Sorry, I am late to all the discussions, but found Garth's presentation at Marquette much more interesting than I had anticipated. Since I haven't yet read the book, I can only really follow the discussion here.

I have a couple of random thoughts, after reading this and the #1 discussion below.

One, is simply a quote from "On Fairy Stories", which I have been re-reading at intervals. "A real taste for fairy-stories was wakened by philology on the threshold of manhood, and quickened to full life by war." So that it wasn't only his ideas about heroism that were honed by war (how could they not be?) but his love of and appreciation for secondary worlds and Faerie itself. And there you have LOTR.

The second random thought is in relation to the interesting discussion below about the veterens' recognition (or lack thereof) upon returning home. It is just FRODO who lacks recognition; the other returning "vets" like Sam and Mer and Pip have lots of recognition. The true hero/saint doesn't. I find this much more likely to have been inspired by the New Testament story of Jesus preaching in his own home town. And everyone muttered, saying, who the heck does he think he is, anyway. We know his mom and his brothers and sisters, he can't fool us, this poor carpenter. And Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, and among his own kindred, and in his own house." (see Mark 6 or Matthew 13).

As I say, I have not read Garth yet, and these are random thoughts.

a.s.

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark...

Alfred, Lord Tennyson