Fantasy Morality

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

The author talks about a 'shift' which he says he finds fascinating.

But he calls it a problem.

Certainlly, the author clearly admires Tolkien, so I don't think that fans need to get defensive about it.

He might admire Tolkien, but he doesn't sound like he knows what he's speaking about.

I think that the style and tone of Sil and CoH is different to LotR, particularly the Fellowship part of trilogy. This writer seems to prefer the tone of the Sil, that is his right.

The tone is definitely different, but in my opinion the author doesn't prefer the tone of The Sil and COH, but calls it inconsistent.

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

I agree--but I don't think it necessarily follows that, accompanying the stylistic shift, there's a philosophical one.
Or, if it is, I don't think that the philosophical one is the one that the essayist argues for. LotR to my mind is basically the Silm with hobbits. Seeing Middle-earth through their eyes rather than those of the tragically doomed elves gives the whole world and its passing into mundanity a completely different context--not necessarily a different morality.

This makes more sense to me.