Et tu, Faramir?: Re: A Literary History of Middle Earth

» Michael_Martinez - Re: A Literary History of Middle Earth

In response to message posted by _jdr:

Imagine the view of history we might have if we were to discover the records of only one out of ten groups of people who had interacted with each other for a thousand years, and that our discovery had unveiled only a fraction of the records of that one people.

Tolkien presents a very full picture of life in Middle-earth, but nonetheless much of the information he shares is provided from the point of view of the Hobbits. The picture is incomplete and he really never fully intended to create a complete picture. It would have been impossible. I believe the reader is expected to understand that we are being shown a certain point of view, and that the story could have been told from other points of view, but was not.

-- posted by Michael_Martinez