally, I find it really tough to imagine the fantasy genre without Tolkien. It certainly wouldn't be the same. Elves, dwarves ectera have been around for a long time, but what Tolkien did as far as creating an entire history is, as far as I know, perviously unprecedented. That idea of creating a universe for your characters to play in with it's own past and future has influenced so much fantasy literature and films.

As for the original topic of this thread, I don't think LotR would be all that different if it were published now. The characters are archtypes that existed long before Tolkien. I think the only change would be a little political correctness that would be insisted upon by the publishers; Black Numenoreans and the like. That's just a change in the way a few things are phrased and not a biggie in my opinion.

H.C.

H.C.

[ May 23, 2003: Message edited by: HCIsland ]