(March 8, 2024 at 12:42 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote:(March 8, 2024 at 12:30 pm)emjay Wrote: Interesting... but flavor text still implies it was meant to be taken literally by those specific audiences, right? Ie the fact of including details such as that is just not something you would do if you were speaking allegorically to any audience?
It's exactly what you would do if you were trying to disseminate a single message to multiple disparate audiences. Consider the way that pundits and politicians today will generally attempt to speak directly to a regional audience by including some pablum about the region connecting them to whatever message. The literal or literal seeming elements of genesis are largely just-so stories used as introductions to the religious or political content. Even if they were meant to be taken literally, that's how they appear in the body of work. That could be an effect of it's construction or it's editing but it's there no matter how we choose to approach the issue.
The flavor text example is even more direct. You don't have to believe in the balrogs backstory to play the card.
Okay, I stand corrected then. So you think it could have been intended allegorically or at least partially allegorically... but just with a smattering of local tidbits to curry favour with specific audiences?
