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Originally Posted by davem

But isn't it interesting that no 'bad guy' ever chooses to repent?

What of the Dunlendings, as a group, in the aftermath of Helm's Deep?

Why does Tolkien not include a 'villain' who turns? And wouldn't it have been interesting if he had? It would have reinforced the message of hope, of the 'unexpected turn of events'. But it seems that once one has chosen evil one loses all real desire for the good. Certainly there is hope for the good guys even at the greatest extremity, at the Sammath Naur, but those who have chosen evil, like Gollum, Saruman, Denethor, Wormtongue, & the rest will not turn. What does this tell us about moral choices in Tolkien's world?

I think that Gollum was an 'almost-was.' He was slowly, from the kindness of Frodo, turning back from his evil, and if the events of Ithilien had gone differently, he may have gotten over the threshold. That said, his journey took him, Frodo and Sam closer with each footstep *to* the physical source of evil in the world, and so Gollum may have not been able to break free. If, somehow, the three had been able to go West instead of East...

It may well be true that offering forgiveness & the chance of repentance to those who have chosen evil "enhances the wellbeing of the person doing the offering (assuming it was offerred with a compassionate frame of mind and not with ulterior motives)" but how long is it going to be before the good guys realise that its ultimately a futile exercise because the bad guys won't take up the opportunity?

I don't think that a thinking man allows others to dictate his course. The noble and/or heroic (me guesses) do what they do despite the consequences or however slim the chances. And that's why we read about them instead of those that give in or give up much sooner.

Yet, one could argue that the knowledge that the bad guy won't repent actually makes offering the chance of repentance & forgiveness easier - if you know the monster won;t repent you know you won't have to deal with them, have them living among 'decent folk'. And wouldn't that have been the hardest thing - living with a reformed Gollum or Saruman after everything they'd done? Far harder than simply offering the chance of repentance in the first place. Much easier to offer a homeless ex-convict a room in your house if you know they'll reject it, but would you make the offer if you thought they might take you up on it?

Much agreed, and it would have been interesting to see how that played out. What if Worm had walked away from Saruman? But then what interest to the story would he have been? He was Saruman's lackey sidekick, and with Theoden dead, what use he? Far better, I guess, for the story to have him turn on his master.

Tolken 'deals' with evil by having it conveniently choose damnation, thereby avoiding any need for all that messy 'Truth & Reconciliation' stuff.

Again, we are seeing a snapshot of these creatures' lives. Maybe the Balrog just wanted to be left alone, but no! Those pesky Dwarves wouldn't let him be.