The Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?

[Caohit]

http://danny.oz.au/d...r/phd_lotr.html

This is just a fun article to, hopefully, relax us a bit. I especially like the explanation of Gandalf's disappearance.

[JerryLandis]

It is pretty funny. I myself always thought that the Lord of the Rings was an allegory for the Crusades. There's a particular account of one of the Crusades that reads suspiciously like an abridged account of the Lord of the Rings, and since Tolkien was a professor of medieval history I'm sure he would have read it. Obviously it's taken the story to much more dramatic and imaginative heights, but uses very similar themes. And maps! In any case, as soon as the Crusades legends started getting too politically incorrect for children's ears, suddenly this whole Lord of the Rings film franchise burst onto the scene to fill the void (whereas previously it had just been that weird series of books read by nerdy people). I don't think it's a coincidence!