system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[GENERAL] Why all (or almost all) fantasy medieval settings in fiction stays during the Middle Ages for thousands of years?

Like, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, why do they stay technologically stuck in the Middle Ages without developing past that?

In our real world we got about 1 thousand years but then there was some scientific and technological and even social and economical and political improvements that made us evolve past that (and that’s why we chose to call it another Age). But in fiction they stay there for 3, 4 or 5k years…

Maybe the magic on those scenarios had to do something somehow?
gpt
Depends on the setting. Sauron's orcs have gunpowder Saruman tried to industrialize the Shire. This is going to give technology a bad reputation and it's both harder and more morally fraught to cut enough wood for an industrial revolution when the trees can wake up and fight back.

Westeros is likely getting knocked back repeatedly by long winters. You need a food surplus and a stable population base to educate a lot of people.