In some ways (it depends on the way you look at it), I think Tolkien has done something no one ever did before, nor was it done again ever after.
The Lord of the Rings takes place in a world Tolkien had been creating and working on for all his life. If you read LotR, you will find a lot of references which you will not understand. References to the Last Alliance between Elves and Men, for instance; references to Beren and Luthíen, with Luthíen being an elf, and Beren being mortal. And of the love of Thingol and Melian there came into the world the fairest of the Children of Ilúvatar that was or shall ever be.
You will not understand who Gandalf is- he is far more powerful then it seems, one may discover that; but who or WHAT is he?
Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, says Gandalf in LotR.
The Silm says: But of Olórin that tale does not speak; for though he loved the Elves, he walked among them unseen, or in form as one of them, and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promptings of wisdom that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and took pity on their sorrows; and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of darkness.
(This is also related to Gandalf's ring, of course...).
Morgoth is also mentioned in LotR, yet little is told of his deeds within it. Yet, you will learn that Sauron was but a servant of Morgoth, the Dark Lord.
What it all comes down to (I could go on, and on, ... and on) is the incredible depth of this book. The depth comes because it is built upon stories that were written long before it, and take place literally thousands of years before LotR. As to my knowledge, no other author has done this before Tolkien or ever after. Sure, other works have depth; but their depth usually lies within themselves, and it grows with them; they do not plan a whole world to build a story upon!
But Tolkien did not write for a living, but as far as I understand it, mostly for his pleasure.
The poems are another facette: even ("professional") critis or LotR admit that some of his poems (and some of those within LotR) are indeed genuine. I happen to agree ;-)
'I wonder', said Frodo. 'But I don't know. And that's the way of a real tale. Take any one that you're fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don't know. And you don't want them to.'
'No, sir, of course not. Beren now, he never thought he was going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that's a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it - and the Silmaril went on and came to Eärendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We've got - you've got some of the light of it in that star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?'
'No, they never end as tales', said Frodo. 'But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later - or sooner.'
'And then we can have some rest and some sleep', said Sam.
Isn't it simply amazing?
-- Elessar
[This message has been edited by Elessar (edited February 01, 2002).]
