What?

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Roa_Aoife

Melkor, from the beginning, was the cause of the discord, and hence the evil in creation. It wasn't necessary for him to enter it for evil to exist, but then again, it WAS necessary for him to enter.

I would disagree. Eru was the cause of the discord as It was the creator of Melkor. It also had the power/ability to stop Melkor at any time, or, during the Music, say, "Ahem..." and turn back time, remove Melkor before any thought of a seed of discord were even to happen, then restart the song.

Obviously Melkor was important to the song; without a good stir, what would pudding be? To me Melkor is essential to Iluvatar and It's creation; he (Melkor) is the challenge, the goad, the obstacle that, when overcome, allows true greatness to shine through. Without heat and cold, we wouldn't have the breeze to cool us, move the flowers on a fragrant tree, leave its footprints across the grassy lawn. The same cause gives us catastrophic storms.

One day the entire universe may be at stasis - nothing moving, everything equally dispersed in a homogenous dead lake of atoms, a heat death - and the song dies that day.