[JameRetief]

The Daily Tolkien articles by various authors	The Tolkien Virgin articles by Mark-Edmond
ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 11-20
ARTICLES 21-30	ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 31-40	11) Of the Sindar
41) Love in the Trees
42) The Philosophical Etymology Of Hobbit
43) Exploring Tolkien's Fourth Age

[JameRetief]

Your Daily Tolkien Ping!

Coming from many sources, these articles cover many aspects of Tolkien and his literary works. If anyone would like for me to ping them directly when I post articles such as this let me know. Enjoy!

[RonF]

The Fourth Age would have known evil as surely as the ages preceding it did. Even Sauron was not evil itself, but just one of it's most powerful tools. The only age that will see the destruction, as opposed to the defeat, of evil itself will be the last age.

If you look at the history of preceding ages, what you look for is the rise of a great leader. Generally, he or she gains their power though the strength of both their arms and their justice and judgement. They go through a process to earn it. Subsequent rulers have the power given to them, but they've not gone through the process of earning it that their predecessors did, so their judgement and justice is not developed. They then become easier targets for corruption. The Fourth Age will face shreds of the evils left over from the Third Age, and the Fourth Age leaders will be developed in the fight against them. But those evils will not be the downfall of the Fourth Age; it'll be a new process entirely that will provide that.

[paul544]

I think George Lucas has shown what happens when a great story is not left alone.