I sympathize with this viewpoint, and it’s hardly the worst outcome we could end up with. But, while both authors would seem to agree with a prohibition on calling up gods in a grab for power, they do so with opposite opinions about the ultimate impact of doing so. Neither offers a long-term possibility of humans retaining life, control, and freedom.
For Tolkien, I would point out first that the Elves successfully made rings free of Sauron’s influence. And second, that Eru Iluvatar’s existence guarantees that Sauron and Morgoth can never truly win, and at or after the Last Battle men will participate in the Second Music that perfects Arda in ways that could not have happened without Isildur’s failure. You might destroy yourself and your contemporaries in Middle Earth, but not the light cone. Failures have bounded impact.
For Lovecraft, yes, calling up outer gods is always a terrible idea, but even if you don’t and you stop anyone else who wants to, they’ll eventually destroy everything you care about anyway just because they can exist at all. The mythos doesn’t provide a pathway to truly avoiding the danger. Successes have bounded impact.
I sympathize with this viewpoint, and it’s hardly the worst outcome we could end up with. But, while both authors would seem to agree with a prohibition on calling up gods in a grab for power, they do so with opposite opinions about the ultimate impact of doing so. Neither offers a long-term possibility of humans retaining life, control, and freedom.
For Tolkien, I would point out first that the Elves successfully made rings free of Sauron’s influence. And second, that Eru Iluvatar’s existence guarantees that Sauron and Morgoth can never truly win, and at or after the Last Battle men will participate in the Second Music that perfects Arda in ways that could not have happened without Isildur’s failure. You might destroy yourself and your contemporaries in Middle Earth, but not the light cone. Failures have bounded impact.
For Lovecraft, yes, calling up outer gods is always a terrible idea, but even if you don’t and you stop anyone else who wants to, they’ll eventually destroy everything you care about anyway just because they can exist at all. The mythos doesn’t provide a pathway to truly avoiding the danger. Successes have bounded impact.