A quote, if I may, from Tolkien himself, taken from the Foreword to the
Lord of the Rings itself, slightly edited to make it more in the context of the original discussion:
Quote:
As for any inner meaning or 'message', it has in the intention of the author none. . . . It [the story Lord of the Rings] was written long before the forshadow of 1939 had yet become a threat of inevitable disaster [the start of World War II], and from that point the story would have developed along essentially the same lines, if that disaster had been averted [that is, even if there was no war]. Its sources are things long before in mind, or in some cases already written, and little or nothing in it was modified by the war that began in 1939 [World War II] or its sequels [that is, the Korean War and probably the Vietnam War].
The real war [WWII] does not resemble the legendary war [The War of the Ring] in its process or its conclusion. If it [WWII] had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron . . . . it has been supposed by some that the 'The Scouring of the Shire' reflects the situation in England at the time when I was finishing my tale [near the end of the war, after all the bombs that Germany can drop reduced a lot of England into, he-he [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img], Ent-size potholes]. It does not
<div align=right>From Tolkien's Foreword to the revised edition of the Lord of the Rings</div>
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There is, of course, more. You will have to read the foreword yourself (it's in the 'Fellowship of the Ring' for those of you who have the 'divided' copies).
Yeah, I know it's a good thing to agree to disagree and all that. There would always be boring discussions if we can't do that. However, Tolkien was very clear about the entire World War II thing, and I just wanted to remind one of that.
Anyway,
Pax and good cheer to all. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]