The Lord of the Bible?

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Boro

I don't think either word works out well.

I agree. (I was actually just posting that when I saw there was a new post on the thread stating that.... )

Originally Posted by Mansun

If there is one character I would liken Elrond to, it would be Jesus

This as an explanation to you suggesting that Tolkien stole/borrowed characters from the Bible sounds to me like that you wanted to liken elrond somebody and decided on Jesus. Or you wanted to liken Jesus to somebody, and decided on Elrond. I don't see a point in making an allegory only for the case of making an allegory.

I'm along the same lines with Nogrod. I dislike allegories, because if taken too literally, they flatten things. If we, for example, decide that Melkor is Satan and Gandalf is Jesus, we cease thinking of them as many-layered and variable characters; we simplify them to be just Satan and Jesus. That's dangerous; it that prevents us from seeing that there are other perspectives.
(Ok, don't tell me that Melkor wasn't even originally a very many-layered character... Hopefully you get the point.)