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Originally Posted by denethorthefirst
Would it not be more than hypocritical of the Valar to punish Radagast and deny him re-entry after they essentially made exactly the same mistake, only repeatedly and on a much, much grander scale?
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Yes, it would.
So?
One of the wonderful things about Tolkien being Christian is that he never saw the Valar as gods in the setting, but as fallible beings. The Valar make a whole
string of terrible mistakes; the first is probably letting their guard down for Tulkas' wedding and letting Melkor back in, though 'sticking giant globes of fire up on poles for light' is a pretty dangerous move too. Running away from the world was a terrible misdeed, and it was only chance/the will of the One that made them aware of the coming of the Children at all.
The decision to move the Eldar to Aman was also a mistake, and I believe Tolkien notes as much (he definitely sides with Ulmo on most things, and Ulmo was against it). My guess is that the war against Melkor broke a lot of Middle-earth (I seem to remember that the Misty Mountains were raised by Melkor at that time), and it just seemed
nicer to bring the Eldar to their pretty home rather than trying to a) put some form of light in the wider world and b) fix the mess. But it was a mistake, and it led to everything that went wrong after.
Later on, Manwe is oblivious to any form of evil, and basically assumes his brother will be good now Just Because. He punishes Feanor, and Feanor alone, for the changes happening in Noldorin society. The Valar collectively snub Feanor to the point where he won't even consider handing over the Silmarils after the Trees die. And they completely fumble his little insurrection.
How did the Noldor manage to slaughter Alqualonde, right under the eye of the Valar?
The answer, clear as starlight, is that Manwe's response to
any crisis is to pull his head in. Melkor's ruined our plans for Arda? Let's make an island right in the middle, as far from him as possible, and live there. Melkor destroyed the lamps? Let's go to a completely different landmass. The Children are living in a war zone? Let's bring them here, to our safe space. Melkor might still be bad? Nope, nope, it's all that elf's fault. The Trees are dead and the Noldor are revolting? Raise the mountains higher, close the gates, and let them do whatever they want!
The Valar (Ulmo significantly aside) ignore the pleas of everyone in Beleriand, including the Edain and the Sindar (who have no culpability for the Noldor's crimes). They do absolutely nothing to stop Sauron throughout the entire Second Age. They refuse to protect their people when the Numenoreans invade, passing the buck up to Iluvatar. They don't let any returning Eldar back into Aman proper, stuffing them onto Eressea to keep them from contaminating Paradise. And their sole response to Sauron's resurgence in the Third Age is to send five Maiar to poke around.
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So now that we're back on-topic, what was the purpose of the Istari? Was it to protect the Children of Iluvatar? Or was it, entirely in line with the previous actions of the Valar, solely to keep Sauron from causing another Numenor Incident? (Numenor, I'll remind you, was a gift from the Valar to Men - the only one they ever gave them - and look how that turned out...! Suddenly it makes a lot more sense why their emissaries in the Third Age came in disguise.) If the latter, then Radagast's drifting-away wasn't just 'you got distracted from your humanitarian mission' - it was 'soldier, you have abandoned the defence of the Motherland'.
Speculative, I know - wildly so - but it has ties to the fate of the returning (ie, dying) Noldor in the First Age. We're specifically told that they weren't allowed to leave the Halls of Mandos for a long time, which is
not the normal way of things. Whether that's a punishment, a treatment regime, or a quarantine is unsaid.
Unfortunately the metaphysics of Middle-earth isn't clear enough to answer the question of whether a Maia could be constrained in Mandos against their will. If not, then the only way to keep Radagast (or the Blues) from wandering straight back into Aman... would be to insist he stay in Middle-earth, or send him to the Timeless Halls (which may not even be possible).
It's messed up. It's seriously messed up. But Manwe always has been.
hS