Tolkien includes throughout The Fellowship of the Ring numerous references to the near and distant history of Middle Earth, adding a great deal of richness to the characterization, the dialogue, and the story of his novel. He developed this history over decades of writing and left much of it unpublished during his lifetime. Nonetheless, the sense of history allows the reader more readily to believe in the fantasy setting, at least to the degree necessary to enjoy the work. Moreover, Tolkien's history of Middle Earth is an essentially positive one— despite struggles and conflicts, justice and good generally prevail over their opposites in Tolkien's work, even if that may not always appear obvious in Fellowship, Adding to this sense of the believability of his.....
