(blush)
(/blush)
( Hey how come there isn't a blushing smiley?? LOL)
Thank you, thank you Cloveress. Like I mentioned in my first post, it's been about ~25 years (human years, not Eldar
y’n!) since I first discovered Tolkien. There's just so much in there, so much information and history, I could read and study and absorb and discuss this stuff for the rest of my life and still have more to learn! I think I enjoy it so much because JRRT approached it the way I would, if I was a writer -- not content to simply tell a story, he felt compelled to come up with a whole background and history and cultural significance for everything. A 'History of the World' in microcosm, and he paid so much attention to even the smallest details.
After first reading Hobbit/LotR as a teenager, I REALLY knew I was in for a treat when I finally discovered The Silmarillion in high school. The fact that it starts with the Creation myth, well that right there tells you it's something special. Definitely a "Biblical" kind of approach, it reminded me of reading the Greek Myths when I was a youngster.
So I guess it just kinda took off from there... All these years later, and I still can't get enough of Middle-Earth. The release of the HoME series definitely helped, but I've only gotten through the first half of it...still need to do the second half! I find the evolution of JRRT's writing to be just as fascinating as the story itself. I've never been able to peek into the other side of a book before, to see what was going through an author's mind, how the story developed over the years. It definitely gives me a much better appreciation of the story as a whole, to read all that.
Anyway... even though I'm new to this forum, I certainly hope your praise is well-earned. I'll do my best to contribute, both facts as well as my opinions & interpretations. And I have no intention of supplanting Vir as one of your foremost scholars, LOL!
M’ra mesta, tenna siny’ (Goodbye until this evening)
-Meneldur
)
I'm looking forward to see you in the threads 
