Mordor inspired by Nazi Germany?

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by rorschach

Hi Folks
This is probably old hat to all old-time Tolkein fans, but I've never understood all the WWII allegory stuff. Tolkein was a professor of medieval languages, steeped in the history of Dark Age England. From that, can we identify a corresponding point in time in English history where LOTR 'takes place'?

I can't speak of the others but I'm surely an old time Tolkien fan and have never bothered to try and find out the parallels into the medieval history of the British isles. Well, I have neither been a fan enough to study anything on Tolkien - like to read different commentaries or other speculation on his works - or his letters even!

But I must admit this viewpoint is at the same time plausible, believable and understandable - and it would explain why the prof. was so annoyed by the questions concerning the WW2.

But we should also remember that even if the things from the past of England you suggest rorschach might have been the initial historical sceneries that inspired Tolkien we're still needing to answer at least two questions:

How did his experiences of both World Wars come into the picture? I mean even if one starts with a storyline or a basic concept unrelated to the present day occurences those might (and would?) influence the initial idea and the creative process going on after those events. And granting that, one should ask what is the importance of those newer experiences and their relation to the possible original idea?

Secondly: Is there a deeper annoyance with the paralles with the history / legend of the real world occurences at stake here? As no scholar on the topic it still seems to me that Tolkien was really annoyed by such suggestions. So what is the worth of such discoveries for interpreting his work? Should we follow him in the stance that we should search for no parallels or allegories of actual history and that the ME and the LotR are just mythology (for England), or should we read it through historical lenses - and what would we gain or lose by doing that?

(I'm admitting that as a lay history-freak I immediately felt a need to look back on some history-books to check these suggestions out - and I probably will do it soon enough as I have time for it - but that's a freak like me...)

EDIT: X'd with the letters of the Squatter...