Quote:
|
I accept that corrupted persons don't deserve merit - the point I'm making is that all the enemy are 'corrupt' - there is a serious absence of 'uncorrupt' enemies
|
Well, seeing my previous examples, it would be safer to say that all those who are in evident and long term service to the evil guys are corrupt and lack merit. We still have the ocasionally evil guys, who maintain their ability to turn to the good side.
I believe the explanation is that you cannot have
independend stanbyers, not in a time when an evil of mythological power is present. Saruman may not have been wholly corrupt when he looked in the palantir, but you can't be lukewarm towards Eru and hope to get away with Sauron. His wickedness, however small, was a gateway to a much greater evil. Likewise, elves who refused the summons of the valar were vulnerable to countersummons of Melkor. There can't be a middle ground in the middle of a battle between such great powers. Perhaps later, with no Sauron and the valar fading, we might get to that.