How the mighty do fall!

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

So, how much does spending time in a lowly state affect one's sense of pride? Morwen's seems to have increased when she became poor. Is there a pattern, or is it individual randomness?

It's probably also worth remembering that it was fear of ending up in a lowly state which motivated Sauron to refuse to return to Valinor for judgement, knowing that he would have been the lowest of the low in reflection of his primacy among Morgoth's underlings. His pride had never suffered, and he couldn't seemingly bear the thought of it suffering then.

Originally Posted by Ivriniel

I think a hello and welcome is in order and also to Althern who I see has fewer posts.

Might be a bit late unfortunately. You can see in the top left of the post the date of posting, and that was 2004. You can also check when a person last posted on their profile. Somehow I fear that if someone last posted twelve years ago a welcome now is unlikely to bring them back. That was a happier time, before the Hobbit films were made.

Originally Posted by Ivriniel

Why Melkor would (want) to turn Arda into a dust bowl of darkness and ruined things is hard to understand.

To keep things on topic with Inzil's post reviving the thread twelve years later, the reason for this was pride - pride which had become "nihilistic madness" as Professor Tolkien called it. He did not create the world, so he could not bear the thought that it existed at all. Therefore he wished to destroy it.

Originally Posted by Ivriniel

The Valar never had a real solution to the question of Evil.

This has come up before. It was not the Valar's role to find a full solution to the question, simply to maintain Arda's habitability for the Children of Eru. Eru had already solved the problem of Evil in the Music through the concept of "Arda Healed". This is all explained in parts 4 and 5 of Morgoth's Ring, which really are essential reading and answer a lot of common questions when exploring the metaphysics of Professor Tolkien's invention in more detail.

Is Lobelia an example of someone who learnt humility after pride? Does a character need to begin in a position of (relative) humility to be humble when they achieve greatness? Are there initially "great" characters who become humble later?