LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 11 - The Palantír

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

I think that light is its own order of creation (for lack of a better way of explaining it). I think that it is something that would be strongly attached to the good and not especially malleable to evil. However, it remains a created thing below Eru. However, this is obviously an opinion that I cannot prove.

I would consider the Light to be the embodiment or manifestation of Eru, much as in Christianity the theological line is that "I am the way and the Light". Arda does not have Christianity, but the similarities in using Light as a theological symbol are too alike to brush aside. And there is textual evidence when Gandalf says he is "A servant of the Secret Fire". Why would he be a servant of anything less than Eru?

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the Valar being able to render things holy. For Eru to be able to do this would seem right, but to enable a being which can take physical form to do this seems to pose too many potential problems. Would it mean, conversely, that Morgoth could render something divine? Yes, he does make Orcs and other evil or corrupt creatures, but are they the embodiment of evil much as the Two Trees might the embodiment of good? I'm more comfortable with the idea that there is only one source of divinity and that is Eru.

Of course, it is possible that the theological structure is different. After all, with a pantheon of lesser gods, and evidence that the Elves revered (worshipped?) other figures than Eru, it could have been a more pantheistic world. Yet this still does not 'fit' with events such as the wrongdoing of Saruman in breaking the Light; surely his actions could have been interpreted as trying to break down that essential 'whole', or all-encompassing divinity held by Eru.