Or read the same book but encounter different narratives.

I can muster some sympathy for Gollum, but I would dearly love to kick Tom Bombadil in the teeth.

Given the times Tolkien lived, Bilbo comes across to me sometimes as an old vet of the Zulu wars confronted by the apocalypse of the Great War, and watching his nephew go off to fight in it. [I'd have said the Boer War, but that was too recent in 1914]. For the US, say a Civil War vet watching his great-grandnephew march off in 1917.

Apropos of the general topic, I just finished In a Dark Wood Wandering by Hella Haasse. A big historical novel written in Dutch in the 1940s and published in English in the 1980. About selected French participants in the events of the late Hundred Years’ War and the French civil wars of the time. It’s a very interior, mental sort of story and gets more so in the second half. Sometimes quite detached from the flow of world events. Bittersweet all through. Touches on many of these themes. Though I found it useful to have Wikipedia articles on some of the characters and events handy. They aren’t necessary, but they made the book more meaningful for me.