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Originally Posted by Feanor
Not necessarily. As mentioned, Tolkien borrowed ideas, themes, even blatantly obvious situations (Glaurung and Fafnir, anyone?). Why should it be particularly harder to think he might have borrowed a character or a character type? That was my original argument in favor of Christ figures. If a writer can 'steal' a theme, why can't he 'steal' a character type?
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Originally Posted by Lalwende
the Odinic wanderer that I think of.
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There are some traits of Odin which would never be reflected in Gandalf; I haven't read anything past Voluspa, but it seems to me that Gandalf would never sacrifice an eye, or a human, for the sake of wisdom. He already had it in him, he just needed to rediscover it; moreover, Gandald isn't bound to a bodily form (IIRC, Odin is slain in the final battle and that's it for him, correct me if I'm wrong), doesn't have children, and esspecially wouldn't kill one of his his child Hoth who _unwillingly_ killed Baldr.
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Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age
Yes, I know about original sin and such in a Christian context, but this is a situation where the very fabric of Arda has been contaminated by Morgoth. That didn't happen in the bible.
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Well, that is a matter of debate; we have the tree of knowledge of good and evil - therefore evil existed at least theoretically. Furthermore, the cursing of Adam ("cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" Genesis) and the marring of Men are pretty similar, esspecially in their effects on how life is perceived. There is also the fact that the fallen angel offers Christ all the riches of the world. I would also note that Eru's Creation is good at its core:
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Originally Posted by Myths Transformed, HoME X
For which reason it is said that whereas there is now great evil in Arda and many things therein are at discord, so that the good of one seemeth to be the hurt of another, nonetheless the founda¬tions of this world are good, and it turns by nature to good, healing itself from within by the power that was set there in its making; and evil in Arda would fail and pass away if it were not renewed from without: that is: that comes from wills and being [sic] that are other than Arda itself.
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which is in accordance with the Atrabeth
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Originally Posted by Note 10, Atrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, HoME X
'Matter' is not regarded as evil or opposed to 'Spirit'. Matter was wholly good in origin. It remained a 'creature of Eru' and still largely good, and indeed self-healing, when not interfered with: that is, when the latent evil intruded by Melkor was not deliberately roused and used by evil minds.
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Originally Posted by C7A
Ah, if only we could ask him!
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Well, he did admit in the BBC interview that Eru is God
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G: Is he the One?...
T: The One, yes.
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