P’si: Welcome to our forum. I hope you enjoy your stay here.
The reason you could not find any mention of an organized religion in Tolkien's works was because he decided they weren't necessary to make his world real.
There is a god in his books, Eru Iluvatar, but there are no priests and temples are few and far between; in fact the only one I know of was destroyed thousands of years before the events that take place in
The Hobbit and
LotR. Even in that temple, it was not Eru who was worshiped there, but the evil Maia Sauron.
Pesi,
If you want to find our more of what our master of the Grond is referring to you need to read the Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales. They are excellent books.
Welcome to Planet-Tolkien Pesi!
I hope you enjoy your stay here as much as I have!
And now to Grondy!
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There is a god in his books, Eru Iluvatar, but there are no priests and temples are few and far between; in fact the only one I know of was destroyed thousands of years before the events that take place in The Hobbit and LotR. Even in that temple, it was not Eru who was worshiped there, but the evil Maia Sauron.
But indeed did the numenoreans worship Eru on top of ,the isolated peak at the centre of the island, Meneltarma! Here they sacrificed the first crop of the season and other stuff....It says so in the Akallabeth!
You are quite right Aule.
The Temple at the top of the Meneltarma known as the Hallow of Eru was used by the Numenorians to worship Eru. Here the first fruits of the harvest were brought and sacrificed to honour Eru. This practice, however, began to be neglected during the reign of Tar-Ancalimon and the pilgrims went there in ever fewer numbers.
As more and more Numenorians became obsessed with their mortality and began turning away from the worship of Eru, Ar-Pharazon eventually outlawed this worship and banned men from climbing the mountain on pain of death. This temple was never defiled, however, even by Sauron who was afraid to step foot there.
Instead, Sauron had a huge temple built in the city of Armenlos. Circular, its walls were 50 feet thick and it was 500 feet across its center. On top of it was a huge dome of silver. Here Sauron had the White Tree, Nimloth the Fair, burned in honour of Melkor and threrafter the silver dome became black from the constant fires and human sacrifices.
So once again my limited knowledge reared its ugly head only to be beaten down by the correct story.
At least my attemp with half the truth, drew out the full truth.
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This temple was never defiled, however, even by Sauron who was afraid to step foot there.
I think he thought that if he had defiled it then Eru would have avenged him.....I mean he was REALLY afraid of Eru....of course!
The one who created him is bound to be superior in power than his spawn!
Even if Sauron was lying to the Numenoreans, telling them that Eru was just a name, a ghost used by the Valar to keep them away from their land, he knew the truth! Melkor himself could not have done anything to Eru, being just an offspring of His thought; and Melkor understood this, turning all his hate against those that he could hurt (Valar, Maiar, Elves, Men and Dwarves).
Also, I think Tolkien made a good choice when he left out of his books explicit religion. Thus, his work has a more universal character which, otherwise, would have been restrained by the religious differences. Let's not forget that Tolkien, while a fervent catholic, always wanted to reveal the essence hiding behind the words. His masterpiece is, I think, the concept of Eru, which is an expression of God as He should've been in all religions. The name itself explains the character's nature: Eru ("The One", "He that is Alone") Iluvatar ("Father of All"). So: Beginning and End, Alpha and Omega.
That's all for now, but I'll be back with more ideas!
Namarie!
