Why do nerds like medieval

But what does the destruction or negation of items deemed dangerous to society have to do with acquisition? The items have an undefinable charisma, but the One Ring can be used to bind the minds of others, and Thorin is willing to fight all comers for the Dwarf-treasure, refusing even to surrender even a fraction of it.

Bilbo tries, without success, to use the Arkenstone to avert a conflict. And yet, imitations of the One Ring are sold to great commercial success. People acquire all sorts of things, even outside of nerdom, that are harmful. But these items still have, as you say, charisma. And some people always prefer to set their alignment to chaotic evil. I respectfully disagree. I think there is something of a critique of acquisitiveness in LOTR, though; the desire for power symbolized by the desire for the One Ring is seen as destructive and evil.

This brings to mind something that Hayao Miyazaki said about Lord of the Rings. It seems like something ripe for the picking for writers to play with.

He comes across as something to pity more than a hero. He traveled all the way across middle-earth only to fail his quest in the end, along with suffering mental damage and physical.

His return to the place he thought of as home, a place free from the malice of the greater world, only to discover it has been affected just the same as the rest, it seems like he was trying to be greater than he really was when he tried to forbid violence during the scouring of the shire.

It is like he was afraid to fail again as a hero, which is what he continuously did throughout the entire story. I have always loved how vulnerable and pathetic Frodo feels as a hero. There are so many instances in the trilogy in which he brings run upon himself or he wavers.

Sorry for the lack of relevance, but your comment brought up something I have long thought about. Many people I know who enjoy lord of the rings hate frodo, and yet for me he is the only character I really love. The others, apart from maybe boromir can sometimes feel so inhuman. I guess readers of fantasy tend to enjoy characters who do not fail or succumb to weakness, where frodo is ultimately beaten by the quest and has to leave for the houses of healing.

Oh that would make me clap with joy. More pre-capitalist economics would be great, but fantasy set during a time of transition to capitalism would be even better. Just imagine all those heroic-age and feudal tropes getting burnt at the stake.

I was always annoyed that the Scouring of the Shire happens because an evil wizard arrives out of the blue and turns it into an industrial hell-hole with a click of his fingers.

It seems like such a lazy critique of industrialisation. And all the class-judgement implications involved. Super lazy. I guess authors only find space to include economics when stories are about people leading real lives.

I talk about the orcs some here. I can see how it might not seem like he failed, but I cannot help but feeling like he did. I think just saying he succeeded but was damaged is to fall short of how pitifully tragic and unheroic Frodo is. He not only fails in his quest and succumbs to the ring, but is also damaged by the journey.

I think this whole route of thought began for me the first time i read the books, and I was taken by how frodo considers abandoning his friends to die.

My example of this would be the Barrow Downs sequence in which he considers putting on the ring, but decides against it due to guilt. I was a bit shaken that the hero would think of this, especially in a book full of sacrifice and full on death charges.

Anyways enough of this off topic stuff, just wanted to share some thoughts on the books. Also Noah, I remember reading that article when you wrote it. Honestly though, i never interpreted the book that way. I always sympathized with the orcs as much as the other races, and I feel Tolkien gives us a decent set of reasons for doing so. Any scene with orcs interacting seems to suggest racism and class issues within their rank, and they also seem to live in complete fear of whatever master they are serving.

They are pitiable slaves really. And at last when they are freed they are hunted down and wiped out. But then, they have also been nagging at and harassing the other races for as long they have existed, so it only seems natural that the others would finally succumb to a desire for total revenge. Honestly though, I have always felt that the race that is actually in many ways worse than the orcs were the dwarves, selfish treasure hoarders willing to kill and loot for precious metal.

Thorin, in The Hobbit is really not much beyond an asshole as far as characters go, until the very end of his life when he sees that bilbos desire for peace is worthy of attention. But before this he was fully willing to massacre men and elves.

But really, all of the races in Middle Earth end up being foul at some point in their history, some just more so than others. The only true racism I see in the books are the lack of ethnically diverse heroes. I have never read any of Tolkiens thoughts on race, so excuse me if I am incorrect in my assessment of him.

