If we take the trichotomy (?) as granted: that there are the Valar, the Maiar and the created ones, thence we face the question where do all these like Bombadill, Ungoliant or Glaurung come from.
But they might also be the anomalies, beings that are not just possibly explained by the storyline Tolkien gave us? So Eru couldn't be sure of every minute detail of the creation or didn't wish to intervene in every "detail"? Or that there were ones brought forwards in the creation even the Eru could not fathom - or of which s/he would not wish to steer?
The Ainulindalė in the end was the product of the Ainur making their personal contributions to the harmony (kosmos in Greek, meaning "harmonious whole") and one or more of these sounds they made might be the notes that would bring the balance just by not being the benevolent and good ones... to bring the balance? Had Eru a need to bow to the morality or the good of the being to be what s/he was, or was the good created because s/he willed it in a way it is? Or was there a place for the bad to just create a space for the good?
So where do these anomalies stem from? A good question indeed! And getting a bit too deep in to the metaphysical dimensions of ethics as well...
Tolkien was a catholic, yes he was, but most of his writings tell us that he was not writing a "christian" story here to explain the systematic problems christianity had tried to solve from the middle-ages onwards... More than that I see here a genuine bafflement in front of the distractment of the harmony everyone of us can see. The plight of every true christian - and a true disbeliever too...
__________________
Upon the hearth the fire is red
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet...
|