[The Saucepan Man]

Taken to its extreme, though, this concept of "estel" seems to me to be a bit of a cop-out. An Elf might as well say: "Well there's no point in opposing the Dark Lord. He won't win in the end." Or does the concept involve an idea that the their trust will ultimately only prove true if they uphold the ideals of He who they trust in? In other words, one cannot have trust without responsibility.

And yet, doesn't that give rise to a parodox? If individuals have to take responsibility for upholding that which they trust in, then there must be a theoretical possibility that they will, en masse, either avoid that responsibility or fail in their efforts to uphold it, in which case "Good" will not prevail. But, if they trust that Eru will never allow that to happen, then why bother assuming the responsibility in the first place?