LOTR is deeper than people give it credit for IMO. Sam’s empathy for the Southron soldier really struck a chord with me. I’m not a vet but I imagine that echoes Tolkien’s experience in the Great War.
I know he rejected attempts to assign allegory to the story, but Gollum is the perfect portrayal of an addict. I want it, but I hate it. It harms me but I need it.
LOTR is deeper than people give it credit for IMO. Sam’s empathy for the Southron soldier really struck a chord with me. I’m not a vet but I imagine that echoes Tolkien’s experience in the Great War.
I know he rejected attempts to assign allegory to the story, but Gollum is the perfect portrayal of an addict. I want it, but I hate it. It harms me but I need it.
Yeah, The Lord of the Rings isn’t an allegory, but it does have themes, and Tolkien definitely drew on his experiences in WWI when writing it.
You don’t have to be trying to depict addiction to end up doing it anyway. The ring’s allure might be magical, but the pattern is broadly the same.