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Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil
Not necessarily. As mentioned, Tolkien borrowed ideas, themes, even blatantly obvious situations (Glaurung and Fafnir, anyone?). Why should it be particularly harder to think he might have borrowed a character or a character type? That was my original argument in favor of Christ figures. If a writer can 'steal' a theme, why can't he 'steal' a character type?
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That's because they're archetypes (epic and fantasy are stuffed with these figures), and shared across the cultures and the ages. He wasn't stealing anything that hasn't already been stolen.
Have a quick look up on Wikipedia about Jung and Joseph Campbell (if you don't know about them already, how
dare I presume?!), and it'll give you a good overview. That stuff's a revelation, particularly for the aspiring writer or artist.