[Cúdae]

Neferchoirwen, I had never considered Middle-Earth itself to be a character before. And I am also not sure that I agree with you, for a reason you yourself stated when you wrote "...people in it are also what gives it life..." I tend to view Middle-Earth's life, so to speak, as not the life of the place itself, but as the lives of the characters who lived on it and gave it history. Without the character (if you want to call him a character) of Eru, Middle-Earth would not have come into existence. Without the character of Earendil, it wouldn't have surived and without the character of Frodo it wouldn't have been given a chance to endure. Those are just a few characters that spring to mind that I feel give Middle-Earth a "life." I feel that every character, from the major Feanor & Sons to the minor, barely remembered characters (who I can't remember the names, thereby proving this point [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] ) each add to the "life" of Middle-Earth.