Aldarion
Neoreactionary Monarchist
With few exceptions (such as Warhammer Fantasy), most High / medieval fantasy settings avoid gunpowder weapons like a plague. So I thought about why I avoid gunpowder in some ideas I have had for my own original setting and why fantasy authors in general avoid gunpowder. Basically:
- gunpowder opened the gates for industrial way of war
- gunpowder revolution in 14th and 15th centuries led directly though slowly towards the meatgrinder of Somme
- Tolkien despised war, and especially industrialized warfare which he had experienced
- being aware of the historical context, Tolkien gave gunpowder only to his bad guys who present forces of industrialization
- fantasy authors copied Tolkien, and thus largely (but not always) avoided using gunpowder weapons in high fantasy settings