June 27, 2004

4th Age
Danny

Are you telling me that LOTR isn't actually history? 8). At least I have always thought that was the most entertaining way to think about it even though it is the most outlandish. Tolkien intended to write an ancient mythology or history for England. So I like to take it with that in mind and view this as a proposed history of that area much like other mythologies are thought of. With that idea in mind the logical extrapolation is that this is either 4th age or post 4th age. That would either imply that hobbits and dwarfs also faded out of the world, or that they are hidden. If I recall in the beginning of the Hobbit, Tolkien writes as though Hobbits are still around but too clever and stealthy for us stupid big people to really be aware of them.