Tolkien's Most Obscure Story Is Actually His Best One

gamerant.com:

The works of J.R.R Tolkien have been loved by many, for decades. Their inspiring messages of love and loyalty, of valuing people and peace above war and gold, and of never giving up on making the world a better place even when all hope seems lost, have resonated with generation after generation of readers. The Peter Jackson movie adaptations of both The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy are known worldwide, and with new iterations of Tolkien’s works (namely The Silmarillion) set to come out in the next few months (in the form of Rings of Power), it’s clear that his works are still very much alive, and are far from fading into memory.

There is one particular story of Tolkien’s, a short and humble piece, that does often get forgotten amidst his massive epics set in the world of Middle Earth. However, for those who know of it and read it, it is actually one of his most rich and beautiful pieces, with arguably one of the best themes and lessons of all of his books.

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«Leaf by Niggle» is a short story that Tolkein published back in 1945, in between The Hobbit and the first Lord of the Rings book. It is a stand-out piece, very different from Tolkien’s other works. The writer himself said in a letter to his friend Stanley Unwin:

‘That story was the only thing I have ever done which cost me absolutely no pains at all. Usually, I compose only with great difficulty and endless rewriting. […] It took only a few hours to get down, and then copy out.’

This is definitely unusual for Tolkien, who is famous for spending decades carefully crafting and sculpting each individual character, language, culture, and history. And the suddenness of its appearance in Tolkien’s