XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: fred@fred.com   
      
   The trouble was, that whenever the Valar involved themselves in trying   
   to fix the affairs of Elves and Men, they generally stuffed up bigtime   
   (total destruction of Beleriand, sinking of Numenor, by calling on Eru   
   to sort it). Their "intervention" was always a bitter pill to swallow.   
   Maybe they finally decided it was safer to stand back and let Elves and   
   Men fix things themselves, with subtle help. Even if this strategy also   
   had problems, along with sending in nobbled Istari, at least Middle   
   Earth survived intact.   
      
   --   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)