Myth or Real?

J.R.R. Tolkien Forum

There have been many amazing creatures in Tolkiens books, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Balrogs, Dragons, Goblins and Trolls but some characters are not explained in as much detail as others. The stone-giant for example or the orgres that Bilbo mentions in the Hobbit but which one do you think are real and which ar myth?

there is no right or wrong answer just what you believe, the only man who will ever know what is myth and what existed in Middle-Earth and Valinor is Dead (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Great thread White Tiger. Tolkiens son Christopher may hold a few answers, but I suspect that some of the answers Tolkien took with him.

Yes Christopher Tolkien would know some from J.R.R's notes but I always have wondered what J.R.R took with him.

I submit to you the snow-trolls. Did they exist in middle-earth?

there must have been something about them because Helm Hammerhand was compared to them. the question being were there actually Snow-trolls or were they normal trolls in the long winter that people believed to be snow-trolls? and if there were snow-trolls did they die out when the world was warmed or do they still live in the cold places of middle-earth?

I submit to you the Giants, were they real in Middle-Earth or Valinor or are they just Myth and childrens fables?

Tolkien uses them brefly in the Hobbit but dosen't use them again. Some people believe the giants to be a metaphor for the storm that Thorin and company were caught in at the High Pass. However they are described in such detail that it could lead people to believe that they existed, but that would lead to a few questions.

Were did they come from? who created them? are they good or evil? where do the dwell? how many are there? and what other stories were they involved in if but a small moment?

Well this one I can tell you,Giants existed in the world of Tolkien and were heavily involved in his stories, or at least the lord of the rings trillogies, though they go by the name of Ents.

the fact that tolkien had myths in his own mythilogical world just goes to show how ridiculously detailed his tales are! He truly was a master writer.

Which is exactly why his stories were voted the best books ever writen, voted for by the British Public, and the movies were so good.