Quote:
Originally Posted by Hakon
The way one views good and evil is the way they are taught to. If one is raised in a society that views murder and rape as a good thing than they view good as that and they view not doing that as bad. In our society we view it as murder and rape are evil. It is simply perspective. In LotR look at Saruman. He thinks he is doing the right thing by betraying Gandalf yet we view him as evil.
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Of course - such societies have existed - though the murder & rape is only condoned/encouraged if the victims are members of other societies. If one rapes & murders members of ones own society one is always seen as a bad guy (unless one is able to 'prove' they are criminals/heretics or in some other way deserving os such treatment). But 'good' & 'evil' in the context of the essay, & this is something shared by both Tolkien & Eddings in my opinion, is that self sacrifice, service, willingly weakening & giving of oneself in order to help another (forgetting the 'greater good' argument) are 'good' acts, & that seeking individual 'perfection' whether physical, psychological, or material, closes one off & ultimately denies life, creativity & growth. The Ring gives power to become 'perfect' in that sense - to be able to re-make the world in one's own image - make it 'perfec't & keep it that way. Hence it gives one the power to fulfil one's desire not to do 'evil' in the classical sense, of causing pain & suffering, destruction & mayhem, but of making things 'perfect' - getting rid of 'imperfections' - which is all
anyone who desires it, from Sauron himself, through Isildur, Gollum, Bilbo, Galadriel, Denethor, Boromir & Frodo all actually want.
'Evil' in Eddings world (as set out in the essay, its too long since I read any of his work to be able to comment directly) is not too far from the desire of Tolkien's Elves - bring about 'prefection' & embalm it at that point so that it can never fall into 'imperfection'. But his concept of 'good', that imperfection, lessening of oneself, humbling oneself in order to help others is interesting, because he is apparently saying that it is not a case of flawed, imperfect human beings doing their best
with divine assistance supplying what they lack & they two combined being now 'perfect', achieving the victory over 'evil,' but imperfection itself,
by its very nature of being incomplete, broken, weak, but also loving, self-sacrificing, willing if necessary to be destroyed & lost completely in the process, that is the only way for evil to be overcome. 'Perfect' good & 'perfect' evil are static, unmoving, unchanging, & ultimately dead in any & every real sense, because they have nowhere to go. It is the imperfect which is by its nature truly alive, because changeable, in flux, able to make choices, experience things, alter things. So Eddings seems to be setting up the dichotomy 'Perfect' (whether labelled 'good' or 'evil') is evil because, effectively its dead & can go nowhere & achieve nothing, & 'Imperfect' is good, because for all its flaws its
alive.