Originally posted by Morgoth
New questions.....
1. Did Eru forsee the downfall of Melkor, and the Failure of the Race of Men? Was Eru all-seeing like our christian god, or was he only as powerful as the Valar, as far as seeing into the future goes?
2. Was Melkor the most powerful of the Valar, as the Ainulindale would suggest? If he was, weren't the Edain and the Elves doomed from the start, by Eru's own creation?
First, a previous question: what happened to the
elvish places after the departure of the elves? We are told that upon
Arwen's death, the flowers of
Cerin Amroth never bloomed again east of the Sea. I would think that these things faded and disappeared not as the
ruins of men, but almost as etherial creations that fade into the mist. Since they had been maintained by the elvish
rings of power, once those failed all that they had kept pristine and unspoilt simply ended, leaving nothing behind that anyone could see or recover; there were no "elvish" artifacts. Even the great
trees of
Lothlorien are no more upon earth so they too must have simply vanished (or changed in some other way) when the last traces of that which held them in place ceased to be.
Now to the above questions: speaking as an Orthodox Christian, a Church unchanged from the beginning of "the Church", I can say that theologically, it was always understood that as God embarked upon creation, He forsaw the Cross. In other words, nothing can "surprise" God who exists external to time and therefore sees all that did, does and will happen. The fact that He was willing to engage in creation notwithstanding, shows how great was His love. After all, He created all things in order not only to love them, but for them to love Him. For that to happen, He had to impart to his sentient beings - angels and men -
free will since coerced love is no love at all. And with free will came the ability to reject God and to place one's love upon some other object.
Yes, Eru knew the results of His creation, including the Valar, but His desire to share His divine love was such that He was willing for all that happened to happen since the only way to prevent it was to forebear creation at all.
2. Melkor, like Lucifer, was the greatest of Eru's creation. He was given the greatest gifts and
should therefore, have been Eru's most devout and loving son.
And he had the opportunity to BE the greatest of all after Eru in creation but he chose rather to limit HIMSELF through his disobedience and pride. Thus also, did Lucifer fall. Not content with a greatness beyond all created by God, he wanted rather to
replace God Himself something which even the least sentient being would know to be impossible. Both Melkor and Lucifer in their prelest chose to diminish their very being in an attempt to fulfill their desire for omnipotence. In that way, they became merely equals of
Manwe and St. Michael rather than their superiors and eventually, deteriorated into inferior beings doomed to outer darkness together with their wretched followers.
Yes, sadly, once creation was underway,
evil would influence all that came after. However, like Melkor and Lucifer, those who came into creation were free to choose evil or good. Thus, though the root cause of evil was beyond the ability of Eru's children to determine or avoid, they were still able to choose their allegiance to either side. Furthermore, those who chose wrongly by virtue of ignorance or some reason beyond their control would not be held as accountable as would those who did so in full recognition of the meaning of their choice. Hence,
Saruman was far more blameworthy than some poor
orc bred to his wretched state and unable to depart therefrom.
Sadly, only in the fullness of His own perfection could Eru/God insure that no evil would ever come into being. Once sentient beings with free will had been created, then the possibilty of the rejection of God - evil - was reality. And yet, without free will, the reality of
love is not possible. Therefore, God's conundrum was this: exist alone in perfection or create other free beings and abide in imperfection. Fortunately for us, He made the second choice.
And if I'm not mistaken, the chief Nazgul was the WitchKing... I might be mistaken, though... I still find it hard to find my way with all those names....
