Does Eru care?

[Lotrelf]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Evil was no aberration, but a known quantity to the One, made for his own purpose, dark though it may often be to his creations.

Yes! Btw, can you answer a question? What was the difference between the evil nature of Melkor and Souron?

[Pervinca Took]

Tolkien said that Sauron "was only less evil than his master in that [at first/for many years? - can't remember the exact wording] he served another and not himself." They were equally evil, but Melkor was a much more powerful being - the most powerful of the Ainur - whereas Sauron was of the Maiar, a less powerful angelic being. Gandalf, too, was a Maia.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Tolkien said that Sauron "was only less evil than his master in that [at first/for many years? - can't remember the exact wording] he served another and not himself." They were equally evil, but Melkor was a much more powerful being - the most powerful of the Ainur - whereas Sauron was of the Maiar, a less powerful angelic being. Gandalf, too, was a Maia.

Agreed. To put it another way, Sauron was less evil because he was corrupted by an outside influence. Melkor was self-corrupted: the Prime Evil of Tolkien's Arda, and the visible source of all that blighted it.

[Lotrelf]

Yes, Tolkien says something like 'Souron was less evil than Melkor as long as he was serving someone else.' Did Souron's being a Maia affect his evil nature too? That is, he was less powerful (or evil) because he was a Maia.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

Yes, Tolkien says something like 'Souron was less evil than Melkor as long as he was serving someone else.' Did Souron's being a Maia affect his evil nature too? That is, he was less powerful (or evil) because he was a Maia.

Being a lower-degree spirit compared to Melkor, Sauron had less power to effect evil, but I do not think it had any effect on the nature of his fall. Or maybe, due to his having apparently a fairly high "rank" in relation to his position in the angelic hierarchy, he may have been more susceptible to Melkor's influence than say, a spirit of less innate power.

[IxnaY AintsaY]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

What was the difference between the evil nature of Melkor and Souron?

Mostly the laugh. Morgoth's was a rich, rolling, menacing "Mwahh-wah ho ha ha!" Whereas Sauron's was more of a shrill, gibbering "Heh-heh-kehehehehaa!" Think Jabba the Hut versus Salacious B. Crumb.

[Zigûr]

We must remember, as has been observed, that the chief difference was that all Evil was ultimately derived from Melkor, whereas Sauron was only a symptom of that evil, and perpetuated and profited from that evil.

That being said, by the end of the First Age the actual person 'Morgoth' has become separate from (and in a sense enslaved to) the metaphysical concept of Evil, which was his own nature divided and split from his will and control. In that sense Morgoth was scarcely in a position different to Sauron. There was still some difference, but not as much as there had been originally.

"In my story Sauron represents as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible." -Letter 183