Why did the Valar help defeath 👁️Sauron?

[John]

Why Did The Valar choose To Send The 5 Wizards To Help The People Of Middle - Earth Against Sauron instead of taking an Army to destroy Him Themselves?

 

[1stvermont]

Well you asked, you only have yourself to blame




What is the Chance of the Valar Helping the Free People During the Third age?

If Sauron had the upper hand during the war of the ring, or had he won the war, would the valar send help? Or, even, why did the valar not attempt to destroy Sauron in the third age in the first place?

I think there are many reasons. First, the valar are not perfect divine beings but a creation of Eru. Just look at Melkor, Sauron, Saruman, and the balrogs who war against Eru and the valar. Further, like Eru, the valar do not desire to use force. The valar are not to control or impose their will on the children of Iluvatar; they are to allow free will. In The peoples of Middle-earth the Shibboleth of Feanor, we read, "it was unlawful for them [valar] to coerce." So to ask them to act would be perhaps inconsistent with their nature and purpose. The evil Sauron and Melkor rebelled against Eru, who desired to be king of earth and force all of Middle-earth to conform to their desires and lust for power.

In the first age, the valar did intervene and fought against Melkor and Sauron; however, it was by a few Valar's efforts to convince the rest to act. During the first age, they most often neglected Middle-earth, even when Arda was under the dominion of Melkor and darkness. Even those who lived in Middle-earth like Melian left Doriath to destruction and returned to the west.

Eru was not likely to intervene either. In The Peoples of Middle-Earth, we read "the one only directly intervened in history once, in the momentous reshaping of the world in the second age. There is never the slightest suggestion that he would do so again no matter how badly matters went in the war of the ring."

One of their main functions of the valar was resistance to Morgoth, and since he was no longer in Middle-earth by the third age, we don't see the intervention of the valar either. Their other function was in creation; since they accomplished this, little was left to them on Middle-earth, and they focused on their dwelling, Aman.

"They [valar] became more and more enamored of Valinor, and went there more often and stayed there longer. Middle-earth was left to little defended, and too little protected against Melkor."
-Myths Transformed Morgoth's Ring HarperCollinsPublishers 2015

Morgoth's Ring Ainulindale D reads, "but in Valinor; the Valar dwelt with all their kin and folk and because of the beauty and bliss of that realm they came seldom now to Middle -earth." What was omitted was the earlier version C, where Yavanna and Orome came to Middle-earth to visit. Tolkien seemed to be moving towards a more distant valar even in the first age.

So the Valar in part, neglected a corrupted Middle-earth because they dwelt in paradise. Hard to blame them. So instead, we read that Middle-earth was "left it for long unguarded, and the lordship of Morgoth was uncontested save by the valor of the Noldor." So instead, the valar guarded their realm as Myth Transformed says, "The valar took refuge from Melkor....and built and fortified Valinor."

"Even if we under eru have the power to return to middle-earth and cast out Morgoth from the kingdom of Arda, we cannot destroy all the evil that he has sown, nor seek out all his servants- unless we ravaged the whole of the kingdom and made an end of all life therein, and that we may not do."
-Mandos The problem of ROS Late Writings the Peoples of Middle-earth HarperCollinsPublishers London Bridge St 1996

Another reason they refused to engage was their love of Middle-earth's natural beauty, not wanting to see it further destroyed. In The Later Silmarillion, "Aule was grieved, and it is said that he [and others of the valar] had before been unwilling to strive with Melkor, foreboding the hurts of the world that must come of that strife." Morgoth had put much of his power into the matter of earth itself and caused corruption to destroy him would also hurt the earth itself. When the valar did act in the war of wrath, it left great wounds and scars on the landscape. In Grey Annals, we read, "these lands upon either side of Sirdon were ruinous and desolate because of the war of powers."

But other reasons also must have played a role. The valar must have felt betrayed by the children of Iluvatar. In the first age, the elves betrayed them and left paradise for Middle-earth, and brought death to Valinor. They accused the valar of evil doings, and Manwe and the valar were "aggrieved that they were charged with evil intent." Mandos declared to the noldor after they had slain other elves that "the valar will fence valinor against you, and shut you out" In Morgoth's Ring -Athrabeth Finrod Andreth we read that "during the period of the exile of the Noldor the valar had for the time being cut all communications between Aman and Middle-earth."

A few times, elves even sent boats west to ask the valar for help and they all went unanswered and it appears at times Osse killed them. In the Grey Annals "His ship [Voronwe] foundered in a great storm within sight of land, and he alone survived for Ulmo saved him from the wrath of Osse." Turgon, king of Gondolin, sent men west for help, and few returned. Cirdan the Shipwright sent seven ships west, and only one returned as the wrath of Osse destroyed them.

Men more often sided with Morgoth in the first age, and more men fought against the valar in the war of wrath than sided with the elves. In the second age, Amadil went west to ask the valar for help but was denied. To make it even worse, the Numenoreans then attacked the valar in Valinor.

