Tolkien is capeshit wearing the skinsuit of the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Contrast Beowulf, Le Morte De Arthur, the Germanic Eddas, the Odyssey, The Aeneid... And you can see none of the structure or values or the stories are at all comparable. Tolkien never wrote a single revenge cycle. But rather his values and stories resemble nothing so much as Modern Marvel movies. A sexless world of Eternal Children and equally sexless bearded men, with no meaningful desires except for trinkets and Macguffins meant to show their virtues are sins and they should have had no desires at all... and villains who when not faceless beasts and disposable vermin, have committed the crime of... Wanting something. Not a single one of his heroes has a rivalry or hatred of any of his villains, and certainly nothing familial, personal, or romantic such as is the case of every classical and anglo-saxon story. One wonders why Gandalf went to Bilbo at all... So Bilbo could find a wife? Found a new hobbit Kingdom with his fortune? Avert some terrible destiny? Slay an enemy or rival? No! So he could just come home and do nothing for another 50+ years. For all the shit GRRM rightly gets for Game of Thrones devolving into feminist/social justice anti-narrative and plodding hopeless misery (Name any children BORN during A Song of Ice and Fire and the war of 5 kings who live? Indeed it contradicts his own worldbuilding, since half the cast was born or married and formed families as a direct result of the earlier Robert's rebellion)... inspite of all that Game of Thrones is far CLOSER to traditional western storytelling and values, with named characters with families and hopes and dreams, and lusts and rivalries and children and revenge cycles on all sides. By contrast Tolkien, very uniquely even by the standards of the 40s and 50s, creates a sexless world where pretty much no one has families, romances, lusts, hopes, desires, etc. Save some abstract desire to "Save the world" or "defeat evil"
Name a single Tolkien Character who has a significant Relationship with their father, mother, or wife? The only exception is Denathor... Ie. A Mad King to be overcome. Arwen doesn't even appear in the main text of the books
But what about... Are you going to reference something published by JRR Tolkien? Or Christopher Tolkien? I agree Christopher Tolkien was vastly more in touch with the Western Tradition than his father.
I'm not asking for sex scenes. I'm asking for a single plot relevant marriage. A single father/son relationship that's not poisoned or evil. A single romance that impacts people's choices. A single lust that drives a descision. Contrast the Arthurian legends or Troy cycle.
Contrast all the magical objects and symbols in Tolkien with Odysseus' bed in Homer. A non-magical hunk of lumber... except he carved it into the olive tree where he and his wife met, and build his palace about the bed... such that it is literally rooted and unmovable like their marriage. Meaning comes from relationships.
Note I make the Marvel comparison purposefully. How Tolkien avoids romance, desire, lust, family life, and all the attendant personal attachments (you know... LIFE) resembles nothing so much as how Marvel/Disney avoid it to maximize the international market. LOTR enabled this type of story. It is the progenitor of the "save the world" genderless action-hero genre of story.
Tolkien’s is the most popular Story in the west today… it is indeed our Postwar foundation myth… Now look at the state of the postwar west. Either his morals authored the values we have seen or their Nigh religious popularity has been helpless to stop it.