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Originally Posted by Bêthberry
I was PMing last week with Nogrod about the connotations of flame and we discussed the various meanings of the word. One of the meanings might bear on this absence of a specific god or goddess of love.
Nogrod pointed out that 'flame' can mean 'lover', as in old flame (or current flame).
The upshot was that we wondered if the Flame Imperishable could be love eternal. Love would then be with Eru/Illuvatar and it would be this primal creator who was (is?) the god of love. The Void and any creatures therein would thus be devoid of love as Melkor failed to find the Flame there. (I think this would pertain to Ungoliant.)
Perhaps Nogrod would be able to expand upon this more fully. Would there be any other indications that Eru is the god of love? Clearly, not quite the amorous divinity of other mythologies.
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How about thinking the Flame Imperishable as the symbolic combination of many things?
Of Passion
Not just sexual but of all forms of excitement that raises the body temperature, heighten the senses, alerts the brain and ultimately gives one the feeling of "being alive" And the experience of life would lead to more intimate interactions with the environment and give rise to self-awareness and sentience. Both which lacking, would never have resulted in
higher intelligent lifeforms such as the elves, men, ents, orcs and other non celestial denizens of Arda.
Of Wisdom
This is a no-brainer. Light, especially flaming torches have always been the symbol of education and enlightenment. It would seem that we equate our primeval fear and lack of understanding of darkness (can this refer to the void???) to universal ignorance and since light "banishes" the dark, it would symbolize the gift of enlightenment succeeding ignorance. The old clinche "The light shows the way," applies most aptly here which leads us to the next representation of the Flame,
Of Guidance and Hope
We use light to illuminate our path so that we can see our way when it is dark or hazy. Indeed this is how we navigate from point A to point B. The path is always there to be walked/crawled/climbed/swam but it isn't always clear, therefore light from fire shows the way and hence it is a guide.
And when you know there is a path in life to take, that you can see the path clearly with light, then you have hope as opposed to being confusingly lost and utterly dispairing
Of Care and Nuture
Heat is an essential source of life. In the cold of night and during the harshest of winters, the warmth of a fire keeps us alive, cooks food and prevents wild animals from straying to close. It is a source of comfort and protection. And what of Sun? It also keeps us warm, ripen our crops and allows livestock to multiple and thrive. It is also another source of comfort and an assurance of life. Indeed we are like infants dependent upon the sun that is like a mother who nutures. In fact I just found out that in Germany during the olden days, people referred to the sun as a "she" due to these reasons!
and speaking of suns,
Of Fame and Glory
The sun is warm and nurturing, but on the flip side it can also be scorching and punishing - it has both classical feminine and masculine attributes. We are always in awe of the prowess of the sun and in many cultures that awe has translated into the desire to be viewed by society as being so powerful and reknown that people regard the egoistic one with the same awe, fear and respect as the sun itself. Once more many cultures associate the sun and its striking rays as the ultimate expression of martial and political prowess. In days of antiquity, soldiers wearing attires embossed reliefs of the sun were elite and great kings and lords used the fiery star as the symbol of their majesty and power on banners and heraldry.
Not too long ago, a powerful absolute monarch by the name of Louis XIV held Europe in awe, contempt, fear and undeniably respect. And he was called the Sun King.
Of Destruction
Fire burns and our fears of a hideously painful death and the lost of our possessions by flames are profound. And in the past without the advent of fire fighting equipment and methods, raging fires were near unstoppable and caused extended damage and death before they were extinguished. As such flames also came to be regarded as a symbol of utter destruction and the realization of fear.
Of Renewal
For thousands of years, farmers have realized that burned land was fertile (temporarily) and that some crops grew better on such ground than when the land is simply cleared off wild vegetation and left virgin. As such the slash and burn cycle of shifting cultivation started and the onset of fire heralded the arrival of new crops, harvest, food and life itself, before returning to flames again. As such fire came to represent the cycle of renewal.
Indeed the process of life and the universe itself seems to be a process of a cycle of renewal. People die and new people appear and replace them in the world. The sun sets but rises again. The tides rise and fall in pattern. And so what was, would come again.
Renewal. Just like the legendary phoenix of Asian myths that undergo an endless cycle of death and rebirth through flames and ashes.