[Corin Stormhands]

It's amazing how much he hated the allegories when there are so many in the books. I've mentioned this before (but around here that rarely stops us), but I did my freshman research paper on "The Christlike Symbolism in The Lord of the Rings"...

Frodo the Deliverer
Gandalf the Resurrected
Aragorn the Triumphant King

Gots me an "A" I did...

[The Flying Dutchman]

I can recall what The Professor himself said:

"If I wrote the epic as real life, then the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; the Dark Tower would not have been destroyed, but occupied; a new Dark Lord would have arisen; Saruman would have found the missing elements of Ring-lore in the confusion; and hobbits would have been enslaved by both sides, not being trusted by either."

Not a direct quote, but gistful...