Melkor; Evil by Will or Evil by Nature?

[Ancalagon'sFire]

There is no doubt that Tolkiens own background and faith has had some indirect influence on wrtings. Though the acknowledgement that Eru could be somewhat representative of 'christian' monotheism is extremely loose, it is certainly not Tolkiens objective.

"..I was from early days grieved by the poverty of my own beloved country: it had no stories of it's own (bound up with it's tongue and soil), not of the quality that I sought, and found (as an ingredient) in legends of other lands. There were the Greek, and Celtic, and Romance, Germanic Scandinavian and Finnish (which greatly affected me); but nothing English, save impoverished chapbook stuff. Of course there was and is all the Arthurian world, but powerful as it is, it is imperfectly naturalized, associated with the soil of Britain but not with the English; and it does not replace what I felt missing. For one thing it's `faerie` is too lavish, and fantastical, incoherent and repetitive. For another and more important thing it is involved in, and explicitly contains the Christian religion.

For reasons, which I will not elaborate, that seems to me fatal. Myth and Fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truths (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary `real' world. (I am speaking, of course, of our present situation, not of ancient pagan, pre-Christian days...)

From a letter to Milton Waldman in 1951 published both in the Forward of the Second Edition of the Silmarillion as well as being letter # 131 in the year 2000 edition of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The fact that Eru is not a 'Christian god', means all thinking explicitly based on Christian principle can be the object of debate. In this case, there is nothing to suggest that Tolkiens 'Iluvatar', was not in equal measures both good and evil. Then again, there is nothing to suggest he is not simply an all-round, loving, caring good guy/girl. However, I do not think it is reasonable to simply draw a conclusion that because Tolkien himself was Catholic, that his mythology should be labeled Christian. Tolkien’s design was to create a pre-Christian mythology for England.

This again leads us into the realms of allegory, from which Tolkien was keen to distance himself, because his intent was an original, non-allegorical creation.

[QUOTE]I disslike Allegory - the conscious and intentional allegory - yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language. [QUOTE]

The fact remains that like it or not, all this work is open to scrutiny, but scrutiny with an open mind, so I would be grateful if you would not discard my thoughts on this matter.

As for Frodo, I think it is admirable that you are such a staunch defender of his purpose and his goals, which were thrust upon him. Yet, in the end it was Gollum who actually completed the destruction of the Ring. Was this part of Erus plan?

Melkor, Evil by Will or Evil by Nature? I am referring to him specifically for he was the instrument of pain, misery, suffering and discord from the very beginning, why him? Where did this discord, this discontent, this desire to create havoc come from? Eru, of course! [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]