[Lil'freeper]

Tremendous post! Thanks so much! How nice that at least one of the legion of commentators who think they've found the secret of the universe hidden in the pages of LOTR has actually read The Silmarillion. LOTR is a big, nuanced story set in an even bigger, more nuanced context/history.

One quibble, though, is setting the Ents so high on the list. They're Yavanna's revenge- created after the dwarves.

[My2Cents]

Well-said. I'm dismayed hearing the movie reviewers critique "Return of the King," when it's clear they've never read the books. "Why would Peter Jackson have done such-and-such, or had someone say this-or-that?", when if they had read the books, they would realize that it was Tolkien, not Jackson, who put certain words in characters' mouths, or supplied the plot twists. I find that most of the critics who have not liked the films are those who have never read the books.