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 Post subject: TTT as an Environmental Treatise
PostPosted: June 25th, 2012, 4:34 pm 
Istari
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I was watching the movie commentary one day, and something that really interested me was the fact that a couple of people referred to The Two Towers as being Tolkien's way of showing some environmental activism.

Obviously, the most glaring example of this is the Ents' revolt against Saruman, which could be seen as nature revolting against the "machine". Also, Treebeard says that trees will grow again, even after all the damage Saruman had done. This implies that no matter what humans do to harm nature, nature always has the trump card.

What do you think? How does Tolkien use TTT to address environmental issues, and do you agree or disagree with what he seems to be saying?

I'm not sure whether this topic should go in the Books or Movies section... Mods, feel free to move this thread if you think it's better suited to movie discussion.

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 Post subject: Re: TTT as an Environmental Treatise
PostPosted: June 27th, 2012, 4:39 pm 
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I remember reading some old interviews or letters from Tolkien where it becomes clear that he doesn't agree with the way people are treating the world. Ofcourse, he grew up in a time of massive industrialization, so he could see with his own eyes how this changed the English countryside.

Based on that, I'd say Tolkien has indeed thought of the Ents as protectors of the forest, against the machine. They act as the active link between the passive forest and the active destroying that's going on, so they are the only ones who can actually do something against it by going to Isengard. However, I don't think Tolkien used the TT as a kind of environmental activism. He merely shows his opinion about the subject, while I see activism as trying to impose a certain opinion on others.

But I do agree with him on that nature will, in the end, have the trump card. If we leave a vastly inhabited place empty for long enough, nature will start to claim that place once more (think of places like Chernobyl). But with the current rate of destroying nature for our industries, it remains the question if nature will ever get the chance to restore itself.

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