Im no histoy expert, rather a buff or a hobbyist. But, that wont stop me from taking ahold of SPM and Squatter's threads, and ride them out a little further. This may make me sound like a Fairy chaser but oh well.
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Well, one major difference is that "real" history, ie the events that have actually occurred in our past, has had a very real effect on the way that we live our lives today.
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As several people have already pointed out, actual history (perhaps I should say 'past events') have shaped every aspect of the world we inhabit.
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Lets go waaaay back. The magic that JRRT (other authors too- RE Howard etc) brings to me is the nuance coming from my realization that what real history (ancient) we have IMO falls pitifully short for conclusiveness. Science gets better and better at fully analyizing what we do know, as well as present and future discoveries. But the reality for me, is that beyond 6-7 years, the picture that real history can paint for us is sketchy at best. There is a huge swath of human existence out there that either has not been, or can not be, discovered and analyzed by today's science. Maybe we were sqatting around a rotting mammoth carcass. Mabye it was something else. Something special - like my favorite RE Howard quote:
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Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars.
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And mabye an era or two before that time. Civilizations rise and fall, most are forgotton, eventually forgotton by history as well.
Imagined history? perhaps... but perhaps the connections that people are talking about here are felt for a reason. Our genes have a memory greater than any computer.