All of these AI images remind me of Chapter 44 “Reception” from the book “2001: A Space Odyssey.” David Bowman find himself in a representation of a hotel suite.
It is an environment constructed from his memories and intended to make him feel at home. And like all memories, everything is incomplete. It looks real a first, until you give it a closer look.
Mirkwood being as wide as Ohio feels right, somehow.
The entire first half of Bilbo’s journey gets pretty much glossed over. Aside from that encounter with the trolls, they had almost no hardships until the Misty Mountains. I guess that was the “endless, boring cornfields” part of the trip.