But, but, but we learned all this in MESPT--surely you know--you played dozens of Valar!!! (-:
I guess you'd have to define how you're using the term "religious inclination" first.
I know a lot of Tolkien scholars have written on this stuff, but I'm not up on this part of the scholarship.
The Hobbits interact with a sort-of-god/Maiar in Gandalf on a regular basis, so that kind of complicates things. We're not shown any religious practice or ritual among the Hobbits, but Elvish language and history and geneology is wrapped up with the Valar, so I'd say any interest the Hobbits have in Elvish tales would be an interest in the spiritual.
Frodo's spontaneous chant to Earendil (descended from a Maiar) when he pulls out the star-glass in Shelob's lair and Sam's spontaneous chant to Elbereth when he is about to fight Shelob would definitely count as spiritual experiences. So do Frodo and Sam have religious inclinations or would you call it spiritual inclinations instead? I'd need to define those terms, and the difference is kind of murky to me. Could you class Frodo's and Bilbo's sailing to the Blessed Realms as a religious voyage? Maybe--again it depends on how you're defining religious vs spiritual. Are the Ring and the star-glass religious relicts or just magical items? I dunno--the fantasy genre and Tolkien's use of it messes with those categorical borders.
You could argue that the speaking of Elvish itself is a religious practice, since the Numenoreans who kept speaking Elvish were called "the Faithful," while the fall of Numenor was wrapped up with their turning away from the Elves and the use of Elvish.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-07-26 02:00 am (UTC)I guess you'd have to define how you're using the term "religious inclination" first.
I know a lot of Tolkien scholars have written on this stuff, but I'm not up on this part of the scholarship.
The Hobbits interact with a sort-of-god/Maiar in Gandalf on a regular basis, so that kind of complicates things. We're not shown any religious practice or ritual among the Hobbits, but Elvish language and history and geneology is wrapped up with the Valar, so I'd say any interest the Hobbits have in Elvish tales would be an interest in the spiritual.
Frodo's spontaneous chant to Earendil (descended from a Maiar) when he pulls out the star-glass in Shelob's lair and Sam's spontaneous chant to Elbereth when he is about to fight Shelob would definitely count as spiritual experiences. So do Frodo and Sam have religious inclinations or would you call it spiritual inclinations instead? I'd need to define those terms, and the difference is kind of murky to me. Could you class Frodo's and Bilbo's sailing to the Blessed Realms as a religious voyage? Maybe--again it depends on how you're defining religious vs spiritual. Are the Ring and the star-glass religious relicts or just magical items? I dunno--the fantasy genre and Tolkien's use of it messes with those categorical borders.
You could argue that the speaking of Elvish itself is a religious practice, since the Numenoreans who kept speaking Elvish were called "the Faithful," while the fall of Numenor was wrapped up with their turning away from the Elves and the use of Elvish.
There you go! Do I get my nerd points?