Eru

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Revision as of 04:50, 28 June 2011 by Mithrennaith (talk | contribs) (that’s not a typo, it’s a different word)
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Eru during the Great Music.
"But Rúmil said: 'Ilúvatar was the first beginning, and beyond that no wisdom of the Valar or of Eldar or of Men can go.' 'Who was Ilúvatar?' asked Eriol. 'Was he of the Gods?' 'Nay,' said Rúmil, 'that he was not, for he made them. Ilúvatar is the Lord for Always who dwells beyond the world; who made it and is not of it nor in it, but loves it.' "
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1, "The Music of the Ainur"

Eru ("The One" in Quenya; pronounced [ˈeru]), also called Ilúvatar ("Father of All"), is the name in the Silmarillion for the supreme God for Elves and Men. He is the single omnipotent creator, but has delegated most direct action within Eä to the Ainur, including the shaping of the Earth (Arda) itself.

He is considered the father of the Ainur, thus in lineage charts Ainur are shown as Children of Ilúvatar. However, not all of the Ainur were considered to be siblings. For instance, Manwë, Varda, and Melkor's father is Ilúvatar, and Melkor and Manwë were considered brothers; Varda was not considered their sister.

Eru as Creator God

Elves and Men were created by Eru directly, without delegation to the Ainur, and they are therefore called "Children of Ilúvatar" (Eruhini). The Dwarves were "adopted" by Eru in the sense that they were created by Aulë but given sapience by Eru. Animals and plants were probably fashioned by Ainur after themes set out by Eru in the Music of the Ainur, although this is questionable in cases where animals exhibit sapience, as in the case of Huan, or the Eagles.

The activities of Eru on the life of Arda or Ea is not clear. Manwë was the vicegerent[1] of Eru on Arda. The Changing of the World was made by Eru, something that the Valar themselves could not have done. According to Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth Eru would someday enter Ea to save his Children.

Etymology

The name comes from the Root ER meaning "one, alone".

Inspiration

Tolkien understood Eru not as a "fictional deity" but as a name in a fictional language for the actual monotheistic God, although in a mythological or fictional context. In a draft of a letter of 1954 to Peter Hastings, manager of the Newman Bookshop (a Catholic bookshop in Oxford), Tolkien defended non-orthodox aspects as rightly within the scope of his mythology, as an exploration of the infinite "potential variety" of God. Regarding the possibility of reincarnation of Elves, Hastings had written:

"God has not used that device in any of the creations of which we have knowledge, and it seems to me to be stepping beyond the position of a sub-creator to produce it as an actual working thing, because a sub-creator, when dealing with the relations between creator and created, should use those channels which he knows the creator to have used already"
― Peter Hastings

Tolkien's reply contains an explanation of his view of the relation of (divine) Creation to (human) sub-creation:

"We differ entirely about the nature of the relation of sub-creation to Creation. I should have said that liberation "from the channels the creator is known to have used already" is the fundamental function of "sub-creation", a tribute to the infinity of His potential variety [...] I am not a metaphysician; but I should have thought it a curious metaphysic — there is not one but many, indeed potentially innumerable ones — that declared the channels known (in such a finite corner as we have any inkling of) to have been used, are the only possible ones, or efficacious, or possibly acceptable to and by Him!"
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 153

Hastings had also criticised the description of Tom Bombadil by Goldberry: "He is", saying that this seemed to imply that Bombadil was God.

Tolkien replied to this:

As for Tom Bombadil, I really do think you are being too serious, besides missing the point. [...] You rather remind me of a Protestant relation who to me objected to the (modern) Catholic habit of calling priests Father, because the name father belonged only to the First Person.

The coming of Eru to save his children could come from the idea of the Messiah.

References