[Child of the 7th Age]

The ineresting thing is that Tolkien seems to have had much deeper and sweeter feelings about the world of plants and trees than about animals. Everywhere you turn in LOTR, there are beautiful descriptions and references to trees, flowers, and herbs that were beautiful or beneficial. The list is endless--who can forget the Ents, the golden mallorn trees, or the yellow blooms of elanor? And what about athelas? We know Tolkien loved to garden himself. Maybe he just had more personal experience with growing things than with animals so they naturally appear more frequently in his writings. In my mind, there are two fantasy writers who show their love of the natural world. For the world of green things, it's Tolkien. For the world of animals, it's T.H. White. White's descriptions of how Arthur learned from the fish and geese and badgers both as a child and as a king looking back on his life are amazing to me. So Tolkien doesn't get an A+ with animals, but I sure can't think of another author who showed such sensitivity to the natural world of plants and trees. sharon [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]