But is not anxiety or worry just perhaps a milder form of fear? Lord of All all those points have troubled me for a long time but I think in a way Tolkien answers those discrepancies himself in his 'letters' book because he said that he knew he made mistakes but felt absolutely no inclination to go back and deal with them. What was done was done and considering it was about a million words, is that correct, it would have been so very very very daunting and expensive beyond belief. He already had to work backwards and correct t his and that and he could not afford typists. If it was today that would probably all have been dealt with in a heart beat.

You might have something there, Vir.

The mantle clock was undoubtly was a Working Paper Clock made from pasteboard cutouts with a paper mainspring and gears; thus they were quite inexpensive for the richest families to obtain. The watches in the Third Age were all solar cell operated sundials. The former is mere supposition; the latter is more likely fact.

It is true that in Tolkien's work there is ultimately only one GOD. It is not a problem that he has all these others 'gods and godesses' since really, if you study Scripture they merely parallel the very highest form of angelic beings that are so powerful that God's people were admonished not to bow down to them. They are far higher even in their powers and wisdom than those depicted in Tolkien's work. They are given great wisdom and have much authority over different aspects "of creation, mortals, animals, the plant kingdom. But ultimately they are created beings that use the freedom they are given in their tasks to see to it that God's will in matters is carried out and they are in fact created beings. So I don't see any problem with it and although it could be argued it seems like the Greek t hing, really the Greek thing is merely a copy of the Original .
Tolkien of course would know intimately the Church's understanding of the angelic choirs:

We know on the authority of Scripture that there are nine orders of angels, viz., Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Throne, Cherubim and Seraphim. That there are Angels and Archangels nearly every page of the Bible tell us, and the books of the Prophets talk of Cherubim and Seraphim. St. Paul, too, writing to the Ephesians enumerates four orders when he says: 'above all Principality, and Power, and Virtue, and Domination'; and again, writing to the Colossians he says: 'whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers'. If we now join these two lists together we have five Orders, and adding Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, we find nine Orders of Angels.
This was from the Catholic Encyclopedia and so he had a lot of information to work with and juggle and mix with the mythologies and come up with the creatures he did.

I think, especially in the Silmarillion, that there are still some links to religious figures. The who creation of Middle Earth is an example of the Genesis in the Bible and how Morgoth (the Devil who was once an angel) corrupted Middle Earth. Of course is not a replica of the Bible but I think it is an acceptable theory, so are the theories on celtic, nordic and saxon mythology!