[Watcher in the Water]

If I may add my two cents worth... I dont think tolkien was from the school of "man vs nature" as he appeared to have an anti-technology idealism. I cant remember where I studied it all but he was very anti-machine etc. He was saddened at the destruction caused to his native Britain as the Industrialation of western society pushed on. From that I take the viewpoint that he was very fond of the natural environment and so would not have viewed animals with disdain. Also i agree that 'evil' animals would of course enter the story to a greater extent as they are far more pivotal in that regard. Additionally though I dont know that all of the 'evil' animals mentioned were themselves 'evil' by nature. For example the spying birds were used to that end and may not themselves have been malevolent. I think the same probably holds true for the Oliphants and so forth.

I'm Kent Brockman and this has been my 2 cents [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]