Welcome,
Tilion! Seems that you have a rather "healthy" stance towards Tolkien's works, and let's hope indeed that this site will illuminate lots of the shadows for you - I personally believe it will, or at least give you sharper contures of them.
(And as for Crichton, well, it's not
that wasted...
)
Well, may your death here be fruitful for both you and us...
(Oh, just one thing, I only hope you are not our well-known, already existing 'Downer
davem posting under a different username. Because, you see, this usage of "&"s was something I have always considered his signature move [although he is doing it in a much larger scale... sorry,
davem 
].)