[Kalimac]

I can barely remember a time when I wasn't being exposed to Tolkien's writings in some form so I probably just haven't noticed all the changes [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]. The only one that strikes me at the moment is that I find it absolutely impossible to read most other fantasy novels because after a while they all seem like weak, watered-down versions of LOTR, and why drink 3% when strong wine like LOTR itself is available?

This isn't really fair to the other authors, since Tolkien almost invented their genre as well as inventing or at least shaping almost every archetype in that genre. The orphaned hero, the faithful servant, the fatal object, the one who falls by pride, the sin of long ago that must now be paid for, etc etc etc - there's no way on earth to write a fantasy and not put at least one of these things in it. So I guess you could say Tolkien has made me a fantasy snob [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]. Ah well. At least I still have HoME to get through, and the Silmarillion continues to elude me in many ways, so it's not like I have everything of his memorized or anything.