TCG Letter #508

Tolkien opens this letter stating that an earlier reply was delayed by ill-health and pressures of work. He cannot answer questions sent by her son, saying that any answer would take pages. But generally, The Lord of the Rings "is purely imaginary in scene and time".

Tolkien says that if his next work, The Silmarillion is ever finished that questions will be answered. He notes that references to those such as Morgoth do relate to stories he has written.

He closes with a note on orc-women, remarking that they must have existed, but that orcs are not seen other than in the act of war, so that not much more is known about them.