Just because they were close friends (which I know), doesn't mean Tolkien liked allegory, or even approved of the extreme amount of allegory Lewis used.Tolkien hated all forms of allegory, stop trying to dig it up in his own work.
Sorry to necro this back again, but I'd just like to point out that Tolkien and CS Lewis were very close friends, and as I recall, Tolkien even converted Lewis to Christianity. And I defy you to claim Narnia as something other than allegory. Unless this was a major source of contention between the two, it seems Tolkien did not hate all forms of allegory.
And just in general to everyone who has considered this at some point, which seems to be most of you: of course Tolkien used elements of genuine mythologies to create his own. As a matter of fact Gandalf is a dwarf from Norse mythology, Tolkien borrowed the name and applied it to a different character. Furthermore there are several clear ties to Serbian, Germanic, Christian (as already noted), Greco-Roman, Rus and Norse mythologies, if you care to look closely enough. Interestingly, my older sister wrote her university dissertation along these lines. There were numerous LotR and Narnia references in the essay, right up alongside Homer and Virgil. It was a damn fine essay.
''I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.''
-J. R. R. Tolkien
Similarity is not the same as allegory, and drawing inspiration from Norse mythology and the Finnish language isn't either.
Edited by Matias, 16 February 2009 - 07:02 PM.
