Posted by David Freitag on December 15, 1999 at 13:59:16
In Reply to: Re: Apocalypse Then posted by Martin Read on December 15, 1999 at 09:11:47:
: I tend to think that Tolkien had a rather optimistic (or pessimistic if you prefer) view of the ability of fire and the sword and pestilence (Riders of the Apocalypse perhaps?) to eradicate people from the face of the Earth. Pre-modern wars could wreck agricultural systems (eg the Mongols in Iraq) and lead to drastic falls in population, as indeed could plague, and both could lead to the collapse of political, social, and cultural systems. However, I cannot think of any war or pestilence (save in remote island peoples) which led to a total irradication of people from a large area of land. With the exception of perhaps the Dunedain (though the Black Numenoreans were seduced) it was not Sauron's aim to kill humans indiscriminately. He wanted to rule over men and be worshipped by them, not preside over a wilderness.
: The scenario of an area as large as Eriador being almost wholly depopulated is, therefore, rather unlikely from parallels with the real world.
Yes. Tolkien also seems to overstate the permanenece of ecological devastation. Treebeard spoke of one continuous forest from the Old Forest to Fangorn. It was destroyed in the mid Second Age by Numenorean ship building activities at Lond Daer (or whatever it was called), followed by the Sauronian invasion. Even if we accept such activiities would lead to devastation on a continental scale, that still gives over 4000 years for the process of ecological succession to move back towards the climax community. Same for the Brown Lands, Dagorlad, unless Sauronian malice plays a role in maintaining the degraded state of the environment, and, if so, would such mslice persist during times when Sauron was offstage regenerating himself, and without possession of his most potent tool, the Ring?
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