I want to just say to the comment that JRR Tolkien was "theif", that yes he was, and he was extreamly good at it, he would take different parts of different myths and stories and then he made somthing completely new with it. He made a distinct world with a distinct history... It would not take much imagination to believe that his writtings were the legends and myths of some forgotten culture, not much diiferent and no less valid then any other cultures stories. The man knew how to tell a good story as a extreamly few people can do. The thing i am most saddened by when i read tolkien, is that he never completed all the stories that he wanted too, or that he had started or outlined, whether he "nicked" them or not... besides as the father of modern fantasy (at least in my mind he is) he has been nicked from himself quite a few times by many less talented writers!

Rob