Splendid but Unhappy

[Lalwendë]

It's an amusing statement for me because I often think how awful it would be to live in Middle-earth with such an unpredictable and omnipotent god as Eru is! Yes, there is a god in Arda, so it's not 'godless' - but the presence of that god wouldn't give me any kind of happiness - I'd be a bit scared to be blunt.

Maybe this hints at what the reviewer was getting at? He might be saying his own god is a nice god, not like Eru - so this is why he says "no real god" and why he assumes that this causes unhappiness. That idea that being without a "real god" causes unhappiness is weird and incorrect in itself anyway - how many people in Third Age Middle-earth know anything about Eru? Very few. But living without that knowledge doesn't make them unhappy. I always find LotR particularly refreshing and satisfying as these people struggle to do what's right without any kind of authoritarian morality. What does Sam know of Eru? Little if anything, but this doesn't stop him from being loyal, brave and making the right decisions for himself.