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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Philosopher" data-source="post: 5261232" data-attributes="member: 76803">Excellent analysis. (I wanted to give you XP, but I apparently need to spread some around first. I guess this isn't the first time I've appreciated what you've posted.) It's been a while since I've read "The Phoenix on the Sword", and now I may be moved to revisit it.It would be interesting to see a similar in-depth analysis given to LotR. I'm no expert on Tolkien, so I won't be able to give that analysis myself. What has always struck me (and this is something you've hinted at here, and I believe you may have explicitly stated in the thread this is forked from) is that Tolkien's work seems to have supported the status quo of a classed society. I've heard many people emphasize the close friendship between Sam and Frodo, but it never seemed to me to be a genuine friendship among equals. Sam was always Frodo's servant, and Sam's virtue was always loyalty. And while Aragorn becomes king, he is just as much trapped in this role as Sam is trapped in the role of servant. I find this much more of a bleak world than one in which a barbarian can become king of a civilized nation.</blockquote>