- Joined
- Oct 15, 2018
Not to get all theological or whatever, but I do think Tolkien's faith can also be attributed to his strength in writing on top of his war experience. Tolkien hated allegory, but he did introduce the concept of eucatastrophe which is basically grace when things are desperate, which you can feel throughout his stories. There's someone larger at work within Tolkien and it's compelling. The fight against evil is noble, heroic, and worthwhile - which makes sense when you know he actually was in the worst part of WW1 and still came out believing we can all overcome evil and selfishness to be good. Like damn.Instead, he writes of hope, beauty, good triumphing over evil, of brotherhood and courage in the face of despair and darkness. And he does so with a level of love and detail that no other author has ever matched.
That concept is pretty obviously lacking in GRRM's work - the draft dodger who never experienced war and yet writes extensively on how bleak and hopeless it is. That humans are filthy scum and anyone with a modicum of honor will be killed for being naïve. I'm aware that if you get into ASOIAF, you're not looking for a feel-good story, but when you revel in writing bleakness and the darkness of humans, it makes you exhausted.
I think it's obvious why most people want to live in the Shire and experience the whimsy and beauty of the world than to live in Winterfell. Tolkien understands humans way better than GRRM and he's seen us at our worst.

Ironic that they are like Melkor and Sauron in that way. They can't create Ents, so they create Trolls. An imitation of a beautiful creation that only serve to destroy.These people cannot create, only imitate in mockery.