[Man-of-the-Wold]

First, I find Gandalf to be a satisfactory bridge between the (revised) Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, along with Gollum, Gloin, Eagles and some other things. Elrond, Bilbo, and above all, the relative distances travelled, are harder to reconcile. But so it goes.

Magic rings, well there were a bunch of lesser rings attributed to Celebrimbor and his elven-smiths. Though supposedly destroyed, they may have been part of legend. The Elves of Rivendell, of course, turn out to me decendants of some of those same people, and they may certain sing and make merry in the woods, despite being of serious High-Elven kind.

To JRRT's credit, he sometimes within the larger legend has his characters discuss legends, rumours and fantastic things that may not be or are not really true within his sub-creation. Even Gandalf reports on false information in places. Consider how careful Faramir and others, who are among his most noble characters, are about relaying hearsay or information that cannot be vouched for. Clearly, he's heard more about Cirith Ungol than he reports to Frodo.

Middle-Earth is a place where conjecture may or may not be more fantastic than reality in all cases, but the two don't always meet, and misinformation abounds.

In The Hobbit as originally written and with hindsight one may chalk some things up to confusion, misinformation or exaggeration on Bilbo's part.

Still, besides tone, there are things that might be best edited out, but it won't happen. So, I try to explain them this way or that, or ignore. I can even explain why it took Thorin & Company so many weeks to get to the Trollshaws or across Mirkwood, based on circuituity or serpetine-ness that is not reported or shown. For example, they took excessively round-about ways through and out of the Shire to avoid being noticed as necessarily heading eastward, and the Wood-Elves' magic in making their path may have been limited in that the path had to find its own way, and as a result it bends to and fro in addition to weaving among individual trees, as described. Not straight at all.

The talking purse is a curiousity, but various kinds of incomprehensible "magic" are ascribed to all of the various races. Beorn's extreme shape-shifting is really difficult. And what's with the Stone Giants, who are actually mentioned rather matter-of-factly twice!? The Arkenstone seems too fantastic in light of the Silmarils.

In any event, consider that there is also The Hobbit's Gondolin. In fact, that Book already consciously harks back to early (BoLT/Quenta Noldorina) elements of JRRT's larger, more serious legendarium. Gandalf's and Thorin's swords once belonged to Turgon and possibly Ecthelion. The three elf kinds are primitively noted. There is Elrond, the common thread in all Middle-Earth works. The attack of the Dwarves on Doriath is suggested.

Finally, for Telvido, consider that the Eye of Sauron is catlike. Perhaps, a now trite observation.