Regarding Bladorthin, who evolves into Gandalf the Grey, Rateliff writes that "it is difficult to tell in this first appearance how much of the later character was already present" in the early drafts and "how much [Tolkien] discovered in the course of writing." For Tolkien, as much as for any writer, writing was an act of discovery: Characters didn't arrive fully formed. Nor did charming, simple phrases -- "As they sang, the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic" -- flow as smoothly from Tolkien's pen as smoke did from his pipe.
Rateliff's efforts have a paradoxical effect: Even as they demystify Tolkien and show us that there is no such thing as easy genius, they remind us that his willingness to endure numbing revisions to develop a nuanced story is even greater reason to revere him.
nick.owchar@latimes.com