<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Pile o' Bones
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Re: The Elven change in character
This is a really difficult question. The evidence that Tolkien had already written parts of the Silmarillion make it even more difficult. Easy enough to say that it was a children's book, but as you point out, Tolkien was a very careful writer. That said, he may have been very careful to make The Hobbit a children's book. I've written some things for children and it's not easy. One is cautioned to not write down for children, but it also can't be as adult as some other book might be. Because of this Tolkien may have used the elves at times as a bit of comic relief. I've got to give this some more thought. For instance, is there a change in the character of Gandalf between The Hobbit and LotR? I hope that there is more discussion of this point. It's a most interesting question.
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