Redefining Good & Evil

[Aiwendil]

Davem wrote:

This is a point I've made numerous times - the remote & uninvolved nature of Eru - & been informed that he is constantly at work in the world 'in a hidden way'. But while he is so hidden in LotR that the reader of that work is not aware he is even there (or even actually necessary), The Sil places him firmly in the action - & most importantly in the mind of the reader.

To be fair, I'm not among those who have informed you that Eru is constantly at work 'in a hidden way'.

But I was actually thinking more of the Silmarillion. Eru is not invisible there, as he more or less is in LotR, but he is rather remote - certainly far more removed from worldly affairs than the God of the Torah, for example. Indeed, if one were to judge solely from his portrayal of Eru, without any biographical information, one would almost think Tolkien closer to Enlightenment-style deism than to traditional Catholicism. The point is that, even taking the Silmarillion fully into account, Eru is far enough removed from worldly events that the victory of good seems anything but inevitable. Or at least, it does to me.