> Suppose that Tolkein had published the
> Hobbit, and the first volume of LotR, and everyone had
> loved it. And then he had published the next volume,
> and decided in the meantime that it would be more fun
> if Frodo was female, Mirkwood didn't actually have
> spiders in at all, and Boromir was an intellectual?
You do realize that "Frodo Baggins" and "Hobbit" is a translation from Westron into Old English into English, and, in point of fact, a "Frodo" WOULD BE a female. This is covered in the appendices that followed Return Of The King. Simply enough, no "hobbit" or "Riddermark" name (or any other Old Germanic/Old English sounding name) is really anything like what it is in the early parts of the books (before the first appendices). It ticked me off when I read it, the first time, too.
Frankly, I think that we have another Inventing Gods/Yelmalio incident here, and it will sort itself out in a while, even though the while will seem interminable to those living through it, as opposed to reaiding about it from future Archives. Probably in a similar fashion, too.
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