Do you ever feel that middle-earth really exists?

[barandilwen]

I really love the books of J.R.R. Tolkein, but in some point, i start believing it is real. You may start laughing at me at my opinion but i really believe it is. I also believe it because Sr. Tolkein had written a lot about middle-earth's history and that it seems that he has not got it mixed up or something. So maybe that was not a good statement to support what i think but, i really and definitely believe that it is real! i want to see it, if it is possible. Now, i posted this topic to know if some of you believe that middle-earth really exists. Do you?

[MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie]

Middle-earth can feel as if it is real sometimes. It's just how far you let your imagination take you and how much you are willing to let go of reality. All though the sad thing is, it's not real.

[Beruthiel]

Thats definitely happened to me before, I just keep thinking that somewhere out there I'll be able to find it or that maybe it was the real history of the world not just a story. Its quite depressing when I snap out of it and realise that its not real at all. I guess its still nice to know you can drift back into the world anytime you want by simply reading a book but it would still be amazing if it was real...

[Meela]

All the time.

In a sense, it is real. Tolkien did write Middle Earth to be a Europe of long ago, or so I have heard, so we could technically say that we are Middle Earth's descendants. At least, the men are pretty realistic. Those sorts of lost kings and steward types probably really existed. A lot of Middle Earth is a possible reality.

[Aure]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I think that middle earth is real and that tolkien was trying to tell us that through the books. I heard from my friend that the story of middle earth was passed down through tolkeins family

[Maeglanthirion]

Many a time do i read all these things about Middle-earth and thing it has to be real. I men, look at all the history books and other pieces of literature about it. Like Meela, i agree that in a sense, it is real considering all Tolkien wrote about it. But it is just that: a piece of literature. It isn't real, though it seams so. How much do i wish that it was and i could live there. But i havn't seen any elves or trolls or balrogs around, or even heard of remnants of them.

[Genevieve]

I wish it was real, I truly do, but deep down I know it isn't and it's truly a tragic thiing that it isn't. Tolkien truly must have been a genius to come up with all of that and keep it straight. AND write it all down.

[Numenorean]

i havn't seen any elves or trolls or balrogs around, or even heard of remnants of them
Me neither Maeglanthirion! But given that the Human Race (as we know it) has been around for what, about 20,000 years, it leaves a hell of a lot of time - some millions of years and more - during which thousands of unknown races, beasts, phenonema and living beings could've evolved, lived and then quite simply vanished from existance, through natural or other causes.
I know its only speculation, but as a race we know so little about the distant past that who knows for sure, I'm staying open-minded on the off chance theres something in it!

[Elennar Starfire]

i havn't seen any elves or trolls or balrogs around, or even heard of remnants of them

Do you really think that if an ordinary human met a balrog or troll they would live to tell about it? And the elves went to Valinor. So just because you don't know of anyone who has seen an elf, troll or balrog doesn't mean that they don't exist. Also, balrogs would live deep underground where not many humans go.

[Duncariel]

Exactly! You know those little eruptions that often happen in mine shafts? Do you think that some stupid miner just dropped his match or something? No! It was a balrog!

Sorry, I'm done ranting now. I really truly wish that ME was actually a place where I could go to escape the troubles of the regular world, and sometimes I think that it lives inside my head. smilies/rolleyes.gif Just thinking about it does relieve alot of the tension of daily life.

[Luthien_ Tinuviel]

I wish ME was real, even though I know it isn't. But it lives in our hearts and dreams (I'm not trying to sound sentimental). And maybe balrogs do live underground: How else would we have volcanoes?

[Lord of Angmar]

In my mind, reality is defined by belief. If you believe that Middle Earth existed and that these stories are true, then they are subsequently a "reality". I believe that Tolkien in his heart believed all of his stories and intimately knew all his characters. It is my opinion that somewhere, in some state of existence, these stories really occurred.

[peonydeepdelver]

I believe Middle-earth is real, but I imagine it as being another planet in a faraway galaxy. smilies/biggrin.gif Then again, that's just me.

[Maeglanthirion]

I wasn't referring to living balrogs and elves and such. I'm more referring to skeletons and bones and fossils. As far as I have heard, I do not remember anyone finding bones or fossils or that sort of proof that anything such as that ever existed. I'm not trashing your beliefs, for it is not my right to do so. I am merely giving my opinion and backing it up.

[Genevieve]

Maybe some of those weird fossils that scientists think are dinsaurs are actually ME creatures? Or maybe they are buried so deep in the earth that we haven't found them yet? I dunno, I'm just offering up ideas. Don't mind me. smilies/smile.gif

[barandilwen]

Maybe, you guys are right! maybe, somewhere in this world, there's a middle earth! smilies/confused.gif did i say that right? i think there really is middle earth, but like some of you mentioned, we're just going to snap back to the "reality" we know that there is none... smilies/frown.gif But i really wish there is!!! I really do! But i guess there is not due to some scientific evidence that men just evolved and stuff... but what if they (the fossils) are burried somewhere deep?!! But again, we haven't found anything, but it's not bad to dream about middle earth anyway, right?

