The diminshing of the characters

[Lady Of Light]

The Silmarillion did not in any way change my feelings towards those beloved LOTR characters. While it has wonderful epic stories in it, I think of it as more of a supplement. It enriches the history of the world that we only barely get to know in LOTR.

The stories are presented in the Silm. in the fashion of history and legends, not in the more novel-like form of the trilogy. I also think that perhaps not all of the details of bravery were true. I feel almost as if the stories could have been told by campfires and embellished countless times until the deeds were far greater. I don't know if that was Tolkien's intent (probably not) but it is an interesting idea. Like Christopher Columbus, he was a terrible merciless tyrant, but today we mainly remember him as a hero who discovered America.

Perhaps hundreds of years later, the stories about Aragorn and Frodo and Sam would be told in similar fashion... who knows? n/eway, neat topic!