Doriath, the doom weaver.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Middle Earth is not an allegory of this world.

From what Tolkien says in his Forward to Lord of the rings i would have to agree. Tolkien himself says that he hats Allogory in all its forms. I agree that Iluvatar is a reprisentation of God, I always thought of it as being the same God that Tolkien worshiped, as I have recently read "Finding God in Lord f the rings" So i was a little bias that way. Yes, it would be too complex for a mortal to think up God, as it is beyond human understanding. However, i do feel that Tolkien was perhaps giving another slant on things, His descriptions of Iluvatar are very vague, as in the Bible, so it leaves room for exspantion. Plus there is the added Fact that the works of the history of Middle earth (Including Silm) were Edited by his son Christoffer, and he may have had diferent ideas to what his father at first thought.