If Tolkien Had Been American...

[Rebus]

So, today I started wondering about one of the (many) central concepts of LOTR - the concept of an rightful ruler. That Aragorn was born with the right to rule Middle Earth, that he is intrinsically different because of this birthright.

Which is how people tended to see things in 1950s Britain - [i]we chopped our king's head off once, but that was just a slip-up, and on the whole royalty are better than us and that a monarchy is the best way to rule a country.[/i] If Tolkien had been American would he have had a different view of the monarchy? Would it have been a negative view, or an even more romantised view? Would Aragorn have been a Ranger with no remarkable heritage at all, who united Middle Earth through the strength of his will and his ability to lead others?

Which naturally led me on to wondering just how much of LOTR would have changed, had Tolkien been American.

Any thoughts?

[Ogrim_Doomhammer]

Wow i never thought about that... but if he had been american then the fights wouldnt be with swords and bows but with pistols and rifles...
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[Thirteen_Black_Roses]

Oh wow...Americanized LOTR...that's a scary thought. Cause so much of it is based on England...like, the Shire wouldn't exist, at least not in it's current form.

Aragorn would probably have united everyone through strength of will, not birthright if he was American. And I doubt he would've been declared King. And I think Avy's right about the guns.

The Hobbits wouldn't be anything like they are in the books. The Rohirrim would be based on cowboys and such rather than Anglo-Saxons with horses. The Elves...I don't want to think about. The dwarves probably wouldn't change all that much...I think... I don't think LotR would be as good if it was written by an American.

[mxyplytx]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! an americanized lotr?!?!?!?! no thankyou.

no offense....but i just like the way lotr is. if it was americanized...the whole concept of middle earth is RUINED. i mean.... come on think about it...

PISTOLS and GUNS over SWORDS AND STAFFS??? aaahck! thats completely destroying the fact that middle earth has turned into the 1800's!!!!! if it was guns, then it WONT be lotr anymore...know wat im saying? ^_^
i agree w/ Thirteen_Black_Roses.........the elves...what in the world will happen to the gorgeous elves if lotr was americanized?!
aaah wat a scary thought. very scary indeed.

[Rebus]

How about the experiences of WWII (Please forgive some massive oversimplifying)?

The British experience of growing unease over a landgrab, acting too late to prevent a war and finding their own country under threat from their involvement?
Compare that with the American experience of being suddenly drawn into an already raging war by a very violent strike. Would Frodo et al find themselves in a similar predicament?

And the enemy. Tolkien's orcs are superficially different, in particular they speak their own languages, but their groupings, cultures and even their heritage (Tolkien tells that the orcs were once elves) are very similar to the rest of middle earth. Like the Nazis.

But the American forces had more interactions with the Japanese forces than the British did. They met with an enemy who's culture had some extreme differences that were very difficult to understand. Would this have led to a different kind of orcs, or would the mysterious mercenaries and men from the south (with their oliphants ) have played bigger roles?

[Ogrim_Doomhammer]

no... orcs would have been ugly cowboys... nuff' said
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[Jailcrow_of_Mandos]

Well, Tolkien's original purpose for LOTR was to make a story uniquely British, so I would assume in that respect the story would not exist at all. On the other hand, he also said that his book should not be broken down for symbolism, despite its obvious inclination towards moral lessons. It's more of an allegory toward the human nature and the nature of evil than symbolism, I think.

Had it been written by an American, I think it largely would have been different more so becaude it wouldn't have had the meaning and depth that it does because of the tie to British mythology and history and America's obvious age difference as a country. So, considering American history, ha dth epurpose remained the same, I'm assuming that the time frame would have been more modern, probably a more Renaissance setting than medieval. *shrug*

Edit: As for the monarchy bit, that is a characteristic of the genre. There have been plenty of medieval fantasies from America including monarchies. In older stories, a feel Tolkien was trying to achieve, the hero generally was royalty. There is stilll Frodo, so perhaps he's playing both sides, lol.