Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

which called his devoted followers to “indwell” in one another as the Godhead Trinity indwells in itself. It is
from these three religious lenses that the Inklings separately told their own version of the „true myth‟ in
foreseeably dissimilar ways.
The cosmology of Tolkien‟s mythical Middle-earth is remarkably similar to that of the Christian
myth of creation. In the beginning of The Silmarillion, Tolkien presents his creator: Eru, and the words used
to speak the earth (Eä) into being are almost identical to those in Genesis 1: “I say: Eä! Let these things Be!”
(Silmarillion, 20). Melkor, the most powerful and knowledgeable of the Ainur, became discontent with his
inability to possess the Imperishable Fire that was with Eru, the creator, and broke from the worshipful
Ainur as the evil that will pervade Middle-earth, or the Christian devil- Lucifer, the most beautiful of all
God‟s creation that tempts Eve with the promise of knowledge.
Tolkien‟s godhead resembles a mixture of the Norse pantheon and the Christian Holy Trinity. Eru
serves as the Father-of-All, or God-the-Father. The Ainur, the offspring of his thought, who “were with him
before aught else was made” (Silmarillion, 15) serve to pluralize God, “at once singular and multiple” (Burns,
166) by creating a more numerous stand-in for God-the-Son and God-the-Spirit. The Valar, the “Powers of
the World” who are the remnants of the other Ainur after the split created by Melkor‟s defection, are then
the angels, who interact with lower creatures and do the will of Eru. The Maiar are the helpers and servants
of the Valar, who, through Tolkien‟s Roman Catholicism, are likely representative of saints. It then follows
that Elves serve as the “firstborn”, the Pre-Lapsarian, and that Mankind itself, “the followers” are Post-
Lapsarian.
Tolkien‟s mythology is deep and rich, vastly developed, yet subtle- much like his Roman Catholic
faith. His Christian references are intertwined with everything, but not overt or surface-level. “His Roman
Catholicism faith not only defined his spiritual life, it also pervaded his family life, his academic life, and his
social life. In an interview in 1997, Tolkien‟s close friend George Sayer stated that „Lord of the Rings would
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