Tolkien and Catholic Saints

[doug*platypus]

Personally I don't think Francis of Assisi (or Tolkien) would have given a hoot what color his robes were; wasn't he the one that went half naked for a while because he gave away his outer garments to a beggar? Don't let the black robe/ brown robe thing unsettle you. That's a minor detail; the thing about talking to birds and being gentle with all of creation is key.

I know what you're trying to say there, Mark, and yes that is correct. It's also possible that even if St. Francis' robes were black, brown would have been more appropriate for Radagast (although according to your post Tolkien could care less about the colours of robes). I would be merely interested to know if Radagast was based on St. Francis, and if their robe colours matched this would make the fact more likely.

Also, Tolkien takes great pains with the colours of Saruman and Gandalf's robes, so I think in all likelihood he probably hooted quite a lot.