The White Council

"Dear Sir, " O said -- Although now long estranged, Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed, Dis-graced he may be, yet is not de-throned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned: Man, Sub-creator, the refracted Light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind. Though all the crannies of the world we filled with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build Gods and their houses out of dark and light, and sowed the seed of dragons --'twas our right (used or misused). That right has not decayed: we make still by the law in which we're made." (Tolkein to C.S. Lewis --from On Fairy Stories - Tree and Leaf)

Of all Tolkien's works, "Tree and Leaf" is one of the most neglected, unfortunately I think it contains some of his most intriguing and enlightening thoughts. The story "Leaf by Niggle" is a case in point. It is long since I read it although I believe the story goes something like this. The artist Niggle sets out to paint the perfect painting of a tree, he starts with a leaf and gradually builds from there adding in branches, twigs, other leaves, a trunk and eventually after much labour a landscape in the background. Eventually it is completed but due to artistic tastes never receives the attention it deserves. Niggle dies and the only portion of the painting which remains is the leaf. There is the suggestion at the end however.(and this I think is the important bit) that Niggle lives on in his created landscape.

I believe that there is a lot more to the "middle earth mythos" (LoTR, Silmarillion) than meets the eye. Tolkien was a devout Christian and believed fervently in the divine gift from God to man of sub-creation. Just as God (according to Christianity) created the universe and all that dwell within, it is incumbent on man to refine and develop God's creation.

One could argue that LoTR/Silmarillion are profoundly religious and philosophical works/exercises in that the author has himself embarked on this process of sub-creation (and according to most commentators succeeded magnificently - indeed the works are chiefly known for the detail invested in the creation of middle earth).

Although essentially the idea sprung from linguistic and philological roots in creating a "history" for his elvish languages I believe that Tolkien was sub-creating from a more personal level, hoping that in some sense what he was creating was "real" and that middle earth did exist "somewhere".

I think it both encouraging and somewhat sad that on the tombstone he shares with his wife are written the words "Beren" and "Luthien" with their respective dates of birth and death. I believe that Tolkien often wondered, towards the end of his life as he hurried to arrange and complete his world, what ship would bear him back across so wide a sea.