Inherent Evil

[The Saucepan Man]

How else could Melkor have been so corrupt and malevolent, if the seed were not sown in him somewhere by Illuvatar. (Lord of Angmar)

It is called free will. (Nils)

But free will cannot be exercised in a manner for which there is no potential either within the subject or within the environment within which the subject exists. So either Melkor was created with the potential for evil or he acquired that potential from his environment (Ea). Iluvatar created Melkor and he created Ea. And in order for Iluvatar to create something that has the potential for evil, he must have understood the concept. And since there was nothing and no-one else from whom he could have learned this concept, he must have understood it because it was within him.

Ergo, logically, Gwaihir is correct when he says:

Yet evil, I believe, is present in Eru as well.

[img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[ July 30, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]