April 22, 2002

Mysticism/Deism
Sarah

In response to quirk. I think trying to compare Tolkien's story to any religion is a bad idea. Like he said, his story is not an allegory of anything. Just a story that is meant to entertain. As for Gandalf's magic, if you read in The Silmarillion, Olorin (Gandalf) is a Maia, a spirit that Iluvater (The God and creator of middle-earth) made in the beginning. So, Gandalf is basically like an angel. And, according to the bible, (and I'm not comparing to Christianity, just trying to give an example to explain this) angels have spiritual power, but it's not really magic, which is bad. It's kind of like when Galadriel tells Sam that she will show him elvish magic, but she's not sure what he means, because he also calls the evil magic the same thing. Basically, Gandalf has good spiritual power, but it is only called magic for lack of a better name.
As for Gandalf being of the same 'order' as Saruman,well, he is. And the same as Sauron too. But neither Sauron or Saruman started out as evil. You could compare this to Satan in the bible.
And it isn't really a world with deism, I don't think. The Valar, especially the king of the valar (can't remember his name) are always talking with Iluvater in the Silmarillion about what to do on earth to fix problems. Iluvater often steps in himself (ex. when aule made the dwarves.)
So, I don't think that Tolkien had any mysticism or deism in his story. It's not an allegory, but his christian views definetely come through.
As for Tom Bombadil, the eagles, and whether or not Balrogs have touchable wings, we'll never know. Quit trying to figure it out.