[Annunfuiniel]

And when you[Eregal] said Tolkien believed his stories really happened, it was a bit vague but I think I get the idea. But I couldn't quite grasp your meaning. Can you please expound?

Well, I can't tell for sure what Eregal meant by saying that but this is something that I found on the net that might be an answer.

His[Tolkien's] great friend C. S. Lewis once objected to Tolkien that, “...myths are lies, though lies breathed through silver.” “No,” said Tolkien, “they are not.”

There are truths, Tolkien said, that are beyond us, transcendent truths, about beauty, truth, honor, etc. There are truths that man knows exist, but they cannot be seen - they are immaterial, but no less real, to us. It is only through the language of myth that we can speak of these truths. We have come from God, Tolkien said, and only through myth, through story telling, can we aspire to the life we were made for with God. To write and/or read myth, Tolkien believed, was to meditate on the most important truths of life.

I have to get back to the subject matter later, this is quite fascinating topic.