Quote Originally Posted by Kraxis
One more aspect that is often part of a saga, but isn't in Tolkiens works. The 'common identity' aspect. Sagas are meant to give people a feeling of unity, that THIS is their history, not somebody else. Sagas are meant to be believed as facts or at least as close to facts.

Tolkien made no such aspirations... He just made a great story of people in times of distress.
No, I think you need to read more about what Tolkein was trying to achieve. He was trying to fill the verbal history gaps in the Englisn (Saxon) History left by the Norman invasion. His aim was to create a tale that mended this history.

Reading the Welsh tales of Arthur and their equivalent of elves and one can see some of the inspiratons for Tolkeins work.

Nor to I agree with the idea that Sagas are factual. If they are factual then RTW, Braveheart and Star Wars are history lessons.

Yes they are oral history, but they are not facts. They use facts to make the story more believable. But I do believe the tellers of these stories just like our RTW developers scarificed reality for drama and just like our RTW marketers they scarificed compexitiy for ease of understanding.