It is a well-known and seeming contradiction that the late J.R.R. Tolkien expressed complex and
idiosyncratic political views, seeming to embrace both monarchy and anarchism at the same time.
How these themes are woven into the history of Middle Earth has been much examined. But what of
the nobility or peerage and the role they played, in contrast to that of the kings or commoners of the
various realms? Whether in the cases of the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum or the Northmen of the upper
vales of Anduin, ancestors of the Rohirrim, the nobles may have played a role as fateful as it was
important. Judge for yourself when you read the three episodes set out in Tales from the Prancing
Pony.