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[Ardent]

HI, I'm a 'recently deceased' member here. I've read LotR and TH many times, but only read the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales once and long ago.
I first read tha Hobbit at school but didn't get round to LotR until in my twenties after exhausting all the C.S.Lewis books (not just the Narnia and Out of the Silent Planet series). It was while I was making my first attempt to grasp Hebrew that I discovered JRR's shared love of linguistics, alphabets (I know the Tengwar isn't strictly an alphabet, but it is a phonetic script as opposed to glyphs) and etymology. His explanations of how the books were 'translated from the Red Book' particularly caught my imagination. Such understanding has proved useful in teaching English as a second language (ESOL).

As years have passed I've also come to appreciate more and more the pearls of wisdom stored throughout the work, for example;
trusting to friendship rather than great wisdom (Gandalf) or than the making of vows, which may break the heart instead of strengthening it (Elrond).

I am a fan of the TV series Babylon 5. The parallels between it and LotR are many and obvious ("we stand on the bridge and none may pass").

Beneath the Downs our shaddows lie,
Removed from world that marches on,
And stories tell of battles won
And labours lost in days gone by.