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Hobbitus Emeritus
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Re: Why is enigma pretty much tied with maia and earth spiri
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Quote:<hr> you may call that 'bad theology'. So it may be, in the primary world, but it is ... a legitimate basis of legends."<hr></blockquote>
That pretty much answers it. Tolkien was not concerned with tying his work that closely to "the primary world." The Fall of Tolkien's Men is not meant to correspond precisely with the Fall from Eden, though clearly comparisons exist.
Even in Christian theology, death, though it had a sting, was not a punishment for the Fall, but a consequence of the Fall. Everlasting damnation is the punishment. Death can be a blessing, too, the transition to everlasting life and the end of mortal pain and suffering. The Gift does not quite compare on all points to our own mortality. But perhaps examining the differences reveals things worth knowing.
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