Boromir, Gollum and Eowyn

[davem]

Jumping in here....

I'm interested in what SpM has said about Denethor:

What did he do that was so wrong that he doesn't deserve redemption (in life at least)?

Is there redemption for Denethor after death? And then there's the question as to whether Gollum is truly evil. In Middle earth there is no 'Hell'. No-one goes (as far as we're told) to any place worse than Mandos. Sauron, Saruman & the Lord of the Nazgul seem simply to dissipate into nothingness, rather than be dragged off to eternal damnation. Each individual's fate (self inflicted or otherwise) seems to play itself out within Middle earth.

I'm uncomfortable with labeling any of the characters as Evil, because accepting Tolkien's statements that 'nothing is evil in the beginning', that evil is merely a perversion of the Good, we really have originally innocent, individuals who have made a series of increasingly bad choices, & become locked into a certain mindset.

From this point of view, any decision to act against what the individual knows to be the Good is an evil act. Any such choice puts that individual on the road that leads to becoming a Sauron or Shelob. Some choose evil but pull back & manage (often with some help) to redeem themselves, other's don't.

In other words, no-one in Middle earth is 'evil' per se - ie, evil in their essential nature, because Nothing is evil in its beginning. There is simply an option to remain in the 'light' or move away from it, into the 'darkness' which is not a thing in itself, but an absence of that Light.

Eowyn's confrontation with the Lord of the Nazgul is on one level a confrontation with that 'unlight' which she has been 'dallying' with for most of her adult life. She defeats him not so much because of some ancient prophecy as because she refuses, at the last, to go the whole way & let that unlight swallow her up & consume her. She asserts her Eru given uniqueness - 'You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund's daughter.....For living or dark undead, I will smite you if you touch him.'

Smeagol carries his own 'unlight' within him. And in the end he gives in to it & is consumed by it. Does he find redemption after his death? Is there anything left of 'Smeagol' to be redeemed? Aren't such choices made in this life, rather than after death. Are there any in Mandos who have chosen the unlight willingly, chosen it totally, & rejected the Good? Or have they all sacrificed their existence through their choices made in this life?

Rambling thoughts posted too early in the morning.....