Okay, so this is going to probably sound dumb, and possibly noobish.
So, I have been an eclectic pagan for some time, more so in faith then in practise. For the most part, I've followed a Celtic based path, with interest in most of the Celtic pantheons. A couple of years ago, my interest turned towards the Norse pantheon, though I always returned to the Celtic ones. While I still follow a Celtic path, the Anglo-saxon ways of old, and gods, interest me as well, which are similar to the Norse.
Now... I am a big Hobbit fan, it being my favourite fiction book. If I could live in any place, real or not, it would be The Shire, without hesitation. Actually, it's where I like to think of during meditation. So, from things I've gathered, Germanic paths, like many others, speak with, worship, pay homage to, etc the land spirits, which include the dwarves. Would it be so far fetched for someone who revered dwarves, elves and the like to do the same towards hobbits? After all, Tolkien himself was inspired by the old Germanic mythologies.
Sorry for the long rambling. I am curious as to what others may think of this.
Re: Path mixed with fiction? By: blackbeldam / Novice
Post # 2 Dec 14, 2012
Frankly, I think Tolkien put more thought and energy into his canon than most religious scholars did.
He wasn't so much a novelist as he was a world-builder, and the extensive work he put into creating languages, drafting maps and charts, and building civilizations to populate his world is testament to the masterful way in which he accomplished that goal. The universe Tolkien's literature describes is so rich with nuance and detail one can read them like a history textbook of Middle Earth.
As you pointed out, the backbone of Tolkien's work was Welsh and Germanic mythology. In fact, when you cross-reference the two, little changes apart from the flourish with which they're described.
Consider, then, Christian folklore. If we think of the original Germanic legends like the original Hebrew drafts of the Bible, then Tolkien is to the legends what subsequent gospels, interpretations and re-tellings gleaned over thousands of years is to the Bible. These cultural reflections of the original text may not in any way represent what is actually in the Bible, but they nevertheless impact how modern worshippers perceive its message.
Take the Rapture, for example. Since the Left Behind series, a popular work of fiction recounting the 'end days' allegedly referred to in the Book of Revelations, belief in the 'Rapture' has grown. However, the Rapture is nowhere in the original Biblical canon.
Therefore, I submit that revering hobbits as one would any other Germanic spiritual entity is no more or less absurd than being a Christian and believing in the Rapture.
But that's a relativistic argument. It claims that the only way to verify a religion's credibility is by cross-checking it against a more popular form of worship and seeing how it stacks up.
Ultimately, who and what you want to worship is your business alone. If revering hobbits based on Tolkien's writing works best for you, then by all means.
