<P> Eru created alone the Elves and Men . This is why in The Silmarillion both races are called the Children of Ilúvatar . The race of the Dwarves was created by Aulë, and given sapience by Eru . Animals and plants were fashioned by Yavanna during the Music of the Ainur after the themes set out by Eru . The Eagles of Manwë were created from the thought of Manwë and Yavanna . Yavanna also created the Ents, who were given sapience by Eru . Melkor instilled some semblance of free will into his mockeries of Eru Ilúvatar's creations (Orcs, mocking Elves and perhaps Men; Trolls, mocking Ents; and perhaps Dragons, mocking Eagles). </P> <P> In the First Age, Eru created and awoke Elves as well as Men . In the Second Age, Eru buried King Ar - Pharazôn and his Army when they landed at Aman in S.A. 3319 . He caused the Earth to take a round shape, drowned Númenor, and caused the Undying Lands to be taken "outside the spheres of the earth". When Gandalf died in the fight with the Balrog in The Fellowship of the Ring, it was beyond the power of the Valar to resurrect him; Eru himself intervened to send Gandalf back . </P> <P> Discussing Frodo Baggins' failure to destroy the Ring in The Return of the King, Tolkien indicates in Letter 192 that "the One" does intervene actively in the world, pointing to Gandalf's remark to Frodo that "Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker", and to the eventual destruction of the Ring even though Frodo himself failed to complete the task . </P> <P> Peter Hastings, manager of the Newman Bookshop (a Catholic bookshop in Oxford), had written to Tolkien objecting to his writing of the reincarnation of Elves, saying: </P>

Are there gods in lord of the rings