Beorn

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Well, as D already detailed, Tolkien wasn't creating that kind of world. He liked to explain everything.

Not at all. Vide his comments on Bombadil: he's an Enigma, and deliberately so. Tolkien never bothered to explain, even in a note-to-self, in what the One Ring's power actually consisted. He was unconcerned with the mechanics of Sauron bringing It back from Numenor, or Orome carrying weapons for the entire Elvenhost on Nahar. Nowhere did he explain the Great Eagles, except in Manwe's words to Yavanna which confuse as much as they illumine. He never explained (and perhaps didn't know) whether it was Sauron or Caradhras itself which defeated the attempt on the Redhorn Gate. Are the Ents in origin trees with spirits indwelling, or tree-like beings of independent creation? The origin and story of the old man Brego encountered at the Dark Door is a permanent mystery. As he once commented, compared to real-world (medieval) history, the one he produced was somewhat too consistent and thorough.