Why Does Good Suck So Much?

[Nikkolas]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Amandil's voyage was in vain because the Valar had already accepted such an embassy once before. Every time Men and Elves got in a bind, should they have had the fallback of running to the West for protection? No. That, ultimately, was not the purpose of the Valar.
It can be argued that the "gifts" given to the Edain by the Valar, their proximity to the Undying Lands and their extended lifespan, contributed to the fall of Númenor. However, you can't reasonably accuse the Valar and the One of murder because of it. What Ilúvatar did in destroying the island had to be done, as Ar-Pharazôn and his army could well have wrought death and ruin in Valinor.

If he is so powerful (and certainly if he is omnipotent), Eru could have easily defeated the King's Men and not destroyed Numenor. Their entire fighting force vanquished, what threat were the poor women and children on the island to the Valar?

No, Eru set out with genocide in mind.

You're joking, right? That's why he sacrificed innocent people in Númenor, then? And why he made the Rings of Power? With them Sauron enslaved Nine Men, basically overwriting their innate humanity, turning them into undead slaves who had absolutely no will of their own. And let's not forget his impaling Celebrimbor's body on a pole and using it for a banner. If that isn't a sign of noble intentions, what is?

I was thinking of this quote when it comes to Sauron's motivations:

"[Sauron] still had the relics of positive purposes, that descended from the good of the nature in which he began: it had been his virtue (and therefore also the cause of his fall, and of his relapse) that he loved order and co- ordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction. (It was the apparent will and power of Melkor to effect his designs quickly and masterfully that had first attracted Sauron to him.)"
Myths Transformed

There are also other quotes about how Sauron's tyranny started out with noble intentions.

Was what Sauron did evil? Certainly. That doesn't mean Sauron believed it was wrong. To him, enslaving the world was the only way to help it.

Free will breeds selfishness and evil. If you could min control the human race to only think and act for the whole and not for themselves, you could very readily eradicate evil. It's just a price too great for some to fathom.

And thanks for the link to the Morality thread. Great read so far.