[Lalwendë]

Although I agree this is a bit off-topic, could you please expand on that idea? As far as my understanding of Christianity goes, pity is to be given regardless what reasoning says, and out from the heart.

Well I mean quite literally that pity is something innately human, it is one of our instincts (and I suppose you could say it comes from the heart, as its usually felt without a conscious decision). Assigning it to come from God (any God) is ultimately neither here nor there as we feel it anyway. The only difference is that a genuine Christian should consciously think about showing Pity.

I didn't say it was lacking (completely); rather that the level we encounter is a far cry from Frodo's.

I don't know. People can be capable of tremendous feelings of Pity which can go on for a long time. I should feel just angry towards the bloke who crashed into my car a few years ago, but I actually feel pity for him as he now has no face and I was fully able to accept him not going to prison as I felt he would be suffering enough, even though I had the chance to challenge that judgement. Other people show vastly more compassion than I do!

Then I am curious in what folklore does pity save the world? And to keep on the Norse line, since you made a powerful argument concerning possible parallels, what sort of moral values does it promote? I would generally have the same questions about other belief systems in which you could find genuine/signifcant parallels.

Well a reading of a selection of folklore and fairy tales will soon give you plenty of instances. The Princess and the Frog for one shows a girl who shows pity to a little ugly frog who turns out to be a prince. Beauty and the Beast shows how a girl's turning to pity results in yet another happy ending. I'm not sure why the moral values promoted by a culture or a belief system would be relevant though as Tolkien's stories weren't putting forward a moral message?