[Celebuial]

For me it was also The Hobbit that broke the spell. This may have been because I read it after reading LotR, but like Mormegil I find the elves to be too...well foolish. They seem much more child-like and joyous than the sad knowledgeful beings that seem to appear in The Sil and LotR. They didn't seem to have a care in the world. I also found that I could not take the whole book seriously as there weere too many comical situations with comical solutions. Because of this I've only read The Hobbit twice, compared to the times I've read LotR this seem's somewhat insignifican't. However, I do think that ity's a great way to get a good idea of Hobbit nature.

Occasionally stupid adaptations made by Fran, P-j, and Phillipa ruin it for me. For example during the death of Saruman in ROTK EE all the fire and special effects made me think that 'magic' as they were presenting it was a completley ludacrous concept. I s'pose I just have the actuall events as they happened in the books in mind when I watch scenes like that from the movie, reminding myself that in the book they seem quite real.

The only other things that seem to break the enchantment for me is when I read other books that 'copy' they never quite pull it off which makes some parts seem less believable. This oviously can't be Tolkien's error, as for me it's not his writting but that of others that dirupts the illusion of reality. Maybe it's not even the fault of other writers but my own for seeing hints of Tolkien that they may not even have intended to be in their own work.

On the whole though the enchantment remains intact and I not only see this whole universe but am actually there watching it unfold about me.