Twilight and Ashes
Middle-earth, Westeros, and the mythologies of decline
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings transformed modern fantasy. Ursula LeGuin saw Middle-earth and gave us Earthsea; Terry Pratchett gave us Discworld; J.K. Rowling gave us Dumbledore and Voldemort. But these diamonds shone amidst a great pile of dung. Many lesser writers copied Tolkien’s elves, dwarves, and wizards while missing the e…
