s stupid moral oversimplification necessary in a mass-market bestseller? E.g., Tolkien
I would say The Silmarillion is not very morally simplistic. Specifically I would call it Black and Gray morality [TVTropes], because I can’t think of a single non-God major character who’s totally good. (Maybe Luthien?)
Good point, I think—like most people, I never finished The Silmarillion. But I don’t think that’s evidence for non-simplistic popular fiction—it wasn’t very popular even when riding on the huge success of Tolkien’s other work.
I would say The Silmarillion is not very morally simplistic. Specifically I would call it Black and Gray morality [TVTropes], because I can’t think of a single non-God major character who’s totally good. (Maybe Luthien?)
Good point, I think—like most people, I never finished The Silmarillion. But I don’t think that’s evidence for non-simplistic popular fiction—it wasn’t very popular even when riding on the huge success of Tolkien’s other work.