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Comment by richardfontana | Hacker News Reader

> The journey in the Lord of the Rings is almost as much a journey back through deeper and deeper legend as it is through space - the hobbits travel from a Napoleonic era Shire, through Renaissance Rivendell, back to a medieval Rohan then classical Gondor, and then into the strictly mythological Mordor.

Very insightful comment. I have read (and thought deeply about) the books countless times over many years but never realized this before.

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I think it’s connected to how Tolkien always connects his ‘fantastical’ elements with the ‘ancient’.

The balrog is a primal evil the dwarves released by digging too deep; Tom Bombadil has been alive forever; Fangorn and Mirkwood forest are remnants of the ancient forest that once covered the world; Gollum has been granted long life by the ring making him a remnant of the past that has survived; The elves’ long lives make them a living connection to the past.

His mythology is all about people touching and being touched by something primally ancient, so to confront that world requires that kind journey through time.

How do you know this (and can explain it so well)? Next level insights these. Thank you.

That’s kind of you to say.

I wouldn’t claim any special insight. Like a lot of people I read LotR at a very formative age and as a result I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it.

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