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Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin
Note however that the (public) worship of Eru was restricted to the King alone, on certain specified days; invoking the Almighty was simply Not Done except by the highest, on the highest occasions. It is said in Cirion and Eorl that the very act of naming The One hallowed the sdummit of Halifirien from thenceforward, and it was an act that astounded all present- even though Cirion legally had all th powers of the Kings, this was one none of his predecessors had ever presumed to exercise.
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Indeed you're correct about the King leading the "worship services" on the Meneltarma.
I still think my idea could be valid, though, with the thanksgiving and prayers directly to Eru being not only sanctioned, but perhaps even mandated by the Valar. Why else would Manwë have felt it necessary to send Eagles to "witness" the ritual? He didn't need them to know what was happening: he could see it with divine power. It looks to me as if the Eagles were a reminder to Númenor that they were always being observed to see that their allegiance was properly placed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ardent
If the Dwarves considered their own tales as fact then Elvish tales would be less significant, but if they considered thir own tales to be parables just for Dwarves, then maybe they could be more accomodating of Elvish tales.
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The Dwarves reverenced Aulë, so I would think they would see Elven histories as factual historical tales, at least as they concerned the Valar. Anything to do with Elf/Dwarf conflicts, like the events surrounding Thingol's death, would doubtless be read with a jaundiced eye though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ardent
How would Elven tales like Ainulindalë be percieved by Men and Hobbits? Wouldn't they be considered as myth? After all, ME was no longer lit by two trees, nor was it flat, so the stories would not match observable phenomena. Even the mountains and rivers had been completely reformed, so there was little possibility of paleaontological/archaeological evidence to validate or re-write the tales. It seems logical to imagine the younger races, as the centuries of the Fourth Age pass, calling Rumil's works "sacred" or "holy", if not to themselves then at least to the Elves.
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The survivors of Númenor would at least have put stock in the First Age histories, especially since they would have had at least oral, if not written records of some of those times themselves. They also had artifacts like the ring of Barahir to support belief.
Lesser Men like the Rohirrim were probably a lot more ignorant of such remote times, even though they knew of the Vala Oromë.
As for Hobbits, though they held to the Elvish manner of referring to the Sun as
she, I doubt they knew the genesis of that. Hobbits had forgotten their own history up to a fairly recent point, so it seems unlikely they knew (or cared to know) about a lot of "Elvish nonsense).
