: True in part. Didn't Tolkien start to write the Simarillion in
: 1917 or was that the Hobbit or neither. Because if he did he
: already had seven years head start when Roverandom came up.
: Also remember the mention to Valinor in Roverandom. It seems
: to me if he knew of Valinor he knew of the Maia.

: Comments appreciated,

: Jon

Tolkien started working on his mythology in 1917, but "The Silmarillion" had not yet been conceived of. "The Hobbit" as a story originated sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Except for the famous "There lived a hobbit in a hole in the ground" sentence Tolkien had scrawled on the back of a test paper, the story was simply one of many (like "Roverandom") which Tolkien had made up for his children, later written down and expanded for publication.

The published ROVERANDOM is not the original version of the story although I don't know how much would have been added to the manuscript. The reference to Valinor could have been there from the start, I believe.

Michael
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The Fairy Tales of J.R.R. Tolkien