Applewhite posted:

If you magically got sent back in time with a copy of the Hobbit and the complete Lord of the Rings Trilogy, when is the earliest era where you could tell the story and have it be received as enthusiastically as in the modern era? (Assume you can speak the local language.)

Like, if you told a story about a magic ring to cavemen with no understanding of metallurgy or ring making, the concept of the ring would be completely lost on them, so obviously that would be too early. But I don't think you'd need to wait until the invention of the clock (Bilbo has a clock on his mantelpiece) for audiences to follow and understand the plot. So where and when is the earliest time when you could read aloud from LotR and have it be a smash hit?