Did J.R.R. Tolkien really believe in 'magic'?

Thank you Matthew for the A2A! Wouter van Burik and Ernest Adams capture my feelings on Tolkien's view of magic. read more

To say that language itself is magic is therefore wrong in my opinion. It was, as he said in his letters, an 'overgrown hobby' so to speak. That is not to say that Tolkien did not believe in magic, though that is wrong word for it. read more

ANSWER: I think we can say with considerable certainty that J.R.R. Tolkien did not believe in the real existence of Elves or elf-like beings; at least, not in a contemporary sense. read more

No, Tolkien was a Catholic. But he had no problem with fantasymagic in fictional stories, as that isn't real and the CatholicChurch has no opposition to fictional stories. read more