Was Eru a Sadist?

[Lyta_Underhill]

Remember that the Fourth Age was to see the dominion of Men. What good would it have done if Gandalf and the others had come blazing in from the West and defeated Sauron with their own might? What would Men have learned? They would still be like children who are cared for by others.

This was precisely the point I made when my husband (the aptly named Witch-King) told me he held a grudge against Gandalf for not helping the hobbits scour the Shire at the end of the War of the Ring. Those four hobbits were more than ready for the challenges they met back at home! It is tempting to some to adopt the expressed opinion of Saruman, that mortals are Gandalf's playthings and he "drops them when their usefulness is at an end," (paraphrasing from memory here); but that is a dangerous view, and would lead to the idea that mortals are indeed but pawns in a larger game, toiling blindly without ever gaining any rewards for their labors. The higher power as sadist would then be a possibility within the minds that thought so.

Somewhere here on the Downs there is a thread suggesting Tolkien's close affinity with Faramir, I think it is. And even that is tentative and circumspect.

Tolkien wrote in one of his Letters (or it may be a footnote to a letter) in response to a question of which character is most like himself (I do not have the Letters to hand at the moment, so I can't be more specific, sorry!) that he saw himself most like Faramir, because of the more spiritual nature to Faramir's outlook. I don't remember what qualifiers he gave. Having read many of Tolkien's Letters, I can't imagine him identifying himself with Eru!

Cheers!
Lyta