XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm   
      
   On Thu, 8 Aug 2013 17:05:28 +0200, Raven wrote:   
   >    Self-delusion from wishful thinking.  Sauron was not without virtue - as   
   > an abstract concept.  He was one of God's created spirits, having once sung   
   > before God with the other Ainur.  He had not tossed his old virtue away, as   
   > much as twisted it to his own ends.  He believed in Right, all right.  He   
   > just conveniently adjusted Right to his ambitions instead of vice versa.   
   >   
      
   I really like what Tolkien says about Sauron at the beginning of "Of   
   the Rings of Power and the Third age" in /The Silmarillion/:   
      
   "When Thangorodrim was broken and Morgoth overthrown, Sauron put on   
   his fair hue again and did obeisance to Eönwë the herald of Manwë,   
   and abjured all his evil deeds. And some hold that this was not at   
   first falsely done, but that Sauron in truth repented, ... But it was   
   not within the power of Eönwë to pardon those of his own order, and   
   he commanded Sauron to return to Aman and there receive the judgement   
   of Manwë. Then Sauron was ashamed, and he was unwilling to return in   
   humiliation and to receive from the Valar a sentence, it might be, of   
   long servitude. ... Therefore when Eönwë departed he hid himself in   
   Middle-earth; and he fell back into evil, for the bonds that Morgoth   
   bad laid upon him were very strong."   
      
   In one of the Letters, Tolkien elaborates on this.  It's number 153:   
   "But at the beginning of the Second Age he was still beautiful to   
   look at, or could still assume a beautiful visible shape = and was   
   not indeed wholly evil, not unless all ?reformers? who want to hurry   
   up with ?reconstruction? and ?reorganization? are wholly evil, even   
   before pride and the lust to exert their will eat them up."   
      
   We saw the same thing in Saruman.  I have no doubt that when he   
   arrived in Middle-earth he desired to work for the good of its   
   inhabitants.  But he too became impatient with them and passed from   
   wanting to inspire them to good to wanting to command them to do good   
   to just plain wanting to command them.   
      
   --   
   Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA   
                                     http://OakRoadSystems.com   
   Tolkien FAQs: http://Tolkien.slimy.com (Steuard Jensen's site)   
   Tolkien letters FAQ:   
     http://mysite.verizon.net/aznirb/mtr/lettersfaq.html   
   FAQ of the Rings: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm   
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   more FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/faqget.htm   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)