Replies

I like Tolkien and Rand, but they would have loathed each other's books. While Tolkien's characters are fairly formal in speech and manner, that is written in the style of the sagas and early histories. Rand's dialogue and characters are so wooden you'd think she was creating roles for Pinnochio.

There's also the key issue - Rand would have loathed the LOTR because it shows the triumph of the masses she rallies against in her works. Consider the Hobbit - a story of an ordinary little fellow nicking an object owned/created by others and using it to steal things from those who've worked hard to acquire them (ie Smaug, the Ellfking).

In LOTR proper, we see that Sauron went to a great deal of trouble building a solid well-defended state and a number of artifacts. he has added something to their world. It may be fear, pain, misery, etc but at least he has given the world something. On the other hand we have the Elves/Men/Hobbits and Dwarves who seem to be very good at pulling the great ones down (Saruman, Sauron) but not quite so good at putting anything in their place.

Ah, but what of the great individuals who were 'good', I hear you cry! Who? Elrond - supposedly a mighty half-elf lord. Why then has he spent millennia in his equivalent o f a hippie shack smoking Longbottom and listening to bards. Sounds like the alternative lifestylers of the welfare state to me! Galadriel - a new age overbearing woman who prances round the woods in impractical dresses and is likewise unwilling to accompany them. Aragorn - supposedly a truly great fellow yet he bases his struggle on the belief that his blood gives him the right to a throne which he hasn't been too concerned about for the last few centuries, thank you very much!

Then, once Sauron is defeated what happens? The principal 'wreckers' bugger off to the Grey Havens with their ill gotten gains, the Grey Havens no doubt being the Elvish equivalent of the Bahamas!

On a more serious note, Tolkein was a genius and a great writer and lover of language. Rand may well have been a genius but she was stilted and wooden. Despite my musings above, Tolkein's a far better book. I do believe however that Rand would have favoured Mordor and Isengard with their factories and their work ethic over the rural ordinaryness of the lands of Middle-Earth. Tolkein believed in individuals who were ordinary folk and cherished their communities. Rand believed only in strong-willed indidividuals who would forsake their fellows and view in dividuality as more important than the welfare of their friends, family and so forth.

Hmmm...I must disagree on a couple of points. First, Smaug did NOT work hard to gain his wealth - The dwarves, Thorin's family and so forth, were the ones who created the treasure - which Smaug then proceeded to take by force from the creators. How different is this to the mentality and methods of the "looters" in Atlas Shrugged? Also, I doubt Ayn Rand would have preferred Mordor, Isengard and all their technology to the "masses of little people". She was a technology lover and Tolkien a Luddite, but Sauron and Saruman sought to use their technology to rule people by force, something Rand disapproved of. Remember also that the ring-making "technology" was invented by the Elves for nonviolent purposes but stolen by Sauron to make the One Ring, a weapon of control - Compare this to Project X, invented by State scientists using methods and theories invented by Dr. Stadler just for pure science's sake. Just my brain running off on "analysis" mode...