June 17, 2003

From a Letter to W.H. Auden
J.r.r. Tolkien

I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn to me was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were Horse-lords on the confinces of an ancient Kingdom of men, but Fangorn Forest was an unforseen adventure. I had never heard of the house of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystified as Frodo at Gandalf's failure to appear on September 22.