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
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (novel) from a "forbidden valley" hidden in the mountains. His lion ally Jad-bal-ja puts in an appearance late in the book. "Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle" marks an important transition in the plot-type presented in the Tarzan series, presaged by the earlier "Tarzan the Untamed". Previous novels dealt primarily with the ape-man's own affairs and family; beginning with this novel, he becomes an apparently rootless adventurer serving as a savior and enabler of a cast of secondary characters which changes in each book. While a few previously established and new characters continue to appear, notably the lion Jad-bal-Ja, the monkey Nkima,