[Morthoron]

That's the thing about Tolkien -- or at least in the early 70s when I first started reading his works as an adolescent -- he sends you down rabbit holes (or perhaps hobbit holes would be more appropriate), and you willingly go without hesitation.

I started with The Hobbit, and after reading it, you started asking questions. Who is this Necromancer down south? And where did Gandalf come from? And why is that half-elven guy the leader of actual elves? Shapeshifters? Vampire bats? Goblins? Where did they come from, what is the history beyond Bag-end?

Then you get to The Lord of the Rings, but reading the trilogy only makes matters worse, because you find out there are literally tens of thousands of years unaccounted for, or given mention in a short sentence snippet in an appendix. Gah!

I still have my first edition Silmarillion (actually two now, one an American copy and the other an original British edition). I think I savored that read in 1977 more so than The Hobbit or LotR. It was very biblical. Very otherworldly, like when I first got a copy of Bulfinch's Mythology for Christmas in 6th grade. Of course, The Sil didn't answer everything either. So you kept going down the hobbit holes, and bought the Unfinished Tales, the Letters, and then each of the 12 books of the HoMe series, and all the rest.

And confound Tolkien! There is still the unanswered, still the unfathomable, still the enigmas.