W. H. Auden muses in an essay on "The Lord of the Rings" that Saruman and Sauron both posses industrial capabilities but do not wage modern war. There are no orcs with tanks in the War of the Ring. Careful examination of the text and some knowledge of actual historical cultures can help us solve this problem. Ever the niggling detail man, Tolkien's world is coherent.
Saruman's orcs bring gunpowder, the fire of Orthanc, with them to the siege of Helm's Deep. While gunpowder pre-dates the Industrial Revolution, it foundational to modern warfare. The corrupt wizard also installs industrial technology in the Shire. We see this specifically at Ted Sandyman's mill, capable of grinding grain at an accelerated rate in order to feed the soldiers of Isengard. Saruman's complex logistics, using the Shire and Bree as a relatively unassailable supply network, is another feature of modern war. After losing the War of the Ring, Saruman comes to the Shire and orders his minions to run the mills simply to foul Hobbiton with their industrial waste. This waste is probably related to coal-burning as the smokestack by the mill suggests. Aside from grain, Saruman's machinery in the Shire and at Isengard was probably employed in the mass-production of armor and weapons for his genetic-hybrid army of Uruk-Hai. Thus, in terms of gunpowder, industrial machinery used for food and weapon production, modern notions of supply, and in the desire to create genetic "super soldiers," Saurman is waging modern war.
In Sauron's case, the industrial motifs are harder to detect, but we can find evidence of Victorian Era steel structures such as the iron ramparts of Barad-Dur and the bridge that spans its lava moat. Also of note is the peculiar "trench dialect" of the orcs that intentionally resembles the slang of British soldiers in the First World War.
Even acknowledging these points, one might still be tempted to say that Auden's objection stands. Where are the rifles and canons that the antagonists of Tolkien's world should be able to build with their industrial capabilities? The answer can be found by looking at actual historical societies. The leading nations of the Industrial Revolution were Britain and America; both capitalist democracies. France, Germany, and Russia also industrialized, but were late in coming and in some cases only partially successful until the mid twentieth century. They also were only capable of becoming industrial states by copying the efforts of Great Britain and America. The point of all this is that Isengard and Mordor are not dynamic, democratic, capitalist states where innovation is rewarded and necessary for economic flourishing. Instead, they are slave states, like Ancient Greece or Rome. Slavery is toxic to industrial progress as it encourages solving problems by simply adding more slaves rather than innovation. In addition, without profit incentive there is no reason to innovate, and without the rights of free speech and freedom of association innovations that do occur spread slowly if at all. Both these points could be made about nineteenth century Germany, Russia, and France, nations that eventually industrialized, but it must be remembered that they had the examples of Great Britain and America to follow; Isengard and Mordor have no one to imitate. Thus, while the union of the two towers does posses industrial capacities in the War of the Ring, it lacks the conditions necessary to fully capitalize upon them and produce the full spectrum of modern military technology.
J.R.R. Tolkien made his sub-created world his life's work in a way rivaled by no other modern author. It should not surprise us, then, that even in the face of as perceptive a critic as W. H. Auden, Tolkien's Middle Earth holds up when put to the test.
Saruman's orcs bring gunpowder, the fire of Orthanc, with them to the siege of Helm's Deep. While gunpowder pre-dates the Industrial Revolution, it foundational to modern warfare. The corrupt wizard also installs industrial technology in the Shire. We see this specifically at Ted Sandyman's mill, capable of grinding grain at an accelerated rate in order to feed the soldiers of Isengard. Saruman's complex logistics, using the Shire and Bree as a relatively unassailable supply network, is another feature of modern war. After losing the War of the Ring, Saruman comes to the Shire and orders his minions to run the mills simply to foul Hobbiton with their industrial waste. This waste is probably related to coal-burning as the smokestack by the mill suggests. Aside from grain, Saruman's machinery in the Shire and at Isengard was probably employed in the mass-production of armor and weapons for his genetic-hybrid army of Uruk-Hai. Thus, in terms of gunpowder, industrial machinery used for food and weapon production, modern notions of supply, and in the desire to create genetic "super soldiers," Saurman is waging modern war.
In Sauron's case, the industrial motifs are harder to detect, but we can find evidence of Victorian Era steel structures such as the iron ramparts of Barad-Dur and the bridge that spans its lava moat. Also of note is the peculiar "trench dialect" of the orcs that intentionally resembles the slang of British soldiers in the First World War.
Even acknowledging these points, one might still be tempted to say that Auden's objection stands. Where are the rifles and canons that the antagonists of Tolkien's world should be able to build with their industrial capabilities? The answer can be found by looking at actual historical societies. The leading nations of the Industrial Revolution were Britain and America; both capitalist democracies. France, Germany, and Russia also industrialized, but were late in coming and in some cases only partially successful until the mid twentieth century. They also were only capable of becoming industrial states by copying the efforts of Great Britain and America. The point of all this is that Isengard and Mordor are not dynamic, democratic, capitalist states where innovation is rewarded and necessary for economic flourishing. Instead, they are slave states, like Ancient Greece or Rome. Slavery is toxic to industrial progress as it encourages solving problems by simply adding more slaves rather than innovation. In addition, without profit incentive there is no reason to innovate, and without the rights of free speech and freedom of association innovations that do occur spread slowly if at all. Both these points could be made about nineteenth century Germany, Russia, and France, nations that eventually industrialized, but it must be remembered that they had the examples of Great Britain and America to follow; Isengard and Mordor have no one to imitate. Thus, while the union of the two towers does posses industrial capacities in the War of the Ring, it lacks the conditions necessary to fully capitalize upon them and produce the full spectrum of modern military technology.
J.R.R. Tolkien made his sub-created world his life's work in a way rivaled by no other modern author. It should not surprise us, then, that even in the face of as perceptive a critic as W. H. Auden, Tolkien's Middle Earth holds up when put to the test.
Comments
Hero of Alexandria created what is effectively the first steam turbine in the first century AD: if someone discovered the applications for such a device, the steam revolution could've happened in Roman Egypt.
There simply is no reason to suspect that Middle-earth denizens would take gunpowder, and automatically presume to make guns, as if technological development was a linear process. Someone has to hit upon the idea, and develop it. When one considers the cultural and sociological factors in Isengard and Mordor, guns and tanks simply aren't an eventuality.
That said, I don't know if it's clear the fire of Isengard was gunpowder: it could've been a larger variation of whatever Gandalf did to ignite the pine cones in the fight with the Wargs, or something else. True, Gandalf had fireworks, but again, even they could've been powered by some sort of magic or alternative substance than gunpowder.