Lord of the Rings was written during the Second Word War and many people have come to see the epic trilogy as an allegory for the war (it isn't, but hey, where's the fun in that?). If that's the case (it's not) then the inevitable question (for this website anyway) is, who are the Jews?

Dwarves? No. Elves? Possible, but unlikely. They're in the process of leaving Middle Earth forever which might fit with what happened (sort of), but Jews don't live in trees. Not even on Sukkot.

Men (Humans) are also intriguing. They are the ones most threatened by Sauron's evil. There's a happier ending than the elves, too — after saying that the age of man is over, it is men who eventually become the most prominent power in the realms. That's also the problem: it didn't exactly happen that way, either.

That leaves Hobbits: little, bearded, food-obsessed, peaceful people? Well if the yarmulke fits... Plus, in the books (cut completely from the movies) Hobbiton is more endangered, including an ending where Frodo must kick the evil Saruman out of his homelands.

And that (finally) leads us to Gollum, because Gollum once was a Hobbit, too. So, following all this twisty-turny logic would make him Jewish as well — justifying all those bigots who think that any obsession with the inanimate makes someone Jewish.

So, is that it? Are Frodo, Samwise, Gollum and the rest of the hairy-footed gang really Jews in disguise?

Perhaps. But only if you believe that Lord of the Rings is supposed to be about World War II (and it's not).