[nindalf]

Anduril aka "flame of the west" is Aragorn's sword. He uses it to fight orcs, but also to fight "Southrons" and "Easterlings", men under the influence of Sauron. (Make of that what you will)

Notably, Aragorn is able to defeat the latter two groups using his sword at the Battle of Minas Tirith, thus repelling them from "The West". I suppose Luckey thinks of his system as a way to repel evil people like the Southrons?

[alehul]

This is more likely Thiel's idea (Luckey's backer on both Anduril and Oculus) than it is Luckey's.

Thiel's companies Palantir Technologies, Valar Ventures, Mithril Capital, Lembas LLC, Rivendell LLC, and Arda Capital are all named after Lord of the Rings.

[notacoward]

I was a huge fan of LotR as a kid. Then I started to notice Tolkien's attitudes about race, class, and sex seeping into it, and it lost a lot of its appeal. If Thiel's into it, that's the final nail in the coffin. This quote from John Rogers seems apropos.

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

[nindalf]

Yes, you're right.