XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.tolkien
From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm
On Sun, 09 Oct 2005 23:29:07 GMT in rec.arts.books.tolkien,
Christopher Kreuzer favored us with...
> Stan Brown wrote:
> > On Sun, 9 Oct 2005 10:54:08 +0000 (UTC) in rec.arts.books.tolkien,
> > Zip favored us with...
> >> In trying to figure out why Elrond did not simply force Isildur to
> >> throw the ring into the flames of Mount Doom, one can only conclude
> >> that the influence of the ring was so strong, that he could not
> >> bring himself to stop Isildur from walking off with it... Afterall,
> >> the Ring of Power protects itself by ingratiating itself with the
> >> owner and the others near it...
> >
> > I don't agree.
> >
> > It seems equally plausible to me that Elrond and Cirdan did not
> > compel Isildur because they valued the autonomy of the person.
>
> I agree, though I'd ask if by that you mean 'free will'?
Not exactly, though I do think the "good" side values free will. But
you have free will even when loaded with chains.
By "autonomy of the person" -- and I'd gladly accept a better phrase
if someone has one -- I mean the opposite of compulsion. I'm having
trouble putting it into words; maybe I mean liberty (in the sense the
US Founders used it), that people should make their own decisions and
bear the consequences, with no one "wiser" or "better" making the
decisions for them.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Tolkien FAQs: http://Tolkien.slimy.com (Steuard Jensen's site)
Tolkien letters FAQ:
http://users.telerama.com/~taliesen/tolkien/lettersfaq.html
FAQ of the Rings: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm
Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm
more FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/faqget.htm
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