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H-I Brilliant stuff - as usual. But I can only reiterate my point. I LOVE THE HOBBIT!!! Its far & away one of my favouite books!
What I'm saying is that TH is not necessary to the Legendarium. The necessary information it contains is repeated in LotR. Flieger told us that her children have never read The Hobbit. They began with LotR (at age two apparently!) & have gone on to read some or all of the rest.
I believe that a reader who first encounters LotR & then goes on to the Silmarillion before reading TH will not be expecting anything like they get, & is more than likely to find that the cockney trolls & the 'tra-la-la-lallying' Elves will 'break the enchantment' for them.
Like you, I read TH first, & may not have read LotR without that experience. It still holds a special place in my heart, but it is not necessary to an understanding of LotR or the Legendarium as a whole & I'd question the extent to which it actually adds anything beyond a warm 'nostalgic' glow to the experience of readers who are already familiar with it. I wouldn't be without it as a work of Tolkien's - anymore than I'd be without Smith or Niggle. I just don't feel it adds anything to the Legendarium itself & for some readers it may actually detract from the 'reality' of the secondary world.
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