Why is Middle Earth Stuck in Medieval Times?

In this video we explore a common question regarding Middle Earth, and why it has seemingly stayed in the Middle Ages for tens of thousands of years, without any changes in technology. Moreoever, we will examine Tolkien's literary reasons, his love of Medieval history, as well as the in-lore explanations for Middle Earth's seemingly stagnant world.

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[aldrichunfaithful]

something i think you missed here is that tolkien (as you've stated previously) didn't view industrialisation as a good thing anyway, in his mind destroying the land for the sake of technology like we've done isn't becoming more advanced, it's falling to evil. there's a good reason why the shire (which seems to represent his ideal vision of how life should be) is very basic technologically, they have everything they need to support themselves and any advancement would come at the cost of harming their beautiful country. also, something i find quite funny is how everyone forgets that our modern interpretation of fantasy is largely based on lotr. being frozen in the middle ages or being in technological decline is a very common trope in fantasy nowadays, but when tolkien did it it was a very deliberate choice with actual narrative reasons rather than just generic flavouring. this kinda thing happens a lot with lotr, but it gets really frustrating when people fail to realise the significance of certain aspects of lotr and try to interpret the book as if it were just following tropes rather than making it's own decisions, or even worse when people try to apply modern fantasy tropes that don't even fit and completely miss the point

[TurtleTrackin]

The hobbits may have been the most advanced. Bilbo had a clock on his mantle, served coffee to the Dwarves, and lit his pipe with matches. Hobbiton also had a mill.

Also, it looks like the Istar had gunpowder for various reasons - from Gandal's fireworks and "pine cone" grenades, to Saruman's bomb at Helm's Deep.

[wowjack]

Europe was populated by Hunter Gatherers 11.000 years ago Neolithic farmers came about 9000 years ago and the Yamnaya came around 5000 years ago during the copper age.
People are just generaly not aware of human time scales and what technology humans had at different times in history.

[strategicgamingwithaacorns]

Medieval Stasis is also pretty common in various cultural mythologies. For example, Greek myths depict the Hellenic world as being like Bronze-Age Mycenaean Greece for centuries before the Trojan War. And Hindu myths often explicitly involve India remaining Vedic-era India for tens of thousands of years.

[keyboarddancers]

This is probably my favourite aspect of Tolkien's legendarium. The way he sustains the narrative coherence of very limited technological development over several thousand years within the context of highly sophistricated civilisations is quite remarkable.

[mikhailthetenor]

In truth, weapons maybe the most advanced pieces of technology mankind has ever invented, one might make a not so slim argument, that defensive and offensive weaponry, architecture, and watercraft have been developed much more rapidly throughout human history than anything else like irrigation and plumbing, and harnessing steam and electric power, as well as metallurgy and gases and fossil fuels.

[MatthewCaunsfield]

I thin people overestimate the speed of progress in our own history.
Great points about the palantiri and other advanced tech too!

[elderking-nz]

Your understanding of Tolkien's work is second to none. Thank you for making this content, it has made me appreciate Tolkien's work that much more!

[Lauren.E.O]

I suppose you can’t guarantee a different world would advance through technology the way ours has, even if they have the same or better resources. THAT BEING SAID, It doesn’t help that some of the best known creators/inventors (like Feanor) tended to focus on projects that either weren’t *used* for any benefit, even when it it implied that they could be of use in the right hands (Silmarils), or had clear benefit but were only produced in small supply and never used to the *full potential* they could have if adjusted and widely distributed (Palantiri). There was clearly the potential for creations that could mimic (via magic and crafting) or exceed our modern technology, but I feel like the lack of unity among the peoples and tendency for the best and brightest to focus on personal projects (and their own rivalries) slowed things down a lot, as did the lack of equal access to education and how many great cities were destroyed by war.

[NoldorianKing]

Another great thought provoking video. Keep up the great work. 😎👍

[celtofcanaanesurix]

just remember that it took humans a million years to go from one form of stone hand axe to a new better kind, sometimes technology takes a while to develop

[vixen]

You always seem to strike topics and questions that I always pondered upon but didn't have an answer to. Great videos and even better the creator :)

[Draxynnic]

I've seen interpretations, and they have some merit, that Numenor was industrialised, albeit possibly in a way that had skipped gunpowder weapons (nobody could threaten them militarily anyway, they might not have thought to develop their weaponry further, similar to how China had gunpowder first but fell behind European developments because European nations were under greater threat from their neighbours and thus had more incentive to improve military technology) - with some of the descriptions of their marvels being essentially cases of how near-modern or even postmodern technology might be described by someone centuries or millennia after all the factories and universities had drowned. It's worth remembering that Elendil and his followers, however powerful they were from the perspective of other humans, were a relatively small rebel group and probably didn't have the critical mass of scientists and engineers to maintain that technological base.

This goes double if you consider the possibility that the lesson that the Gondorians took from the fall of Numenor was that the science and technology of Numenor was sacrilegious, prompting them to take steps to actively prevent the recreation of an educated caste of natural philosophers and inventors that might recreate such a society.

[xyreniaofcthrayn]

middle earth isn't stuck in medieval times they are just casually in a hodge podge of different eras of britain. with the utmost west being more medieval hamlet, rohan anglo-saxon pre medieval, gondor is fantastical medieval, mordor and to a degree isengard are the rapid industrialization tolkien was against you know big billowing stacks of ash clouds polluting the air emanating from the warforges building vehicles of war and the land once green and pure reduced to a wasteland of brick and mortar and ash blown streets.

[EdwardHaas-ex]

Middle Earth also seems to go through extremely destructive wars (and even collapse of civilization in certain parts).

The height of its development probably has a lot that isn't medieval or ancient even though it wasn't industrial.

[Churchmilitant]

I'm currently reading The History of monasticism written by a French Catholic author of the nineteen century. As I was reading about the conversion of the Angle Saxons, I suspected that Tolkien had used Angle Saxon as a basis for some of the names in his trilogy.

[mikhailthetenor]

But all those examples technology are military technology, anything that kills is advanced.

[Churchmilitant]

The virtue's of Traditional Catholism are timeless and sublime and the basis for better character, which for culture and society is sadly lacking.

[pavelslama]

7:24 Italians (scholars, architects) still knew how to make aqueducts even after the fall of Roman empire. Romans wrote down almost everything, and the Catholic church later ensured that those writings are preserved or copied. What made Italians unable to build more aqueducts was the fact that they no longer had an empire with economic basis strong enough to afford such a huge building projects. They were no longer the only super power in Europe, and were mostly controlled by other nations, such as Austria, France, or the germanic "Holy Roman" empire. Thus the wealth of Europe was much more broadly dispersed, instead of centered in a single, relatively small area, which then could afford massive building projects. It had nothing to do with knowledge.
Knowledge/technology advanced further, beyond what Romans ever achieved. Yes, Romans knew gears and could create simple geared machines, but if you compare it with the complexity of astronomical clocks from the 14th and 15th century, its leagues apart. And when it comes to stuff like military technology, you can even take the crusaders from the middle of the "dark ages", and compare their equipment with those of Roman legionaries from the golden times of Roman principate...
There is just nothing that can justify a complete technological decline for several thousands of years. Maybe hundreds, maybe... But never thousands. That requires a complete redesign of human psychology.

[noldorwarrior]

I think also the Armors depicted in fan arts may confuse the readers. All being portrayed wearing highly advanced 15th century-ish plate armors instead of the scales and mails with some plate.