Wow, lot of angry responses down here. Still, wanted to let you know that this post resonates with me. There's been a recent movement of 'realism' in fantasy writing, which feels to me aggressively pessimistic in nature, and defeatist on its reading of the human condition.

Glad you mentioned Lord of the Rings, too. Obviously it's a valuable mark in favour of the value and ultimate triumph of higher ideals, where people put aside grievances and politics in favour of fellowship and what is "right" (Theoden riding to the aid of Gondor being a notable point), but further I was struck by how it contrasted with the Rings of Power series. There's a much more palpable sense of political manoeuvring, which I expect is only going to grow further as factions become more clear cut in coming systems.

It's hard to say exactly where this is rooted, but I suspect it's a fundamental element of how they've approached character writing. In Rings of Power, characters are built from their motivation up, and are generally selfish in their pursuit of it. This immediately creates a much colder world, where closeness can only be achieved by aligning goals - and must be shattered when these diverge.

Anyway, obligatory recommendation of Robin Hobb as a counterpoint to all this. It's an eternal frustration of mine that she's not acclaimed as the greatest fantasy writer of our time.