this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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The war was so hard on elves that the entire race was in decline, and most of them had already fled Middle Earth for Valinor by the time of the movies. At least 2 of the greatest dwarven cities were destroyed...1 by a dragon and one by a Balrog. Humanity was divided, and the greatest human city had been without a legitimate ruler for centuries. On top of all that, the most powerful wizard, who should have been a bulwark against Saurons return, was a double-agent and had likely been undermining the other races for decades or longer. Middle Earth was basically the remains of the Roman Empire during the Dark Ages
That's the whole thing for the elves, and really the entire LOTR saga. Everything declines, fades, weakens and runs down. But the elves especially never "grow" or improve.
Thanks for the detailed description. The comparison is a bit odd though, from the roman empire to today its only 2000 years and I think some of the smallest nations could easily crush the roman empire today. I cant even imagine what will be in another 3000 years. But as others have pointed out, there seems to be no technological advancement in Middle Earth so I guess thats a major factor.
Well, how much had technology advanced in the 5000 years before the Roman Empire?
A lot actually if you really compare the technologies, also the romans could haveeasily beat any army 5 times their size from 5000 years before.
You don't even need 5000 years. Colonial forces regularly beat 10:1 odds against natives, and they very obviously lived at the same time. The battle of Ulundi saw the british win with 20 deaths, against a force of 15.000 Zulu warriors. Even the famous British defeat at Islandlwana saw the Zulu impi suffer tripple the British casualties.