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Originally Posted by alatar
Just a thought: was burning the dead seen as a way to keep the body from becoming an undead tool or plaything of the enemy - wight, zombie, ghost, etc?
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That's quite possible, especially if they had any dealings with Elves and had picked up ideas from them which had developed into their own superstitions. There is a passage in Morgoth's Ring which describes how the 'houseless fea' could easily take over another person as it sought a body; I think the passage also says that Sauron had means of using a houseles fea in this way. I thought I had quoted this on another thread but I've just remembered that the post I wrote was swallowed by the 'net.
I shall look it up though...