Er... well... let's see. I've read Lord of the Rings dozens of times. I feel asleep working my way through Atlas Shrugged. Tolkien and Rand really wouldn't have liked each other at all.
What's "Taka"? Are you an anime buff?
Jen, I agree that Tolkien and Rand wouldn't have liked each other much. But that doesn't mean that both didn't have something important to say.
"Taka" means hawk in Japanese. I was interested in anime for a while, but not right now.
"Tolkien and Rand really wouldn't have liked each other at all."
That was pretty much my first reaction as well. Interesting post, though--makes me reflect on the nature of good and evil in the two novels. I'll leave it to others to comment on Rand since my area is Tolkien, but IMO for Tolkien evil is portrayed as a corruption of what was once good, per the Christian theology of sin as privation--Morgoth is a fallen Valar, Sauron is a fallen Maia, Orcs are corrupted Elves, the Wraiths are corrupted Men, Gollum is a corrupted Hobbit, the Ring tempts by appealing to a desire to use it for good, etc. Also IMO for Tolkien evil is conquered through self-sacrifice--Frodo's suffering, Sam's willingness to die for Frodo, the Fellowship's willingness to protect Frodo at all costs, the sacrifices at the Battles of Helm's Deep and Gondor; and ultimately through grace, for in the end, Frodo gives into the temptation to claim the Ring, but despite his failure, Gollum inadvertently destroys the Ring, not through his own intent but through a fortuitious quirk of fate foreseen by Gandalf way back in Chapter 2 of "Fellowship": "Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was *meant* to find the Ring, and *not* by its maker. . .For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many--yours not least."