Posted: February 06, 1998 at 06:04:06: by Palle Neithan Rasmussen
: : : I can't explain why, but I've always associated Morgoth with fire. He is never said to have a particular affinity for it like Arien and the Balrogs, but he certainy used it a great deal.: : Someplace I read Morgoth started a lot of fires and maybe that was when the Balrogs came to him? : If evil is defined as "the domination of other wills" or the "making of the will effective" or "the exercise of Power for its own sake", then Aule is in the most morally perilous position of all the Valar. His very nature as a Maker places him on the side of "science and technology," a direction which to Tolkien was not evil in itself but which could very easily go astray.It's interesting that the first non_melkor rebellion was Aule's making of the Dwarves; and the first non_melkor-inspired conflict was the Dwarves' (predicted) demand for firewood. > Aulė and Morgoth shared a desire to create, and creation in Middle-earth is very much associated with fire, so I guess it logical for Melkor / Morgoth to have an affinity for fire and the capability to lure spirits of fire to him. If we compare this desire to discover and create to a Tolkien-contempoary example; what about our scientists creating the atomic bomb, as Aulė, harnessing the atomic power is not in itself "evil" it just has the potential to be used for vast evil and destruction????.
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