[VanimaEdhel]

Ummm: on the crying aspect: you are looking at the person who, even after reading the books multiple times, still cried both in the movie when Boromir dies and when he is dead in the book. I have seen the movie merely five times (a small number compared to some), and I still cry when Boromir dies. It has something to do with the atonement for his sins by defending his friends, Merry and Pippin, but then, after realizing the folly in his ways, still losing his life.

And: I had read the book and knew everything of the topic (I won't say what "everything" is for those ignorants who read this who have no clue), but I still cried when Gandalf fell. It had something to do with the crying of all those on the screen.

And, of course, I cried when I last read RotK...about 5 times over the course of the book.

And now, to answer the question: I do not believe that there is only one reason why Tolkien causes these reactions from so many people. The best way I can explain it is relating a story:
I was in an assembly watching those who went to the Amazon River over Spring Break tell us of the land. This girl, Sophia, stepped up and began describing the canopy. I was not much listening, for each person's account was roughly the same. Then, I heard her say, "I got to the top of the canopy and it was beautiful...looking like a world that only a JRR Tolkien novel could describe". This caused me to sit up and take notice.

I then began thinking about that. I believe that is what affects us all so much about Tolkien: the time and effort he put into creating this world. One could almost say it seems real, for he created the world of Arda down to the last detail. It is like a world that, if we were to discover a portal to it, we would already have enough knowledge to move around fairly well in the land.

The characters also are nearly flawless, in such a manner that they seem to be true creatures. We would all love, we must admit, to be walking through the woods and come stumbling across a Hobbit or across Imladris/Rivendell. We all love the races and the characters that we find.

And, of course, while it is such a realistic land, it has the right amount of fantasy for it to be a true escape when one reads it after a hard day.

Well: there is the reason that this story moved me to tears of joy and sympathy, both equally, so many times.

[ April 28, 2002: Message edited by: VanimaEdhel ]