Good Guys are portrayed and the design and motivation given to the Bad ones. You do have stop and look to Tolkien's intent, to what he was trying to say or was alluding to in his story. Some argue that LOTR perfectly illustrates Humanity's "fallen state" or that the scope and detail of the story is an excellent example of Catholic doctrine? Others that the overall, ever present notion of the pastoral, perfect, golden age that must be fought for vainly or not, so as to be preserved.

Well, you can't escape the Catholic influence on JRRT's work -- hell he talks about it religiously. (Pun? Nahhh. Not from me.) Fallen man, angelic elves (depends on the story) the corruption of the Perfect, and the return (or the promise of) Eden -- all are elements pretty strongly woven through out. Oh, and don't forget to mention the passionate celebration of the rural ethic and the condemnation of the modern world. Such strong and romantic notions, all.

But there are other interpretations of LOTR, romanticism, even fantasy in general, that can also be derived from the text and the movies. These views are, in my view, much more insightful and pertinent to our existence than any starry-eyed love for the Unchanging. The sci-fi writer David Brin's excellent essay does a masterful job of outlining what's also in these tales, debunking the "Golden Perfect" Tolkien (and to a lesser extent Lewis and even George Lucas) long for.

The realities of human history, of kings, democracies, reading, writing, and knowledge are things very often forgotten when LOTR or fantasy is used to describe an older, better time that once existed and never should have died. Brin, in his article, point out that as much as there are Christian themes in LOTR, there's also a lot of equally strong reflections on the (then occurring) retreat of The British Empire, the class-based dislocations caused by the fading of empire, and the on-going turbulence that science and industrialization were bringing on the old, established order. Brin also raises the issue of he horror JRRT felt in watching the Nazis playing to the masses with the exact same romantic, pastoral and perfect themes he himself used to such great effect.

There is a great section in his essay where LOTR is evaluated from Sauron's (or his follower's) point of view, saying that's it's just a little too pat to suggest that all the armies were marching to war for "evil" means or for "more power." People, "bad guys" most especially, usually see themselves as fighting for something "good." It's in the section, the fictional reassessment aside, that the essay really shines, for Brin points out that, in the real world, what our heroes also are fighting to uphold is feudalism, classism, Divine Right of Kings and the support of the status quo. LOTR, and much of fantasy, as fun and exciting as it is, frequently is backward oriented, dreaming of the perfect time, long ago. That this was the official positions of all cultures, civilizations and nations up until very recently is not lost in the discussion.

The only real revolution, the only real golden age that has existed in 10,000 years of Human history and 10 times that in Human existence is the age we live in now, the outgrowth of the sweeping changes brought by the Enlightenment to Western Civilization more or less 500 years ago. . Religion, feudalism and magic, in its various flavors and forms over the past 10 millennia, with all of their respective appeals to the imagination, and through all of its claims as to the nature of mankind and reality never created anything approaching the level of achievement, benefit, health and standard of living that the 5 centuries of Enlightenment and Scientific Rationalism have. There's just no comparison between 2002 CE and 1202 CE -- or 500 BCE for that matter.

Brin writes:

....enlightenment, science, democracy and equal opportunity are still the true rebels, reigning for just a few generations (and still imperfectly!) in one or two corners of the Earth, after elite chiefs, romantic bards and magicians dominated our ancestors for maybe half a million years.

Don't you think a little pride in that rebellion might be called for? A radical revolution-in-progress, still fresh and incomplete.

A rebellion that (among many other things) taught serfs like you to read so you can enjoy epic books and picture things different than they are.

One that makes vivid movies that cater to your taste for adventure.

One that, for all its imperfections, gave you a better chance than in some peasant village of old.

One that has a long way to go, but has at least turned our eyes around to face the future.

It's with these words that I smiled, one even deeper than the appreciation or the heart pounding excitement rendered by the majesty of LOTR. Our grandest adventure, our deepest story, our most endearing tale, is the real one, the one that grows out of our collective struggle to make tomorrow just a bit better than today. That better never gets you "perfect," but then it never could in the first place -- perfection being a realm of the imagination. There are so many I've met, read and argued with who yearn, a little or a lot, for that return to that oft mentioned Golden Age, thinking that all we've accomplished now is weak, immaterial, vaporous or misguided. The harshest critics of our our modern world, it strikes me, are are little different than people who, having gorged themselves on the bounty of a buffet, turn around and sue the provider of that buffet for letting them eat from it in the first place.

Self-critical almost to a fault, this culture may not be as romantic as those old kingdoms... but isn't it better? You are heirs of the world's first true civilization, arising out of the first true revolution. Take some pride in it...Let's keep enjoying kings and wizards. But also remember to keep them where they belong.
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Where they can do little harm.
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Where they entertain us.
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In fantasies.

I love LOTR, Star Wars, Taken and all the other grand and epic stories our imaginations create. But I love this world, this real story, more than all of the above put together. For the imagination needed to bring us here, the effort necessary that created this better (but still so uneven) foundation we have on which to build is simply incredible, stunning and so utterly awe inspiring. Then there is the story yet to be told, the story of tomorrow, the story of the future. It's one of courage, of heart, of will to persevere, to dream, to take the best of today and to shape into something epic, reflecting all of the tenacity, the hope, and promise that we as a people contain.

That story, my friends, is the best one of all.