User blog comment:Gott wisst/Hypothesis about why B. J. is wrong about J. R. R. Tolkien/@comment-991678-20090420043208

Possibly so, but neither of them (Middle-Earth stories and Germanic mythology) were meant to be summarized; they're both very vast, and to summarize them would detract from them tremendously. And if you were to look into it, you would find that all of Tolkien's stories are a story on their own, not just a retelling of Germanic myths with changed details. It is true that many places he wrote about and some people (and most creatures) were inspired by those of Germanic mythology, but he is very creative. He is far from being nothing more than a borrower; he simply used what was already there (well-aged and rich mythology) and built upon it. It makes him stand out from so many other modern fantasy writers who come up with "cool new" things and suchlike; you might understand what I'm saying if you thought of Tolkien's stories as an aged piece of antique furniture, and then compare it with most other modern fantasies, which could be called "plastic lunch containers" in comparison.