[Daisy Brambleburr]

Although I know that ME was just Tolkiens invention and it didn't really exist it is fun to let your imagination run away and let yourself think that it is/was there, because it's a pretty great place.
And let's face it, it must exist someplace, be it just in our minds or hearts, because most of us spend a heck of a lot of time discussing it on these forums!

[Nehani]

To me, it does exist. It always has, always will. Somehow, I fell it is a part of me, and my thoughts dwell ther often (Genevieve would know about my thoguhts a little). If only I could be there entirely.

Being a science freak, I will say these things: 1. It is quite possible that fossils/bones of Balrogs or other ME creatures are too deep in the Earth's crust 2. I believe there are some ancestrial lines from Hobbits (don't be mad if u are "vertically chalenged" for I am too) 3. Valinor could be a planet in our solarsystem, or one that we don't know of (canyou imagine how cool it would be if the first "aliens were Elves?)

I think I should stop now before I start babbling.

Nehani

[Phervasaion]

When I was reading the book i did feel at times that Middle-Earth did exist and, even though the world didnt exist realy, i still feel that it exists inside of me somewhere and i always will believe that middle-earth existed somehow.

[elfearz1]

Anything is possible through imagination. Middle Earth can exist inside our hearts.

The world is but a canvas to the imagination Henry David Thoreau

I really truly wish that ME was actually a place where I could go to escape the troubles of the regular world
I think somewhere in all our minds Middle Earth is real and we can all escape there when we really try.

Maybe I'm just speaking nonesense... smilies/rolleyes.gif

[Tinuviel of Denton]

Do you ever feel that middle-earth really exists?

Who doesn't? smilies/biggrin.gif

In all seriousness, I sometimes feel that ME is more real than this world (the Downs, of course, doesn't help, as I spend more time here than in the real world) because it is a world that I would rather live in. Yes, I know, there is a lot of sorrow there, but there are elves, dragons, hobbits, dwarves, magic rings, all those wonderful fantasy things.

And Middle-Earth lives at a slower pace. I mean, what with IM and email, we are more rushed than ever before. I wish I could live in Greenwood, or Lothlorien, just because there would be no computer. (if I lived in ME, I wouldn't need the Downs smilies/biggrin.gif )

[Lush]

Do you ever feel that middle-earth really exists?

Yes. Of course. I've even seen Vingilot in the night sky! Totally, dude. And none of it was drug-induced. Nope. None at all.

[Kaiserin]

(Gasp!) You mean... it's not all... real?!?

It's real in me, at least.

[Novberaid]

I went to a lecture once on Eastern philosophy. This very question came up. The lecturer stated that all things we can imagine come from the mind of God the Creator. Since all things in the physical world are made by God the Creator, Middle-Earth does exist some where in some time. In the afterlife we will be able to see and experience it because time has no meaning in the length of the cosmos.
Yes Virginia, there is a Middle-Earth and it is all very real!

[Lyta_Underhill]

The lecturer stated that all things we can imagine come from the mind of God the Creator. Since all things in the physical world are made by God the Creator, Middle-Earth does exist some where in some time.
A lovely sentiment, and probably true! (Or false! Depends, on belief I suppose!) smilies/biggrin.gif I've also heard it said that all realities exist together in different "dimensions." Even time is not linear as we understand it. Perhaps this very story is being lived out at this very instant in the very space we occupy, and we pick up on it subconsciously, or collectively. (Tolkien perhaps picked up on it and wrote it all down!) Perhaps the Barrowdowns and other fan gatherings are just forums to express this shared reality...(I really state the obvious don't I?) smilies/wink.gif

As I found in Tolkien's Letters, there was one who believed that Tolkien had been inspired by visual images that he had seen, and upon learning this was not his inspiration, proceeded to show him pictures that were very Middle Earthish and told him "You don't think YOU made all that up, did you?" Perhaps a personal observation of a collective reality...(need to dig out that letter one of these days)

To sum up, I believe there is no way that Middle Earth can NOT be real! smilies/biggrin.gif

Cheers,
Lyta (working hard on that "Crackpot in Residence" title)

[ August 10, 2003: Message edited by: Lyta_Underhill ]

[Kaiserin]

Valinor could be a planet in our solarsystem, or one that we don't know of (canyou imagine how cool it would be if the first "aliens were Elves?)

That's a funny thought... But look, how can they travel to another planet on a boat? smilies/biggrin.gif
I've heard that Tolkien thought up the mortal lands of ME to be England. Valinor would then be the Americas.

I imagine it as being another planet in a faraway galaxy

I thought about that too, but I realized that Arda has the same stars and constellations in its sky as we know the earth to have today. smilies/smile.gif Just points to say that it is our planet.