[Child of the 7th Age]

Davem --

I am looking at this differently than you are.

The way that I approach this is by examining those moments in my own life where I made a decision to create something----to invest my time and labor and heart in something that had particular meaning for me. I am not just limiting myself to writing but am speaking of all forms of subcreation: literary, academic, or personal. Certain landmarks stand out in my own life--- my decision to invest years earning a doctorate in medieval history, my interest in social history and a devotion of time and effort to produce studies based on that research, my decision to have a family and to try to impart certain values within the structure of that family. This list could go on. Nothing so grand as Master Tolkien---small commitments that make up a normal lfe. Still, I don't think the process of searching for meaning and commitment was that different for him than it was for the rest of us. He just did a much better job at what he attempted to do.

What strikes me is that I can not give you a single motivation as to why I decided to undertake a particular task on that list. What I can give you for every one of my "subcreations" is a tangled and multi-layered explanation of what attracted me to that endeavor: what it was that made my heart light up so I felt compelled to wander in that direction. The personal, the academic, the literary, and the spiritual are all tangled up.

And for me, at least, that choice of commitment represents a process of wandering---many questions asked, some wrong turns and detours. Where I eventually ended up was never the exact point I had initially envisioned. Things took shape slowly over many years. Could it have been any different for Tolkien? His desire to create languages, his love of stories, his youthful determination to ignite a moral rejuvenation in his contemporaries, his homage to the young Edith---there is no one purpose; there are many.

To try and isolate a "single" key to understand this author is not possible. You are looking for a simplicity that doesn't exist in real life. Indeed it is contrary to everything Tolkien stood for, his very nature and personality. Remember this is the author who couldn't bear to put the finishing touches on the Silmarillion and who was attempting to change some of the underlying philosophy behind Arda right up to the end of his life.

Kilby was right in using the term "contrasistency" to describe Tolkien. JRRT simply couldn't be pinned down, which is why we can endlessly debate how great an influence X or Y had on the finished text. His reasons for subcreating were many: they seem to have changed from one year, one decade, even one minute to the next. There was no one overarching goal that was set in stone from the very beginning. He had many reason for writing, and these shifted and changed over time, helping to redefine Middle-earth.