Imagine No Redemption

[blantyr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Even if we readers seek to understand and have pity on the "evil" characters in the books, the final judgements handed down to some appear to show no tolerance in the end for their deeds; the relative "goodness" of their intentions is not ultimately left up to them to decide.

We are expected to understand and have pity on Gollum. It's a recurrent theme all over the books, that even the elves of Mirkwood treated him better than they'd treat, say, a pack of treasure seeking dwarves returning to their ancestral homeland.

But who else among the evil folk are treated with pity? The common response when the darkness rolled over the land was to mobilize and fight. Kill orc folk. Drive back darkness with bright steel. No other words please wild men, nor anyone else.