This article talks about a created occasion where they adopt the moral worldview of others.
How shall they hear with a preacher?
How shall they hear that preacher if the preacher doesn't get their attention?
LOTR has a Christ figure, but it is one refracted into aspects: the whole Fellowship. Gandalf dies and rises, Frodo undergoes a passion, Aragorn is the rightful King, Samwise is the suffering servant, Bormomir personifies Christ's doubt in Gethsemane, and the others each may be seen as a refracted aspect of His humanity even as their races are refracted aspects of common humanity. Tolkien did not design this in. He did not mean for the interpretation I just gave to be there. It came out simply because Tolkien was sufficiently Christian that when he set about myth-making, he ended up with Christian myth not pagan myth.
Suddenly, the same readers who would snooze through a didactic presentation of Christian morality are willing to embrace that morality in the context of Tolkien's engrossing narrative. Their imaginations are captivated and their minds are open. They will not convert overnight or without the help of a vibrant Christian community. But like the crowds who came to listen to the parables of Jesus, their attitudes can be transformed by a captivating story. And once they accept the Christian principles that underpin mythical Middle Earth, they are more likely to accept those principles in reality—and to hunger for the Savior so desperately needed in both worlds.
There is another writer that said something that stuck with me. "The story makes you want to be worthy of those characters, makes you want to be worthy of Middle Earth." And that is the greatest moment of all... The story does inspire personal growth, and a searching for higher truth. And so yes, it does leave us more hungry for salvation.
I believe it is a window to the true nature of God. The work of Christians, if they wish to use it as a springboard, is to build on that basic inspiration in a way that is as beautiful as the vision.