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Ghost-Prince of Cardolan
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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/wight.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: The Hand of Fate
The singing of the music seems to encapsulate our discussion. Look:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> And it came to pass that Ilúvatar called together all the Ainur and declared to them a mighty theme, unfolding to them things greater and more wonderful than he had yet revealed; and the glory of its beginning and the splendour of its end amazed the Ainur, so that they bowed before Ilúvatar and were silent.<hr></blockquote>
Just a quick note: This seems to indicate that the Music was complete, at least in outline form. To continue:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> Then Ilúvatar said to them: 'Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will. But I will sit and hearken, and be glad that through you great beauty has been wakened into song.'<hr></blockquote>Okay. This looks on the face of it like the big man is inviting the Ainur to exercise their free will. He even smiles like an indulgent father the first time Melkor disrupts the song. But also note that he intervenes when necessary to make sure the Music ends up the way he wants it to. Reading on:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> Then Ilúvatar spoke, and he said: 'Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Ilúvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.'<hr></blockquote>Okay, so -- free will and the omniscient and unshakeable will of Ilúvatar (i.e., Fate), coexisting and not contradictory. Finally, at the risk of over-quoting, Ilúvatar perhaps hints that "free will" is really only illusory in the context of the grand design:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> 'Behold your Music! This is your minstrelsy; and each of you shall find contained herein, amid the design that I set before you, all those things which it may
seem that he himself devised or added. And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory.'<hr></blockquote>
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