Go not to the elves etc.
One thing to remember is that Tolkien was writing LoTR
during the Second World War.
Quote:
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In spite of the darkness of the next five years I found that the story could not now be wholly abandoned, and I plodded on, mostly by night, till I stood by Balin's tomb in Moria. There I halted for a long while. It was almost a year later when I went on and came to Lothlorien and the Great River late in 1941.
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I don't want to get into allegory or applicability territory
but I'm sure that WWII must have affected the story. Remember that as the Prof was writing 'Balin son of Fundin' the War was still very much in the balance. Perhaps the overwhelming power of the Sauronic forces reflects Britain's plight during that time. We could very well have lost without the Soviets and the USA. By late '41 both were our Allies and it looked as if we were going to be on the winning side, did this perhaps inspire the continuation of the story, knowing that someone would probably read it in the future? I'd guess that it would have been banned as 'anti-totalitarian propaganda' had the war gone the other way.
Also, a major influence was Tolkien's own front-line service in the tenches of WWI, which comes across to me in the Dead Marshes and the pits before the Morannon, and in the early Fall of Gondolin.
On WWII specifics, I've always had a fancy that the Nazgul's steeds were inspired by Stukas, same nasty wail and terrifying effect no doubt, and continually being shown bombing refugees in the British propaganda films of the time.