A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry has wrapped up its analysis of the Battle of the Hornburg from the point of view of military science. It’s a tour de force. I addressed the subject from my own less-educated perspective a couple of years ago, and reached similar conclusions. (Lucky!) It drives home the sheer ineptitude of Saruman’s military planning, and reveals why both Sauron and Gandalf held him in such contempt and pity, respectively.

Prof. Devereaux wraps up his essay with a lecture on another subject dear to my heart, which he calls “the Cult of the Badass”. This trope, which I trace back to Charles Bronson movies in the 1970s, has taken over the genres of fantasy, mystery, horror, and probably romance too[citation needed]. I’m tired of it. The essay links to a video piece discussing how that attitude made a hash out of Game of Thrones.  A really good treatment, except that it attributes to Robert A. Heinlein a sentiment that goes much further back. Heinlein, in fact, was paraphrasing Chairman Mao.