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Originally Posted by Bb
How one can, logically, exclude from the mythology the story which introduces one of Tolkien's most original contributions, the hobbits. Aren't the hobbits the most original part of the Legendarium?
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No, the Elves are. Tolkien's Elves are his unique creation - the name might have existed already, but as he says in Appendix F of LotR he merely made use of the closest modern term for his Eldar.
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Furthermore, to jettison the original concept of hobbits for any later one is a revisionary act, particularly reprehensible if it attempts to deny the original conception and to deny that changes were made to the conception.
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I'm not 'jettisoning' the original concept of hobbits. The Hobbits is TH owe too much to the Snergs. 'Hobbits' as we know & love them come in with LotR. Besides, I go back to my main point - TH doesn't 'fit' with The Sil writings or with LotR. It is a children's adventure story, which uses comic Elves, Dwarves & Trolls etc, the creatures of Northern myth, in a highly adventurous, comic saga. It wasn't written as part of the Sil saga, the Legendarium. Tolkien attempted to integrate it, rather than keep it as what it had been. The question, a valid one as far as I can see, is whether that was a correct decision. I don't deny its place in the Tolkien canon, only in the Middle-earth one.
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It is something that evolved over time and to ignore that evolution and the different stages of it is to falsify it.
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No, TH was not part of the 'evolution' of M-e - it was nothing to do with M-e. LotR was sparked by it but became the sequel to & culmination of The Sil.
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Just what version of Galadriel are we supposed to use?
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Galadriel was only ever part of the Legendarium. There are changes made within the Legendarium & outside matter which Tolkien attempted to integrate into it. Two different things. TH may well be 'the best introduction to the Mountains' but it is not part of them.
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By the way, by referring to Tolkien's use of the word Legendarium, you are backtracking away from your use of Legendarium as "a work of art".
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I was being ironic.....