Was Middle Earth Created or Discovered?

[Child of the 7th Age]

Jessica,

I'm so glad to see that you've made progress on this project. I remember how we talked about it almost a year ago.

Doug, Willie,

I think there's one more point here worthy of consideration. This is definitely how JRRT came to think of Middle-earth. He saw himself discovering something already in existence. No, I don't mean that he was claiming this as the literal history of our planet. He was not that loopy! But he did mean that the basic truths and characters of Middle-earth were somehow part of a lost mythological past or meaning which he was rediscovering.

I will always remember that famous incident from the letters when a distingished and well-known visitor came to see Tolkien. The visitor pointed out that some of Tolkien's ilustrations were very similar to other drawings that he himself had found, only these were artists Tolkien had never looked at or studied. The visitor chided Tolkien saying:

"Of course, you don't suppose do you, that you wrote all that book yourself?"

"Pure Gandalf! I was too well acquainted with G. to expose myself rashly, or to ask what he meant. I think I said: "No I don't suppose so any longer! I have never been able to suppose so. An alarming conclusion for an old philologist to draw concerning his private amusement. But not one that should puff any one up who considers the impefections of 'chosen instruments,' and indeed what sometimes seems their lamentable unfitness for the purpose.

In other words, Tolkien felt that there was an underlying truth to be discovered, a truth placed there by something/someone far greater than himself. He viewed himself as merely the instrument chosen for the rediscovery of these pre-existing truths. No so much literal truths, or historical truths, but a way for us to get hold of that core of meaning that lies at the center of existence.

I love that quote above. It is one of my favorites. So, Jessica, I will have to plead guilty and say that I agree with your thesis statement, at least if interpreted in that way!