Celebrian's Misfortunes

[Neurion]

Originally Posted by Ruoutorin

Please do not refer me to any so called "Tolkien Experts" as they are no more experts then you or I and only offer their own opinions as to what Tolkien's intentions were and state them as facts. Unless the author has conducted a recent seance and successfully contacted Tolkien and specifically discussed this issue with him, his opinion is merely that, his opinion.

I think that's a false assumption on the whole. To be sure, know one knows exactly what Tolkien's thoughts were, but someone who's thoroughly studied Tolkien's life, opinions and beliefs is going to have an inestimably better idea of what Tolkien meant than a 16 year-old who's just finished reading Lord of the Rings for the first time.