[Raynor]

so Tolkien capitalising the words in no way implies exclusively Christian virtues.

Did I [or for that matter, all those who more or less argue on this side of the fence] ever claimed the we can find exclusively Christian virtues in LotR? I am sorry, but your argument is a strawman. More to the point, I think you misunderstood me; I wasn't trying, in that particular post, to prove that this is Christian pity, but that it is a religious feeling, not a "merely" human one.

Whether that urge comes from God is entirely a personal thing, but with or without God, humans do that kind of thing all the time.

All the time?? I _really_ doubt that. It is really hard to see pity when it is required, let alone when it is safe; to do pity nowadays when it would present a mortal danger represents something very rare, almost unique. More to the point, I would argue that Frodo's pity wasn't singular, he did spare Gollum's life at just one moment - but throughout it all.

And it is possibly an even stronger theme in Buddhism (and Confucianism), but who is going to say that Tolkien was giving us a Buddhist message here?

Now that we are at it, I am really curious to see what redempting value is given to pity in Norse myths.

Originally Posted by lmp

No. Such a reading assumes a one-to-one correlation between, on the one hand, eucatastrophe, and on the other, incarnation and resurrection.

I disagre; in the letters, Tolkien noted that:

Originally Posted by Letter #297

The Fall of Man is in the past and off stage; the Redemption of Man in the far future.

So, to a point, this does indicate that LotR is at a time that is pre-eucatastrophic, as mark (Helen, if I may) pointed.

Originally Posted by Lal

And to follow on from that, while we're all flinging ideas around from said text, it must be remembered that Tolkien himself felt distinctly uncomfortable with the text as he felt it was almost a parody of Christianity, something he did not want.

Chris, in his comments, while he does admit that this presents a challenge to Tolkien's desire to present the religious truth only implicitly, also goes on to say that:

Originally Posted by Atrabeth Firnod ah Andreth

But this surely is not parody, nor even parallel, but the extension - if only represented as vision, hope, or prophecy - of the 'theology' of Arda into specifically, and of course centrally, Christian belief

An extension; not parody, not allegory.