Anyone who looks too closely for LoTR allegories will over the long
haul be disappointed; remember, we're also constructing a story that
casts an eye toward the events of the last 25 or so years, our own fall
from a vision of the future, and it's designed to have some parallels to
the story of the original Babylon. Thus far, though a few have started
to get glimmers of where this puppy's going, very few yet really get
just how *big* this story is going to get.

jms