[narfforc]

MathewM I did not wish to offend you in that way, however if you are a Tolkien nut, then we probably all are. The idea of thinking of the way a character would feel or even act is a slight problem for me, as all that would achieve is following how Tolkien felt, I believe that certainly in his herioc characters he imbued them with many of his own thoughts and ways, they are the children of his mind, in some ways as the Ainur were of Eru. The stance of his heroic characters in their fight against evil, the way they fight and fall, is real history, for it is tempered by Tolkiens knowledge of real events in our own real histories. There is not much actually new in Middle-earth, his vision is a amalgm of real world history/legend/mythology, anyone having read Norse/Celtic mythology or real world histories will recognise most of the characters and their actions.

Having said all this, I must admit that I also wander Middle-earth, however I wander in many places and all for different reasons, There are many times I have walked through the forests of Neldoreth, once as a Guardsman in The 1st or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards I stood on the battlements of Windsor Castle and in the East a thunderstorm was brewing, lightning filled the skies, for a moment I was transported, I felt like Beregond. I also understand the need to be elsewhere sometimes. The one regret I have is that there is no real Miidle-earth either in the present or the past, I visited the Valley of The Kings recently, for a short time I was in two places at the same time, this is what real history can achieve. The thing about most of us Britons, is that we are surrounded by our history, many of us have an affinity with it either locally our nationally, to stand at Stonehenge or Skara Brae is to stand in the ancient world, we are a living part of its history, no elves remain to tell of the wonders of Tirion upon Tuna, I wish with all my heart there were.