Interesting topic Inziladun,
I think that the Hobbit sort of became "more serious" towards the end of the book, so it would make sense for the sequel to either stay serious or get more serious. Like others have already posted, Tolkien tried many different ideas before settling on the final idea and good authers know when they have a really good idea, and if they can figure out a bit of the story in their head, they usually go with that idea. As a part-time author myself (i'm still trying to get published) i know that when you get an idea it either "clicks" or it just doesn't feel right. I think Tolkien sort of "used hs instincts" when it came to LotR and maybe he just though that it'd be nice to try something new or maybe he just liked the idea i don't know but my best guess is that he just went with what he felt was right, not what other people told him to do.
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