Thinking back, (way back!) Diamond, I can't recall that Tolkien ever really "fooled" me. I pretty much figured that Gandalf didn't really die when the Balrog pulled him down, that Frodo wasn't really dead from Shelob's bite, and yes, I did figure out quite quickly that Dernhelm was actually Eowyn. It was even in the back of my mind that it would be Gollum that would actually destroy the Ring.
The joy for me was in reading on to see how Tolkien would pull everything off. Oh, and even Boromir's death didn't surprise me that much. He had "Red Shirt" written all over him. (Sorry, that's a lame "Star Trek" joke [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] )
The only real surprise I had was Frodo's ultimate fate. The fact that he was banished from the very homeland he fought to save, due to the effects of the Ring and his other injuries, just blew me away. I still get sad whenever I think of that.
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