Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-208.101.161.94-20160827025034/@comment-24642112-20180601012449

Xerped, Tolkien knew a lot about many different mythologies. But the fact remains that the Were-wyrms, are much like Cathay or Nippon's long dragons. True Tolkien hated allegory--but this isn't allegory. Our real world served as a bases for his world of Arda. Whether you believe that there is allegory or not--Tolkien based Morgoth off of Satan and the world of Arda off of ours. Even the Halls of Mandos serve as a purgatory to his Catholic religion.

So the bases on which his world stands, is our own--which is why the Lands of the Sun are in fact many islands and Japan rolled into one.