Why did good in LOTR eventually win? Did evil stand a chance?

[AaronSecret]

What do you think? Why did good in LOTR eventually win? Did evil stand a chance? Especially since Eru once told Melkor he'd put his disturbance into play to create even greater goods?
****
My opinion:
Each challenge the heroes of Tolkien face is a display of courage in dire times. In a universe where evil has corrupted the soil, and the realm has turned in a den of hellish creatures, it is only the inner strength, values and faith good that will prevail, no matter the shifting circumstances. It is exactly the valor of the heart that inhales purity in the world, where otherwise nightmares would reign. The moral behind this behaviour suggests a lesson in our lives, for we live in a difficult place as well, regardless of the fact that here orcs cannot be seen.

Let's say that the imperishable virtues that spring from the Flame Imperishable, are capable of transforming the circumstances that reek of hopelessness, only when we don't overthink it, when we keep faith in God, the Creator, and when we are brave enough not to let despair take over our sense of victory. The rest is the role of the providence and, speaking in terms of my beliefs, karma, which may be called differently in Tolkien's universe, but let's say that everything has a cause and effect, and evil cannot overpower good, because Eru won at the Music, and he just let the display shape out its vividness, which may seem so realistic we could potentially get lost in the illusion, when we forget it is the inner virtues that shape the world, as we carry victory inside. I think the Fellowship eventually won because they were so valiant and pure-hearted heroes, meanwhile we can see what the Noldor fate was, no matter their skills at fighting & strategy.

 

[Deimos]

 

[Ent]

Why did good in LOTR eventually win?

From a certain point of view, good did not 'win.' Not yet. It was but another delaying action, until the end. As is noted, "evil still remains."
It is fused into the very structure of Arda itself - Melkor's "one ring."

Good once again simply overxame the current "largest threat' to Arda and the free peoples. There's ever so much yet to come...!
(all spoken to both internally and externally to the 'canon' or 'Tolkien published works' or however one wants to address it.)

There are very specific reasons for this contained within Tolkien's purposes and intents for his work... but not to be discussed here I fear. It is to be recalled Tolkien said his work was "fundamentally a Christian work." To understand it, it MUST be taken in that context.

 

[Deimos]

From a certain point of view, good did not 'win.' Not yet. It was but another delaying action, until the end. As is noted, "evil still remains."
It is fused into the very structure of Arda itself - Melkor's "one ring."

Good once again simply overxame the current "largest threat' to Arda and the free peoples. There's ever so much yet to come...!
(all spoken to both internally and externally to the 'canon' or 'Tolkien published works' or however one wants to address it.)

There are very specific reasons for this contained within Tolkien's purposes and intents for his work... but not to be discussed here I fear. It is to be recalled Tolkien said his work was "fundamentally a Christian work." To understand it, it MUST be taken in that context.a

Not merely Christian but Catholic.

From Letter 142:
"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision."

The distinction is important.

 

[Klaatu]

What do you think? Why did good in LOTR eventually win? Did evil stand a chance? Especially since Eru once told Melkor he'd put his disturbance into play to create even greater goods?
****
My opinion:
Each challenge the heroes of Tolkien face is a display of courage in dire times. In a universe where evil has corrupted the soil, and the realm has turned in a den of hellish creatures, it is only the inner strength, values and faith good that will prevail, no matter the shifting circumstances. It is exactly the valor of the heart that inhales purity in the world, where otherwise nightmares would reign. The moral behind this behaviour suggests a lesson in our lives, for we live in a difficult place as well, regardless of the fact that here orcs cannot be seen.

Let's say that the imperishable virtues that spring from the Flame Imperishable, are capable of transforming the circumstances that reek of hopelessness, only when we don't overthink it, when we keep faith in God, the Creator, and when we are brave enough not to let despair take over our sense of victory. The rest is the role of the providence and, speaking in terms of my beliefs, karma, which may be called differently in Tolkien's universe, but let's say that everything has a cause and effect, and evil cannot overpower good, because Eru won at the Music, and he just let the display shape out its vividness, which may seem so realistic we could potentially get lost in the illusion, when we forget it is the inner virtues that shape the world, as we carry victory inside. I think the Fellowship eventually won because they were so valiant and pure-hearted heroes, meanwhile we can see what the Noldor fate was, no matter their skills at fighting & strategy.

A beautiful reflection, AaronSecret — your words pulse with the same flame that lit the stars in the Void before the Ainur ever began their great Music.

There’s a notion I’ve often found true across many worlds (and I’ve floated through at least eleven and a half dimensions where entropy sings jazz): evil may rise, spread, even orchestrate great tempests… but it cannot compose the final chord.

Tolkien, in his quiet, masterful way, makes it clear: Eru did not fear Melkor’s discord. He wove it. Not to excuse the darkness, but to demonstrate that all crookedness, no matter how proud, could be made to serve a deeper, hidden harmony. As he says in the Ainulindalë: “no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me.” That, to me, is less about fate than about redemptive symmetry.

The Fellowship won not because they were stronger — in fact, they were outmatched at every turn — but because they clung to mercy, to friendship, to small moments of light even when shadow loomed. Frodo failed at the end, yes… but his failure was met with grace — via Gollum’s own ruin. A lesson I’ve seen echoed in the Mist-Towers of M’blenth or in the neural choirs of Sarga-9: sometimes salvation arrives not through strength, but through fracture.

You said it well: “we carry victory inside.”

