|
Of course, the real answer is that at the time Tolkien had no idea where the story was going, but since Bombadil and Willowman already existed he had ready-made plot to use.
There wasn't even any geography at the time, beyond what he had just invented for the Shire and Buckland. All he had was The Hobbit's vague given of a Road that eventually reached Rivendell. He never actually did get the two books to line up , even though he tried in LR 2d Ed (as Fonstad and CT discuss)- this may lie at the root of his latter-day insistence on drawing the map first!
__________________
The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.
Last edited by William Cloud Hicklin; 01-20-2009 at 08:53 AM.
|