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Notes -
To be fair Greer doesn't say Tolkien invented the trope, and specifically references older examples like Cinncinatus or Yu and Shun, he's mostly claiming Tolkien popularized it.
Oh really? I'm probably pretty out of date with what's popular right now/
I'm thinking of the rise of Isekai, progression fantasy and cultivation.
The popularity of those is confounded a bit by their foreign origins - which adds novelty as a lure, and in works actually from China or Japan, changes the baseline cultural expectations the pieces used as references. Not a lot, it doesn't detract from your point, but I expect the first isekai or progression fantasy adaptation to go full mainstream will tone down some of the harshness, if not go fully feminised.
Cradle is about as close as cultivation can get to mainstream and it did tone down the harshness. It also goes full gender equality while most cultivation stories are "women can cultivate like men can, but for some reason most of the characters are men anyway".
Though to be fair, these stories are known for taking the harshness to ridiculous levels and have to be toned down to even make any sense.
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