Tolkien also says in that letter that Mr Baggins 'got drawn into the edge of it' - so Tolkien is acknowledging that The Hobbit has now become a part of his Legendarium.
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Originally Posted by davem
If Tolkien had followed his heart there would have been no sequel to TH & TH would not have been connected with The Sil - even if that work had seen publication - anymore than Roverandom is connected in readers mind's with The Sil.
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And so if Tolkien
had followed his heart and not produced a sequel what does that leave us with? No LotR. And The Sil languishing in the private papers of the descendants of an Oxford professor?
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Originally Posted by davem
It is only the existence of LotR which leads people to think of TH as part of the Legendarium - not anything in TH per se.
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This misses the point about where each work 'sits' - the Legendarium is a journey (much as LotR is a journey) with many stopping off points; it includes a multitude of styles, even of genres, it is diverse, and that is why readers are quite content to include The Hobbit.