Imagine no religion

[skip spence]

Oh it's always humbling to know that no matter how much you think you know about Middle Earth there's always folks here who know much more. I had totally forgotten about the Mumakil and Oath references.

But okay, the key here, it seems, is knowledge. The Elder know that Manwe sits with Elbereth on Taniquetil and they know of the One by proxy. The Eldar in turn have educated the High Men with the truth, and although at the end of the third age this happened way back when and would be forgotten, the tradition had apparently survived almost unchanged remarkably enough.

Some peoples at certain times appear to have worshipped Sauron and Morgoth, but you know, they existed physically on earth, so there's direct "knowledge" here too, although these figures weren't gods per se.

The Hobbits though - and arguably the Rohirrim too - who had no such schooling, appears not to have any religious beliefs whatsoever. This is what I find curious, I guess.

Yeah, and the lack of organized religion Inzil mentions.