Follow The Money Thain

Talk About Down The Rabbit-Hole!

I did mention yesteryon about what the economics of Middle-Earth might look like, and today I went and Googled just that same question, and, as expected, there are a lot of opinions on the matter.  This is partly because Ol' Tolky just wasn't interested in providing a detailed economy, and rightly so, as it plays little part in the story.  

     Quora provided a useful analysis of the way geography affects possible trade and trading, viewing large parts of ME as emptied by war, plague and evacuation.  Art!

     There does appear to be a certain amount of trade in the North, because the Shire seems to have a lock on producing tobacco and exporting it, since we know it turned up as 'pipeweed' at Orthanc.  The hobbits themselves seem to import little, if anything, and are quite happy with their bucolic agricultural lifestyle: note the gleeful enthusiasm pre-Bilbo's party when magical toys made by dwarves arrive.  Beyond the Mayor, the Thain and the 'police' known as 'Bounders' there is little formal structure to their society and thus nothing like trade guilds or commercial societies established to promote trade.  Likewise, Bree is a commercial centre for hobbits, dwarves and men, and the road that leaves there travels across the Misty Mountains, through Greenwood/Mirkwood  and on to Laketown, eventually reaching the Iron Hills.  Art!

     We know from 'The Hobbit' that there is trade between the Wood Elves and Laketown, and that the dwarven city of Dale used to trade with the men of Laketown, too.  One opinion is that the arrival of Smaug and his subsequent destruction of Dale and acquisition of it's vast treasure caused an economic apocalypse that required decades to overcome.  Also, with the shadow of the Necromancer falling across Mirkwood, and the revival of orcs and trolls in the mountains and across Rhovanion, trade would naturally fall off.  Roads and bridges require maintenance and repair to stay in order and facilitate travel, after all.  Art!

Lakey and towny

     One trade probably absent in Rohan is that of stonemason, since their structures seem to consist entirely of timber, and they could always pay for a few from Gondor - Minas Tirith, after all, is a city composed entirely of stone.  They must have smithies to create all the armour and weapons we see, and there must be either extensive trade in food or large farmlands to feed the city's population. 

     You see?  None of the above is exactly plot-critical, which is why Ol' Tolky didn't bother to do more than sketch it in. 

     Then there is Mordor ...

     You can view this nation as being a critique of either Nazi Germany or the Sinister Union, certainly of planned, directed and centralised economies.  Instead of Stalin and a Politburo, you have Sauron and the Nazgul.  Sauron's decisions are absolutely unquestionable, in part because the orcs he commands are also controlled by his will and are in effect the same as the 'slave-warfare' armies of the Sinister Union.  The huge armies of said orcs, as well as the nations allied to Mordor, are sustained by vast farms in the south of Mordor, administered by slaves taken as booty or surrendered up as tribute.

Bit of a fixer-upper

     As an economic model, it works (until it doesn't).  After all, Sauron wages ceaseless war against the Free Peoples, destroys Osgiliath and causes a demographic crisis in Minas Tirith.  However, and it's a big however, his economic model is not one that anyone else wishes to copy, apart from Saruman, who inflicts a watered-down version on the Shire, out of petty spitefulness.  Laissez-faire economics and a general minding-one's-own-business seem to be the preferred model.

     Having mentioned all those orcs, who are treated with extreme harshness and whom live a life of cruel brutality, Conrad wonders and ponders - have any of them considered creating a trade union?

"Right, we want a groat and two farthing per hour and a lunch break."

The Haul

I know you can't wait to see the tomes I got from Emmaus, which I have been teasing about for a couple of days.  Art!

     Emmaus being a Christian charity, Conrad did wonder if they'd not stock books on war and general devastation, but no!  Here we are.  For what it's worth, those are three immense hardback books that would cost about £50 new back when they were published, and more like £75 today.  Total for the whole haul = £5.  Susanna Clarke's debut opus is a little intimidating, as it's just over 1,000 pages long.  Well, Conrad is used to Thomas Pynchon, so I should be good for it.

A Sense Of Entitlement

In these stories the evil antagonist is always called 'Karen', and this one was an uber-Karen.  It's hard to imagine what passes for thought with these people.

     Okay, the Original Poster on Youtube had a large apple orchard, which had put forth plentiful fruit.  Art!

     Enter Karen, OP's neighbour whom she rarely interacted with.  Karen, wearing a plastic smile, asks for apples, for free, as a gift. OP says no.  Karen then starts ranting and tanting.  Surprise!  This doesn't get her any apples, either.  She storms off, frothing with rage.

     That night OP wakes to the smell of smoke.  She goes out to find her orchard on fire, and Karen gloating about it.  Karen openly admits to torching the trees, saying that if she couldn't have the apples then nobody could.

     Okay, that's trespass and arson that I can see.

     They get into a fight and Karen is pinned down as OP calls the police, who find traces of petrol in her car, and a whole lot of neighbours who witnessed everything.  Art!

     The extremely unimpressed police arrested Karen, who was charged with arson, destruction of property and assault.  She lost her job, her house and went to prison.

     OP never saw her again.

     You now know how a person who has rocks in their head thinks.

"The Sea Of Sand"

Sarah has been bossing about the garrison survivors at Mersa Martuba, because they need to be ready if the bio-vores return.

‘Here we go – smoke candles.  Stack E3.’

          ‘There’s the Sahariana with the flame-thrower,’ reminded Torrevechio.          ‘Ghastly thing!’ commented Sarah.  ‘It needs protection for whoever drives it.  Otherwise they’ll just drop senseless when those monsters get into range.’  She translated.

          ‘Glass doesn’t seem to stop the ray guns.  Metal did.  A solid metal screen would protect the driver,’ mused Dominione.

          ‘Very good!  Get onto it!’ ordered Sarah.  ‘Then we have a hundred and twenty bottles of liquer that make good substitute petrol bombs.  Albert, I want you to go and have a look at the aircraft, see if it can be flown.’

          Albert frowned.

          ‘I don’t know,’ he began.  ‘It looks hit pretty hard by – that is - oh alright,’ he finished weakly, under Sarah’s beady glare.

 

They moved the immobilised A13 by dragging it, attaching two Saharianas and a truck by tow cables, then using the corner of a mud hut for extra leverage.  The clutch on the truck burnt out, which was small beer when compared to the benefits of having a fully-protected metal fort to defend with.  Both of the tank’s engine covers were unbolted and used to make a shield for the Sahariana carrying the flamethrower, one slatted metal plate in front of the driver, the other wired to it and positioned to his left, covering the open flank there.  The metal drum containing petrol sat alongside the driver to the right, protecting him from rays on that flank.

     That gel gets things done.

Finally -

Right, time to post this and then go for a scrape, as I am looking rather villainous.  More villainous than usual, I mean.