No Married Persons

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I think that is mostly valid in the context of Tolkien, though I would question it in the case of Morgoth. It seems there that the "power" motive might not have been primary, as he already held (as he thought) tremendous power in Middle-earth. In any case, Lúthien would have been, to his mind, completely in his power, being deep inside his stronghold, with countless minions standing between her and escape. In that instance, it appears that a sexual lust was possibly independent of a desire to assert power.

There is power and power. Sure, she was inside his stronghold, and seemingly helpless. That's one type of power. But Morgoth has a desire to posess her - not only to have control over her, but more like Ungoliant wanted to devour all Light, and Morgoth wanted to posess the Silmarili. Knowing that you have control is not always enough "power" in this sense.

Saying that, though, it does not mean that there was no sexual lust whatever.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

There is power and power. Sure, she was inside his stronghold, and seemingly helpless. That's one type of power. But Morgoth has a desire to posess her - not only to have control over her, but more like Ungoliant wanted to devour all Light, and Morgoth wanted to posess the Silmarili. Knowing that you have control is not always enough "power" in this sense.

The incident as described in The Silmarillion though would seem to lead away from "possession" as Morgoth's motive.

Then Morgoth looking upon her beauty conceived in his thought an evil lust, and a design more dark than any that had yet come into his heart since he fled from Valinor.

That seems entirely of a sexual nature. The desire to possess was obviously not a new one to Morgoth, and if that had been chiefly in his thought, I don't see why his feelings about Lúthien would have been of such note.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Sarumian

There is also no problem with love that people of the same sex can feel to each other as there is nothing "sexual" in such love. It is a kind of philia or even agape, rather than eros. I would risk to say this about Frodo and Sam as well as about Legolas and Gimli, but in Middle Earth the lack of lust is typical even for relationship between different sexes.

I'm inclined to agree on this regarding Frodo and Sam. There's a deep love between them, and presumably also between Legolas and Gimli, although we know less about that, which also demonstrates itself physically, but I've never been able to see a sexual tension. Not in the book, not in the films (even if the latter did spark discussion about homoerotic elements). I'm happy about it, because it tires me that love is so oftren connected with sexual attraction.

It's true, though, that most lust shown in Tolkien's works is evil. There's also one passage that hasn't been pointed out explicitly but which I find the most outrageous of all - in one of Tolkien's earlier writings, Melkor actually raped Arien because she refused to marry him. Anyhow, pretty much everyone who has been mentioned here as experiencing sexual desire, with the exception of Beren and Lúthien (and elves and their healthy sex lives in general), are evil in one way or another.