[Amarinth]

the question has been burning some of the previous threads, and it does seem that the silmarillion itself is not clear on this as shown by what has been discussed above by all ye excellent folks [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]. melkor did emanate from eru who is the source of everything, and by the principle of the conservation of mass if melkor hath evil in him then so should eru. if eru is pure good, then melkor needs attain evil from a source outside of eru that, by definition, does not exist. in spite of this simple logic though i believe quite differently, that is, eru is just good and evil is just melkor [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

from what i understand of the silm it was somewhat of a process rather than a matter of being that melkor came to wear the face of evil -- he was first made sentient (birth of the ainur), then given self-expression (music of the world), then began self-will (marring of arda) and finally self-rule, declaring himself the dominator of arda. he first began exploring the possibilities of evil with disruption of the music of the ainur. "evil" in this sense, and certainly how melkor is characterized in the silm in these early stages, is being in total tangent with the maker's original purposes and principles, and by this token evil is a negation of eru, or "order", an insinuation of a different order with melkor himself at the principal theme, rather than an exercise of some innate, coexistent force to battle "good". it can be argued that this deed of melkor was an act driven by fate, but then again it can also be argued that this is just inciendary talent "jazzing" up some of that classical music.

by the time of the making of arda melkor had of course completely tumbled off the path set out by eru and made his self-will painfully manifest in arda. it is at this stage when evil had clearly been created, by melkor and not eru, and made tangible in the material world. certainly melkor had the capacity to create and destroy, and by fashioning for himself a different role and destiny in which he alone was the motivation, he had recreated himself as his finest masterpiece. he had created evil. acknowledged that the ingredients for it he derived from eru -- greatness, talent, power -- but the recipe he concocted himself.

i also see melkor's "pre-ordained role" as the great disturbance in arda as a measure of the power of eru to "foresee" the various paths stringing out of melkor's own choices. this form of power intuitively only eru can own, since its totality is parceled off to the ainur. mandos has the power of doom, but he can only see a specific for each; eru alone has the ability to see all dooms possible and see what doors must shut and open in order for that specific doom to prevail. each vala has a specific strength, each creature has a specific will, all of which at once calculate and act in concert in the mind of illuvatar, that manwë need seek it often. eru is the great orchestrator, and because he sees far wider, deeper and with greater connectivity into the space-time continuum, melkor's choices play out like a map in front of him.

jeez, i don't know if that made sense...i've been accused here at bd of losing purpose in meaning and thinking quite off the track, i wouldn't be surprised if someone gets a similar rash reading this [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ May 11, 2002: Message edited by: Amarinth ]