The way this thread has gone, it really begins at post 16.
But getting right back to davem's original question, and linking with all the stuff inbetween, it is very interesting just what fantasy writers choose to include and exclude. davem has spotted that Tolkien
chose not to write about the true picture of war, but there are more things Tolkien chose not to include, and it interests me why he did that.
The main thing I notice as absent is a true picture of monarchy. The stories of the British monarchs alone are enough to keep you going in juicy tales for a whole lifetime, and it seems we
never had a King like Aragorn. Obviously Tolkien's main stories are from narrow time frames of Middle-earth's history so that limits the opportunities, but I often think this is something noticeably absent - the full picture of a real monarch. And all the politics surrounding that.
The closest he comes is with Theoden, trapped in his madness, corrupted by the counsels of Grima. But I'd love to have seen more of this, really seen Grima at work. It almost seems
too easy for Gandalf to bring him to his senses.
A similar thing happens with the story of Numenor. There's so much that could have been fleshed out there.