This bleak vision of the future is not quite Tolkien at his bleakest: not yet. The grimmest note of all is sounded, not by the tale itself, but by the pseudo-scholarly commentary at its conclusion. Having related the historical accounts, Dr. Gums confesses that he doubts their truthfulness. It is “hard to believe,” he says, that Britain was ever so populous or prosperous, and flatly incredible that such an advanced civilization should destroy itself so foolishly. He takes consolation, however, that the lust for control and speed that doomed old Bovadium has no appeal for his people, who instead devote their attention to “peace, and food, and the visual arts,” as well as healing. There is a natural temptation to view this optimistically: the future men, chastened and corrected, seem to share a hierarchy of values with Hobbiton. But Tolkien will not allow us even this distant consolation. Dr. Gums confesses great confidence the future march of Medicine: “the hope is now near that we shall at last conquer mortality, and not ‘die like animals’: to quote the words of our leading Thanatologist. Some think that he is inspired.” The echo of the demon’s old promise is unmistakable, the suggestion of supernatural inspiration highly ominous, and the conclusion inevitable. The Motores may have been a passing fad, but the demonic temptation to reclaim Eden by force is perennial. The Machine will always reassert itself under different guises. The Daemon abides.
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