[Boromir88]

It's actually essential to have the critic in the corner who is separate from the main thrust of discussion if there's to be any hope of finding more than merely subjective guesses. All Books threads apart from mirth and RPG type ones will have a little critical pixie or two to pop up throughout and argue the opposite. That's part of the fun.~Lalwende

Well what would be more fun is everyone just agreeing with me.

I think we all must distinguish between Tolkien the omniscient narrator, Tolkien the recorder, and Tolkien the observer. All of which we can get a good dose of (especially in Letters). Of course lmp, I would bet that Tolkien knows his works better than anyone else would. When he is making these allegories to the 'Lord's Prayer,' or there is one instant when he thinks the Numenoreans are most like the Egyptians, it's important to realize that often times he's taking a step back from the story and reflecting upon his own experiences when reading. So, it's only natural that a man such as Tolkien I think would make a connection the the Lord's Prayer as he did.

I didn't see that, and I probably would have never noticed that connection until someone told me:

Tolkien may not have distinguished between them (he probably did not) but from the text itself I don't see enough evidence to support the identification.~davem

And that's the key, when Tolkien goes back he himself, because of the person he is and what influenced him, may be able to find allegories of the Lord's Prayer. But, someone like me when reading the scene in Mount Doom, I thought nothing of it. I think it's important that Tolkien all the way up there in his late ages stressed the importance of the reader:

Of course the L.R. does not belong to me. It has been brought forth and must now go its appointed way in the world, though naturally I take a deep interest in its fortunes , as a person would of a child.~Letter # 328

So, lmp, this is no knock to Tolkien, but what he thought of, what he found for his own 'allegories' really doesn't effect what I find and what I experience when reading his books.