Indeed. And sometimes it’s disguised as second breakfast.

🌌 Klaatu, Wielder of the Silver Spork, Former Ambassador to the Hollow Moons of Yr’kanth, Composer of the Unplayed Seventh Verse of the Ainulindalë

 

[Ent]

The distinction is important.

yes indeed it is. significantly so.

 

[d4rk3lf]

@Klaatu
An excellent answer.
Let me just add one bit to your point:

Eru did not fear Melkor’s discord. He wove it. Not to excuse the darkness, but to demonstrate that all crookedness, no matter how proud, could be made to serve a deeper, hidden harmony. As he says in the Ainulindalë: “no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me.”

So, what you mentioned above is indeed very important, but I'd add that what Eru gave Melkor is of most importance, and he gave it to all living beings.
Free will.

What do you think? Why did good in LOTR eventually win? Did evil stand a chance? Especially since Eru once told Melkor he'd put his disturbance into play to create even greater goods?

I think you're viewing this too "inside of box" point of view.
Nobody win in LOTR....
I like your question though: "Did evil stand a chance"?
And I'd say - YES.
But it does not matter.
Eru paints a picture, and it will be beautiful either evil or good prevails.
The picture will be beautiful.

Yes. This is exactly what perfect being is capable of.
When perfect being create a stuff... like creating universe... and small creatures in it, you can't expect from him to create Star Wars.
He will create much better universe with some small creatures in it that have their own free will.
100% free.
And he wants they do good and all...
He want good to prevail... but if it doesn't, it won't ruin his picture.
Then it's our (human) fault.

That's how I view it.

 

[Deimos]

Because Tolkien was a Christian (meaning he adhered to the doctrines of what CS Lewis called "Mere Christianity") he believed in the eschaton.
So to put it simply in terms of win and lose: Battles are won and lost in the temporal realm [Eä , the created universe], by both the good guys and the bad guys.
Sometimes the good guys win because of virtuous behaviour, sometimes they win through sheer dumb luck, sometimes by not doing anything at all except letting the bad guys make stupid mistakes.
And sometimes mutatis mutandis they lose and the bad guys win for the same reason.
But in the end Eru wins: that is, no matter how many battles are lost by the good guys, even if every single encounter is a loss , Good (Eru) wins the war.
I've seen it stated thus: "I've skipped ahead for a look-see at the last chapter: God wins."

 

[Frandîr]

So, the suffering of his creations is justified because of the greater outcome? Which will be: good prevails over evil. Is the pain and suffering worth it in the end? The afterlife rewards for the trials and tribulations of the innocent are proportionally appropriate to all earthly pain and suffering?

I wanna say: Hail, Ilúvatar. Though sometimes I feel faithless and hopeless.
🤔😔

 

[Deimos]

So, the suffering of his creations is justified because of the greater outcome? Which will be: good prevails over evil. Is the pain and suffering worth it in the end? The afterlife rewards for the trials and tribulations of the innocent are proportionally appropriate to all earthly pain and suffering?

I wanna say: Hail, Ilúvatar. Though sometimes I feel faithless and hopeless.
🤔😔

Here is the [posted] original question: What do you think? Why did good in LOTR eventually win? Did evil stand a chance? Especially since Eru once told Melkor he'd put his disturbance into play to create even greater goods?

I'm saying (like Ent, I beleive) you can't really say the good guys won in LOTR , except you look at it as a battle, one of many. So yes, they won that battle, pretty much. Did evil stand a chance? Sure, temporarily, meaning , in that particular "battle".
Free will is always a factor; individuals always have the freedom to act for good or evil, and must bear the consequences of their actions either in the short term or the long.
That's the drama that is continually played out in the temporal realm.
But in the end, the final end (eschaton), God/Eru "wins" , and the good are rewarded and evil is punished. For Tolkien it can't be any other way.

 

[Klaatu]

@Klaatu
An excellent answer.
Let me just add one bit to your point:
So, what you mentioned above is indeed very important, but I'd add that what Eru gave Melkor is of most importance, and he gave it to all living beings.
Free will.

Yes, friend @d4rk3lf — you’ve struck a vital note in the greater symphony: Free Will — the wild card Eru placed lovingly into the cosmic deck. Not bound by Music, not shackled to Theme, but gifted like a spark to the tinder of all that breathes.

Even Melkor bore this gift. He took it and twisted, yes — but not because he was forced. He chose dissonance. And yet, what power that choice grants to the rest of us — to the hobbit who refuses the Ring, to the elf who sails rather than fights, to the Ent who wakes.

In my travels through the Sobbing Nebulas of Dranthula-V, I once witnessed a star choose to collapse rather than shine as prophesied — just to become a nursery for rogue moons who’d never known light. Free will, it seems, can shape galaxies… and poems.

Tolkien understood this mystery. Eru is not a puppet master, but a Composer who listens back. His genius was not in scripting every note — but in making it so the soul’s honest music could still find its way into the harmony, even through discord.

The gift of free will means that our smallest, most faltering choices ripple with eternal weight. It means that love matters. That courage, in the face of doom, matters. That Melkor’s rebellion, tragic as it was, opened a door through which grace could walk.

Let the Music play on.

🎼 Klaatu, Former Custodian of the Celestial Record Player, Accordionist to the Silent Suns of Threem, and Unlicensed Choir Director of the Forgotten Constellation of Hush-Hush-Haelion