Morgoth's Ring Ainulindale D says, "we of the Eldar believe that men are often a grief to Manwe, who knows most the mind of Illuvatar." Andreth [man] in Athrabeth Finrod AH Andreth during the first age says, "the valar do not trouble us [mankind] either with care or instruction." In Of men, we read, "there came no vala to guide men, or summon them to dwell in Valinor and men have feared the valar, rather than loved them, and have not understood the purposes of the powers being at variance with them."

After men attacked Valinor and Eru remade the world, he might not have allowed the valar to interfere after this change in the world. In Morgoth's Ring, we read that "many other Valinor creatures....have not yet been seen upon Middle-earth and perchance never shall be since the fashion of the world has changed." And we read in The Later Silmarillion during the first age Orome hunted Melkor's servants "but the Valaroma [his horn] is blown no more upon Middle-earth since the change of the world and the fading of the elves." Finally, Tolkien writes in Letters 131 that "Valinor and even Eressea are removed, remaining only in the memory of the earth." This is a new world.

We also see the elves' fading as a cause for the neglect of Middle-earth by the valar. The Silmarillion in of Fenor it reads, "Melkor most hated the Eldar...because...he saw the reason for the arising of the valar, and his own downfall." It was not man but elves that Melkor and the valar were most closely involved with. And by the war of the ring, very few Noldor elves were left, and even those few were leaving. The war of the ring was the time for mankind to rule. In Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth Tolkien says of the valar "they had sufficient power for their functions." Their main functions were to create the world, help the Noldor elves, and to fight Morgoth. By the third age, those were no longer needed functions and the Valar became obsolete. After the destruction of Morgoth, we read in Myths Transformed, "it was also, in a sense, the end of Manwe's prime function and task as Eldar king."

"The valar were like architects..... they become less and less important as the plan was more and more nearly achieved. Men will also fade when they complete their function."
-Morgoth's Ring Myths Transformed HarperCollinsPublishers 2015

At the council of Elrond, the wise decided not to attempt to send the ring west because "they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it [the ring] for good or ill; it belongs to Middle-earth it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it." Saruman rightly told Gandalf, "the Elder days are gone…the time of the elves is over."

"Manwe knew that before long the dominion of men must begin. And the making of history would then be committed to them... Manwe knew of Sauron, of course... Sauron however, was a problem that men had to deal with... Sauron's first defeat was achieved by the Numenoreans alone."
-Morgoth's Ring Myths Transformed HarperCollinsPublishers 2015

The valor's strength was also greatly reduced by the third age and might have contributed to their reluctance to act. Feanor argued in the first age after the destruction of Valinor's two trees that they could not even protect themselves from Morgoth; how could they protect Middle-earth? In Unfinished Tales, Ulmo told Tuor "I am diminished, until in Middle-earth I am become now more than a secret whisper… my power withdraws from the land." And since the power Eru granted them was no longer in need, their power was reduced or used up as was Melkors accomplishing their functions.

The valar had lost a great deal of power, creating the world and healing the world's ills of Melkor and the war of wrath. By the third age they have likely been reduced a good deal. Even maiar such as Olorin or Gandalf was scared of Sauron and did not want to go to Middle-earth. Sauron's power was more significant than Morgoth's in the first age; the valar's were less.

Of course, one would say, the Valar did act; they sent the Istari. True. It might be that the Istari were the best the valar could muster to fight Sauron with by the third age. But would they just have sent more maiar to help if the battle went ill for the free peoples? I am not sure. Only eight maiar are named in The Silmarillion, and at least five were sent. Maiar sided with Melkor and at least one of the Istari, Saruman, turned against the free people and maybe the two blue wizards as well. Sending them to become incarnate subjected them to corruption and death in ways they would not face in Valinor and they would likely not want to risk it.

"But in this 'mythology' all the 'angelic' powers concerned with this world were capable of many degrees of error and failing between the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron, and the fainéance of some of the other higher powers or 'gods'. The 'wizards' were not exempt, indeed being incarnate were more likely to stray, or err."
-J.R.R Tolkien Letters 156

The "help" sent by the valar almost seemed to do more harm than good. Unfortunately, Saruman caused great harm, and The two blue wizards most likely followed Saruman's lead.

"I think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South, far out of Númenórean range: missionaries to 'enemy-occupied' lands, as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and 'magic' traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron."
-J.R.R Tolkien Letters 211

If this is true and these wizards started cults for the Easterlings, then three of the maiar helped Sauron rather than the free people. Of the two who helped the free people, Radagast did little, and did not concern himself much with anything outside of his animals. The only maiar that fulfilled his role was Gandalf the Grey, and he failed and was killed in Moria. Indeed this was not the intention of the valar. Of the five wizards sent, the only to return to the west was being Gandalf the White.

I think it could be argued the valar hurt rather than helped the free peoples. Asking the valar for more help might do the same. In Unfinished Tales, the Istari reads, "of all the Istari, one only remained faithful." Overall the actions of the valar Robert Foster observes "seem tentative and not always successful."