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Its odd, but for me, its almost as if I was yearning for Middle-earth before I even knew Middle-earth existed. Or at least as if, on some level, what Tolkien created was what I desired - not Beowulf or the Sagas, or the Kalevala or the Eddas - but what Tolkien himself created from those sources. As if someone or something was tapping me on the shoulder to change the TV channel that night, catch that Python episode, so that I'd become conscious of that 'need' I had felt without even knowing it was there. Because it was Middle-earth I was looking for - the sources never touched me in the same way when I did finally read them. No, it was Middle-earth itself that I wanted & only Middle-earth.
But what if Tolkien hadn't created M-e? What if I hadn't been able to find it because Tolkien had never brought it into existence - would I still be looking for it? Or would I have just 'made do' with the 'glimpses' I found in the Sagas & books of fairy stories?
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