Canon: what ARE we babbling about?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwende

There are already Cockney Orcs in his LotR films so Cockney trolls won't be any problem. And I can easily see him turn the 'Tra-la-la-lallying' into a more sinister, dark form of Elvish humour.

And I'm sure he'll do the same with their talking purse & with Beorn's animals, walking on their hind legs & carrying plates

But to get serious for a moment. Letter 19 (from Dec 1937 - after the completion & publication of TH):

I think it is plain that ...a sequel or successor to The Hobbit is called for. I promise to give this thought & attention. But I am sure you will sympathise when I say that the construction of elaborate & consistent mythology (& two languages) rather occupies the mind, & the Silmarils are in my heart....Mr Baggins began as a comic tale among conventional & inconsistent Grimm's fairy-tale dwarves, & got drawn into the edge of it...And what more can Hobbits do? They can be comic, but their comedy is suburban unless it is set against things more elemental.

1:'But I am sure you will sympathise when I say that the construction of elaborate & consistent mythology (& two languages) rather occupies the mind, & the Silmarils are in my heart.'

This 'but' is significant - Tolkien is drawing a very clear, precise, distinction between TH & the Silmarillion. He is stating quite clearly that he will give thought to a sequel to TH, but that he'd rather concentrate on The Sil.

2:'Mr Baggins began as a comic tale among conventional & inconsistent Grimm's fairy-tale dwarves, & got drawn into the edge of it...'

Again, confirmation that TH was not written as part of The Sil - the Dwarves are not his 'Naugrim' but have their origin in the Grimm's tales. TH may have 'got drawn into the edge of' the Legendarium but Tolkien is clearly stating here that he did not consider it to be part of it - it 'is on the edge of it' - which is pretty much what I'm saying here.

3:And what more can Hobbits do? They can be comic, but their comedy is suburban unless it is set against things more elemental.'

The Hobbits of TH couldn't do any more- because the 'Hobbits' of TH are not the Hobbits of LotR - they do not have the depth, or complexity. or spiritual potential of the Hobbits of the later work.

If Tolkien had followed his heart there would have been no sequel to TH & TH would not have been connected with The Sil - even if that work had seen publication - anymore than Roverandom is connected in readers mind's with The Sil. It is only the existence of LotR which leads people to think of TH as part of the Legendarium - not anything in TH per se.