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Old 06-08-2011, 07:59 PM   #39
blantyr
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Settling down in Bree for the winter.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun View Post
I don't believe you could call Tolkien "indifferent" on the subject. How do you explain the overt worship of Eru, the Prime Creator by the Númenóreans? Or the fact that, according to the UT essay Cirion and Eorl, Cirion named Eru in witness to the oaths taken by him and Eorl, and that...

I daresay there are some readers who see the workings of 'religion' in the books, whether you do or not, and for them that is one of the 'good things' in itself.
I second this. If waving a staff or speaking a word of command are techniques to gather or focus 'magic', uttering the name of a Valar seems a valid technique as well. I see the hymns sung to Elbereth as prayer, and not vain ones. I see the inclusion of a Valar's name in a prophecy or curse as a way of raising the stakes.

Yet, I do note there are few if any characters that might be described well as 'priests.' One might on occasion invoke a Valar's name in supplication, but there doesn't seem to be a clerical hierarchy of representatives claiming to speak for the Valar or advocate for their will.

We might want to say that there are few to no religious institutions in comparison to historical cultures, but that the Valar are somewhat akin to Gods and that prayer is not a futile exercise.
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