The Lord of the Rings discussion: Foreword and Prologue

[Fat middle]

First of all, thank you, azalea, you've done a wonderful job on the Foreword and Prologue! And I'm also ejoying the commets of the others (yep, even yours, Val, at the bottom of the page )

Just to add a couple of things:

1. About elves remaining in ME. I agree with you, but I'd add something. I believe it's in Letters where Tolkien speaks pejoratively about Shakespeare's elves... He wanted to make it clear that his inspiration for the elves hadn't been on Shakespeare, but in other sources (cannot remember now). However, when I read in the prologue that bit of elves STILL here and I know all that stuff about the fading of the elves (that is all about LOTR and in HOME X), my conclusion is that those remaning elves (that obviously would have faded, but would be still here) are relatives to Shakespeare's elves and all those "spirits" that populate English tales. I see it as a remnant of Tolkien's original intention of building a mytholgy for the UK.

2. Concerning Pipeweed. I just wanted to say that I love how his explanation of this odd habit of the shirefolk in the prologue uses exactly the same words that Merry uses to explain it to Theoden Since Merry is supposed to be the author of the lore-book about herbs and pipeweed, I think it is another way of showing how this all story has "real" sources.

Well, I'll re-read again the thread, since I'm sure there is a lot still to say.