Wow; that sounds amazing. See you in a few hours. And Noah, really!?! My favourite book of hers by far. The deformation of humanity by the imposition of machines and money is astonishing: reality becomes infantile, nature becomes alien and the intense bond between oneself and nature becomes a monetized embarrassment.

The implicit consequences are just beginning to be felt. For instance, the dwarfs have a monopoly on firearms, and are less willing to be treated as a subject race by the humans. Firearms lead to a de-skilling of combat as was the case in the real world and threaten the primacy of the aristocracy, the only masters of battle magic. You certainly have a point with religion but my idea was rural in the sense of nature and human beings living with animals and plants and the earth around them.

Poor people needed everyone to work for the family to survive. Women were very much a part of the hard labor of farm life. They live in a town and the neighbors gossip about them.

They presumably exist From what we see Hobbits are almost like the male only smurfs or something. Not sure if she has any lines of dialogue? Middle class. Class is not defined by wealth. And before the Second World War it was quite standard for even lower-middle-class people to have a servant. Alex — who is Summoner written by? Amazon lists at least six books by that name. I write manuscript reviews for a literary agent. Of course, this is a bit of a satire on how inappropriate to a fantasy world it seems.

I find this a fascinating piece, not least because of all the time I spent on it myself. Even so, in his wanderings he learned about the importance of trade even to the most remote towns and villages and spends as much time as possible chopping up bandits and pirates, the ultimate enemies of capitalism.

Capitalism still makes China and Cuba function, despite their supposed allegiance to Marx. I have only three novels published on Amazon so far, but one of my early attempts is about the son of a merchant prince with a talent for adventure, and the first part of the story includes a lot of economic activity. Ah I see. Pullman is largely seen as responding to C. Twilight is more in dialogue with Dracula than Tolkien, presumably. He appears to be an influential writer among a certain generation of British writers.

Many of the Forgotten Realms novels began this way. This one can also be a commitment, but once-a-week meetings should be pretty easy to swing. Some board games are expensive—these, unfortunately fall into that category. The three that I have listed here are some of my favorites, but there are many more games to choose from. Settlers of Catan is a settlement game obviously.

You place settlements and roads and collect resources to build more settlements and roads. You can trade resources with friends to get what you need to build larger things, like cities. Betrayal at House on the Hill is more for you horror fans.

You navigate a house with other players and discover room tiles that you place in an arrangement of your own design. You draw cards and experience ghostly things until the big haunt starts, where there are 50 different scenarios that can play out. One player will be the traitor. To win the game, the rest of the players must work together to defeat the traitor before they succeed in their dastardly deed. Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure in which you and your friends collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout whichever edition you own.

The longer the routes, the more points you earn. Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway. I have only recently discovered the beauty that is Magic: the Gathering.

Some of you may disagree with me in placing Magic: the Gathering in my top spot for favorite alternative fantasy fun, and you are allowed to do so. However, I think that it is the perfect thing for getting that quick fantasy fix. Since its creation in , Magic has been incredibly popular. More than 12, different cards have been printed since the original Alpha set was released.

You can buy pre-constructed decks or build your own deck from single cards. There are so many combinations and so many different ways you can build a deck that the possibilities are endless.

The art styles are so much more mature than what you will find in other trading card games of this type, and the fan base is incredible.

Games can be incredibly short one vs. You can play in standard Friday Night Magic tournaments with strangers, or you can play at home with your friends. Some of these cards can sell for ridiculous amounts of money. So there you have it. To me, these six things are some of the most fun fantasy-related past-times that I participate in. Let me beseech you to crawl from beneath the rock under which you reside and give some of these things a chance. Title image by CarlChristensen.

Rachel Riegel Rachel has lived in the same house in Ohio the entirety of her young life, but has traveled through the pages of books to many fantastical lands in this world and the next.

She sees little point reading about things that she could easily go and experience on her own, so instead she devours fantasy, science-fiction and all of the various subgenres therein, choosing to pen her own tales in these genres as well. A few of her favorite things are: fall weather, a fresh journal and a smooth-writing pen, the cold side of a pillow, potatoes any form , B movies, and playing nerdy tabletop games.

Find her on Twitter rmriegel. Sci Fi vs Fantasy vs Horror: which is the best geeky genre and why? Voting results Sci Fi vs Fantasy vs Horror: which is the best geeky genre and why?

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