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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
Regardless of what a reader may want from this particular author, I think it has been demonstrated that Tolkien never intended this story to be published on its own, in its current condition. He intended it to be accompanied by Beren & Luthien, the Fall of Gondolin, and the journey of Eärendil. So regardless of whether one wants eucatastrophes, Tolkien intended there to be one, for that is precisely what Eärendil's journey accomplishes, it's what the story of Tuor leads up to.
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But it stands as it is - a separate story, with a beginning, middle & end. Just as TH stands as a separate story, without needing LotR to give it meaning (or LotR without needing The Sil).
CoH is not 'stunted' as far as I'm concerned. I find it one of the greatest, most profoundly interesting & challenging works Tolkien produced - as it is. Its only going to seem 'stunted' or 'incomplete' to those who want it to be something other than it is, to have a different 'message'. In itself it is as full & complete as LotR - it simply says something different.
My fear is that it will be judged & critiqued not as a work in its own right, but as an episode in a 'greater' story & that it will never be seen for what it is - because too many readers don't want it to be what it is, or say what it does.