LOTR et al. may not have atheists, but they don't dwell a lot on religion, from what I can recall. Tolkien does more of that in the Silmarillion.
What if within that particular fantasy world there is no creation mythos or even a curiosity of why anything exists? I'm talking about the absence of scientific and philosophical thought. In my opinion, it's not too far fetched (especially in fantasy fiction) to have a race of beings who simply don't think about existence the way we do.
In other words, they and all the other things that make up their world simply exist because they just do.
What if within that particular fantasy world there is no creation mythos or even a curiosity of why anything exists? I'm talking about the absence of scientific and philosophical thought. In my opinion, it's not too far fetched (especially in fantasy fiction) to have a race of beings who simply don't think about existence the way we do.
In other words, they and all the other things that make up their world simply exist because they just do.
Mistborn? Wheel of Time? Eragon? Lord of the Rings? Correct me on that one I'm not so sure about it, haven't read it an ages. Just a few I could think of the top of my head. A lot I have read do have gods and the like, but a lot don't have it as well. But it does show everyone does have different ideas and opinions for this discussion and how they incorporate religion into their stories, or if they even have it at all.
Mistborn? Wheel of Time? Eragon? Lord of the Rings? Correct me on that one I'm not so sure about it, haven't read it an ages. Just a few I could think of the top of my head. A lot I have read do have gods and the like, but a lot don't have it as well. But it does show everyone does have different ideas and opinions for this discussion and how they incorporate religion into their stories, or if they even have it at all.
That would make sense, or I would take it as an explanation for why there are only atheists in a story. That's a good point.
What if within that particular fantasy world there is no creation mythos or even a curiosity of why anything exists? I'm talking about the absence of scientific and philosophical thought. In my opinion, it's not too far fetched (especially in fantasy fiction) to have a race of beings who simply don't think about existence the way we do.
In other words, they and all the other things that make up their world simply exist because they just do.
Thanks. Beings like what I described wouldn't even be atheists. They wouldn't be anything. They would just "be".
That would be a large divergence from human nature. I think it's somehow ingrained in us to seek out something higher than ourselves, even if that is just a noble ideal, or a system of morality, or the potential of the human race itself. It's also ingrained in us to wonder, why? how? what if...? To be curious about the natural world, and try to understand it. Or even to notice the natural world and see it as fascinating or beautiful or really anything other than surroundings we live in...it's a very human thing to do.
It would be totally foreign, and difficult to relate to.
Odd. We must be reading some different books. I can't remember the last one I read where the majority of the population was atheist.
Mistborn? Wheel of Time? Eragon? Lord of the Rings? Correct me on that one I'm not so sure about it, haven't read it an ages. Just a few I could think of the top of my head. A lot I have read do have gods and the like, but a lot don't have it as well. But it does show everyone does have different ideas and opinions for this discussion and how they incorporate religion into their stories, or if they even have it at all.
True. If it's just not something that occurs to them given how they're wired, then I think you could argue that they're not atheists in that they don't even consider the proposition. It would interesting to play out the ramifications to society as a whole, the advancement of sciences (if in fact there is any at all) and so on. Could make for a cool story.
Mistborn... never read, but a quick search suggests religion exists. I know Sanderson doesn't shy from religion in his fantasy, at least from listening to his lectures.
Tolkien clearly avoided "religion" in a fantasy world being a good catholic, but religious themes? Yeah. Absolutely.
Eragon... never read, but sounds like the trilogy goes into some religion, dwarves being polytheistic?
WoT... I only read three books and so long ago I don't recall a danged thing... I'm not a fan. But, while mostly lacking religion, it seems form a search that religion plays some small part.
The trick is, what does the story and its world need?
That would make for an interesting read. I would suspect such a race would not progress very far scientifically, culturally etc because they would seem to lack the intense curiosity found in humans.
Assuming that A) humans exist in this world B) if they did they're like us and C) that a belief in some sort of deity is necessary to have intense curiosity.
Indeed. I'll even venture further to posit that science and philosophy could not only exist but flourish in a world like that.
I have no doubt that science and philosophy could flourish in such a world, but I would suggest there is no reason to believe it would flourish more than a world with religion, such as ours.
I didn't mean to suggest that humans had to exist in said world, rather that one of the characteristics of humans that has lead them to great achievements in science etc is their inherent curiosity. I think any race that lacked it would not progress as fast.