Themes of The Lord of the Rings This is, according to Shippey, a very modern, 20th-century theme, since in earlier, medieval times, power was considered to "reveal character", not alter it. Shippey mentions Lord Acton's famous statement in 1887, that ""Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men..."" He then goes on to point out authors that were dealing in the same themes of power and corruption at around the same time as Tolkien wrote his work. These authors include George Orwell with "Animal Farm" (1945), William Golding with "Lord of the Flies" (1954), and T. H. White with
Lord of the Flies (The X-Files) love story quickly sink this disappointing outing." Lord of the Flies (The X-Files) "Lord of the Flies" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the science fiction television series "The X-Files", and the show's 187th episode overall. It first premiered on the Fox network in the United States on December 16, 2001, and was subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on BBC Two. The episode was written by Thomas Schnauz, and was directed by Kim Manners. The episode is a "monster-of-the-week" episode, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the mythology, or overarching fictional history, of "The X-Files".