Did JRRT encourage new ME stories?

[davem]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

Ironically, JDR's thesis (with condiderable supporting evidence) is that The Hobbit was always tied to the Silmarillion universe.
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Well, I'm up to the point where the party leave Rivendell, & I've read a lot of Rateliff's 'evidence' & I have to say I'm not convinced. Of course, its clear that Tolkien drew on the Legendarium for background for the story, but its set in a 'fairy tale' world &only touches the Sil world tangentially - its hardly a part of the Legendarium. Yes, there were references to Beren & Luthien in the first version, & references to Gondolin survived, but there were also references to Shetland ponies, the Hindu Kush, tinkers, & 'policemen on bicycles'. Clearly the original version Tolkien set down had no stronger links with the Legendarium than Roverandom did.

We also have Tolkien stating in one letter that

“I don’t much approve of The Hobbit myself, preferring my own mythology (which is just touched on) with its consistent nomenclature – Elrond, Gondolin and Esgaroth have escaped out of it – and organized history, to this rabble of Eddaic-named dwarves out of Volüspá, newfangled hobbits and gollums (invented in an idle hour) and Anglo-Saxon runes.”

I think its clear from this statement that Tolkien, even in 1937 when TH was complete, didn't consider it part of the Legendarium - & hardly even to be set in the same world as The Sil - Elrond, Gondolin & Esgaroth, to Tolkien's mind, didn't belong in the world of TH, but had 'escaped' out of the Sil into it - as had 'Faerie in the West' into Roverandom.

Rateliff puts the case for TH being part of the Legendarium, but doesn't offer the counter argument.

In short, I don't see that TH is 'tied' all that strongly to the Legendarium itself, merely that it makes use of some characters & places in order to give 'depth'.