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I suppose the greatest change will be that interpretations & back story will both become more & more defined. There will be less & less for a reader to add. Now, that may seem odd coming from me, but I'm not talking about bringing in stuff from the primary world in terms of interpretation, just about the way the story/meaning will become increasingly 'fixed'. There will be less & less room for speculation - about the nature of Orcs, what happens to Frodo, what all those odd references scattered throughout LotR & TH to an older history actually refer to. In a sense we've been told too much by CT.
I'm not sure it would be true to say that I loved Tolkien's work more when I only knew LotR & TH, but I certainly loved it differently. It was kind of like the background history was like seeing a city on the horizon, & only being able to make out bits of it clearly. It was full of possibilities. But then you go to the place & get to know it - the mystery is gone. I half wish I could forget the Sil, UT, HoM-e, all the stuff by Flieger & Shippey et al, & just go back to that 'innocent' time. I'm sure our debates here would be livelier if we didn't all know so much. Too often someone asks a question & an 'expert' comes along & answers it with quotes & references. We can no longer believe that 'Frodo Lives', or that there may still be Elves & Hobbits just over the next hill, because we now 'know' that mortals do not become immortal when they enter the Undying Lands, & that if Elves remain in M-e they 'fade'. Knowledge takes away so much. Yet, there is no real going back, I suppose.
When all the experts have done, all the questions have been answered, what will we do?
There are more reasons, other than just the story becoming too dark & upsetting, for saying 'Shut the book now, dad, we don't want to read any more.' Me, I often wish I was still back in the pre-Sil days, with just my original paperbacks of LotR & TH on the shelf (Oh, & Smith, of course).
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