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Misha comments on Rationalist Lord of the Rings fanfiction, newly translated from Russian - Less Wrong
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Surely the Lord of the Rings is capable of standing on its own to someone who has not read any of the supplementary novels. Otherwise, you're accusing 90% of the readers of Tolkien of misreading him.
You could think of the Silmarillion as a world within which the Lord of the Rings can exist, and the Last Ringbearer as another one -- just as the real numbers can be constructed within multiple different set theories, and remain the same object.
Certainly LOTR is capable of standing on its own, same way that "Hamlet" is capable of standing on its own. But if you want to discuss Shakespeare seriously (the same way author discusses Tolkien as an author), then you better have read a few more of his works as well.
Instead of saying something to the point of "Shakespeare consistently only wrote tragedies about kings partaking in murderous plots" based just on your reading of Hamlet and Macbeth, while never having read "Midsummer Night's Dream" or "The Taming of the Shrew".
I agree that for Tolkein scholarship you have to read the Silmarillion and beyond, and that they present a much broader view of elves etc. But I didn't take that as the purpose of the fanfiction in this case.