"Genuine fairy-story" ?

[Raynor]

Originally Posted by SpM

It seems to me that there is one aspect of "traditional" Faerie that is conspicuously absent from Tolkien's works - moral ambiguity/amorality.

Hm, it is my understanding that on this thread we are judging the "fairy" quality based on Tolkien's definition. As far as I am aware, the moral aspect was quite important for him in defining a story as such:

Originally Posted by On Fairy-stories

The stories of Beatrix Potter lie near the borders of Faerie, but outside it, I think, for the most part. Their nearness is due largely to their strong moral element: by which I mean their inherent morality, not any allegorical significatio.

Taking that into consideration, we must bear in mind that the apex of the story, on Mount Doom, relies heavily on the morality of several acts done previously - by Frodo and Bilbo in particular. If only for this, LotR fulfills, Imo, this criterion.