[Bêthberry]

Thanks for a thoughtful and considered reply, Gorthaur.

In reply, I would suggest the following:

God was no less God when He appeared before Moses as a burning bush.

Nor did God diminish Himself when He became a babe in the manager, although Christ may have needed John the Baptist--his stave--to go before Him.

Incarnate does not, in the mythology closest to Tolkien (aside from Middle-earth's) mean weaker.