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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 8861460" data-attributes="member: 177">Yes.  One way to think of this is that in the 60 years between these two stories, the world changes.The Hobbit takes place in a world in that is basically untouched by Sauron's power.  There's sixty years that pass, in which Sauron grows in power and influence.  Denethor and Saruman are corrupted after The Hobbit.  Wormtoung come to influence Theoden after the Hobbit.  When Bilbo meets them under the mountains, they are "goblins".  As Sauron comes back to breeding them, they are reinvigorated to Orcs, and Saruman produced the Uruk-hai - all after the events of The Hobbit.So, yes, the world of LotR is darker, because it has been touched by 60 years of Sauron's growing influence, to the point where it is about to fall to Sauron's darkness.</blockquote>