The War That Forged Middle-earth: Tolkien's WWI Trauma

J.R.R. Tolkien's experience with the industrialized slaughter of WWI—the machine guns and endless artillery—fueled his deep distrust of destructive industry, a theme central to The Lord of the Rings. Saruman's destruction of Isengard, turning beautiful forests into forges and war machines, is a direct reflection of the mechanized horror Tolkien witnessed at the Somme.
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