Well we can't pray to Lord Voldemort or Sauron because we know the authors of books in which they appear.
If praying works because of the placebo effect then it might not work as well if the recipients know that it's a placebo. Not that this completely nullifies the placebo effect but why reduce its efficacy unnecessarily?
We could pray to Grendel's mother. No one knows who wrote Beowulf. But on the other hand, the book doesn't claim to be anything other than a story. What we need is the literary equivalent of "The following events are based on a true story ..."
If praying works because of the placebo effect then it might not work as well if the recipients know that it's a placebo. Not that this completely nullifies the placebo effect but why reduce its efficacy unnecessarily?
We could pray to Grendel's mother. No one knows who wrote Beowulf. But on the other hand, the book doesn't claim to be anything other than a story. What we need is the literary equivalent of "The following events are based on a true story ..."
