[The Saucepan Man]

Well, I used to think of LotR as "just a book", albeit one which I greatly cherished. That is until I first logged onto this site and read the articles on the putative wings of Balrogs and the possible sunlight resistance of Olog-Hai.

Prior to that, I had always had a sense that there was much more to the world of ME than simply the two novels that I had read. The consistency of characters and events between the Hobbit and LotR had fascinated me and there is much in LotR itself which speaks of the greater history of the world in which the events related therein takes place. But I had, alas, not been able to get past the first few chapters of the Silmarillion when I tried reading it in my teenage years, and so had little sense of what that history entailed. Nor did questions such as whether Balrogs have wings or not really ever occur to me.

So, when I first came across the aforementioned articles, I was stunned by (and rather admiring of) the detailed analyses of such questions. And when I subsequently (and rather belatedly) came across this forum, I found to my amazement hundreds of threads debating the finer points of JRRT's works in the same way. And being the person that I am, I was hooked, albeit mainly as a reader rather than a contributor (at first, in any event). And it fuelled a desire to find out more myself about this expansive world which Tolkien had put so much hard work into creating, which has since led me to complete the Silmarillion and take in the Unfinished Tales and will lead me shortly into the HoME series.

So it is this site really, and the wider ambit of the works which it has prompted me to read, which has led me to appreciate the "imaginary ecosphere" which the Professor created. Indeed, there can be no other author who has devised such an exhaustive setting for his stories, complete with detailed maps, genealogical tables and histories and languages for the races which populate the world in which his stories take place. And it is the fact that he created so much more than simply the stories that are told in the books which prompts us to debate matters such as the origins of trolls and dragons and the identity of Tom Bombadil. Perhaps most significant of all is his inclusion of an expanation of how the world and its creatures and peoples were created, for it is this which leads us into discussions of how those characters and creatures whose origins are not fully explained might fit into the scheme which he has presented us with.

Of course, having said all that, I will always consider LotR, the Hobbit and the Silmarillion first and foremost as works of fiction. But, given the detail that we have, it is fascinating effectively to treat them as historical works and debate and discuss the finer points of them, is it not? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]