An ex-boyfriend of mine (yes, jaubertmoniker, that boyfriend) tried to convince me that The Lord of the Rings did infact happen, that Tolkien was heir to secret lore, and the only people who knew about this were witches, maybe Freemasons. He said that there really was a Gandalf, that there was an Aragorn, a Frodo, elves, etc. He didn't say it was allegory, he didn't say it was about WWII--he said it happened in ancient times, and that "they" are keeping the secret hidden, trying to make a new ring. Yeah. I told him to get professional help. We broke up soon after. (Not necessarily related.)