For me, the Silmarillion has always been the most important work by Tolkien - or rather the Silmarillion-that-never-was, that we can only glimpse. (see Leaf by Niggle, in which a Tolkien in the late 1930s is clearly well aware he'll die without finishing it, despite his death being nearly 40 years away). It draws from a large range of mythology: I think cyniborg was saying that (my retelling of) the Ainulindalë reminded her of Irish creation myths?
There is a Christian undertone there - although obviously not overt - because it is set before the coming of Christ - whilst there are "gods", they were created themselves by the One God, who can be identified with YHWH. And Tolkien struggled greatly with the idea of the origins of the Orcs over the years - he didn't want them to (a) have souls and yet (b) be totally unredeemably.
Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (The Dialogue of Finrod and Andreth) is quite interesting - Finrod (an elf who has recently encountered humans and has taken a great interest in them) and Andreth (a wise-woman) have a long conversation about how the different peoples see their fates differently. The Elves know that the Men "escape the circles of the world" : hence go to the afterlife after their worldly death, but the Men themselves have no surety in this. For their part, the Elves are very worried about their fare : whilst they are immortal, they are tied to the world, and they fear that when the world ends, so will they. Andreth talks eventually of a human myth, that one day the One will incarnate into the world and set it to rights.
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There is a Christian undertone there - although obviously not overt - because it is set before the coming of Christ - whilst there are "gods", they were created themselves by the One God, who can be identified with YHWH. And Tolkien struggled greatly with the idea of the origins of the Orcs over the years - he didn't want them to (a) have souls and yet (b) be totally unredeemably.
Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (The Dialogue of Finrod and Andreth) is quite interesting - Finrod (an elf who has recently encountered humans and has taken a great interest in them) and Andreth (a wise-woman) have a long conversation about how the different peoples see their fates differently. The Elves know that the Men "escape the circles of the world" : hence go to the afterlife after their worldly death, but the Men themselves have no surety in this. For their part, the Elves are very worried about their fare : whilst they are immortal, they are tied to the world, and they fear that when the world ends, so will they. Andreth talks eventually of a human myth, that one day the One will incarnate into the world and set it to rights.
This is all very obscure stuff though.