The diminshing of the characters

[Legolas]

The Lord of the Rings (as well as The Hobbit) were on a more personal level. The characters were more real to the readers because they were more like us. We could identify with them more.

I never said the characters of The Hobbit were saving the world.

You didn't notice when I used The Hobbit - I said the characters of that book are more easily identified with (like the characters of The Lord of the Rings) than are their counterparts in the First Age tales.

The characters in The Hobbit did discover the importance of helping each other out, though. Bilbo and Gandalf helping the dwarves; Beorn takes Gandalf, Bilbo, Thorin & Co. in; the elves and men uniting against the dwarves who were blind in their greed; the eagles helping Gandalf and the party; the elves, men, and dwarves all uniting against the orcs; the eagles, Beorn, and Gandalf fighting in a battle that wasn't their own - quite a number of examples.

When I mentioned saving the world, I was very specific in indicating it was The Lord of the Rings I was speaking of:

The journey of Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, Gimli, and the hobbits was a sacrifice. Only Gandalf knew what they were getting into, but they all knew it might cost them they're lives. That did not hold them back. They did what they did for all the good left in the world.

[ January 18, 2003: Message edited by: Legalos ]