[solardev]

Thanks!

That doesn't sound so dramatic, IMO. I wonder if there's a generational component there too...? Maybe in Tolkien's time, explicit gore and violence were less common. Then since modern video games and TV shows upped the ante, maybe RR Martin had to be more explicit to create the same emotional effect that Tolkien's subtle hinting used to have on his audience? I dunno.

[cratermoon]

Certainly Martin was writing for a different audience. I don't know that Tolkien's descriptions would have been read as 'subtle' by his audience at the time he wrote it. Generational implications come and go. What might sound horrific or lascivious in one era or culture would be tame to another.