Board Thread:General Mod Discussion/@comment-27482422-20170704172908/@comment-31070677-20170710075521

Catfishperson wrote: Gen. Grievous1138 wrote: Arvedui of Pelargir wrote: Middle-earth peoples of the Third Age seem pretty irreligious. Elves don't worship Eru or anything. Gondorians dont care. Rohirrim know of Eru, but don't worship him... Orcs probably don't worship, considering they're only purpose in life is to be part of expendable hordes of their kind. The only religious people might be the Black Numenoreans. From what we do know about the Haradrim, i'd say they worship Sauron. Same goes for Easterlings.

Tolkien never made religion a major part of his world, and thus I don't think it should be made a big deal out of. He may have done some Judeo-Christian references in his works, but he never made his people devoutly religious.

Not saying worship never occured (it did; Numenoreans said three prayers to Eru per year at meneltarma, and they also worshipped Morgoth in later years, a tradition presumeably carried on by men of Umbar), but just saying, all things considered, it really doesnt matter too much. It does seem like that, if you aren't reading too closely. LOTR is more or less a fantasy rewrite of the Bible. The Elves do worship Eru, the Gondorians honor both the Valar and the Numenoreans of old, Rohirrim honor their ancestors (and mention an afterlife constantly), and the Orcs worshipped Melkor fervently, in the belief that if they didn't they'd be destroyed.

Gen. Grievous1138 (LOTR Mod Wiki Admin) comlink 19:14, July 4, 2017 (UTC) Do we know what happens to men when they die, if they even have an afterlife? I recall a line in the Silmarilion something like "However none save Mandos and Eru himself know what truly awaits the souls of men when they leave this world."

Indeed, it is rather ambiguous. But I think it is clear that there is some form of afterlife; else, there would not be such a clear distinction made between Elves and Men regarding their souls.