[River Jordan]

ho bombadil!
YOU SAID: "General agreement here, RJ. But I'm sure you didn't mean that the good guys in LOTR are purely good! Farmer Maggot wouldn't agree about Frodo, anyway "

Of course not. I quoted Kurt Bruner earlier as having said: "The Lord of the Rings is a tale of redemption in which the main characters overcome cowardly self-preservation to model heroic self-sacrifice."

I was contrasting the good versus evil in Lord of the Rings with that of the modern Harry Potter where the "good guys" aren't really good. See what I mean here:

Harry disobeys teachers (SS, 148-150) lies (COS 128, 164, 209; POA 155, 246, 283-285) disobeys school rules (SS, 153-158, 209-213; COS, 164-165) steals (COS, 165-166) breaks wizard laws (SS, 237-241; COS, 69) cheats (GOF, 329, 341
Ron disobeys school rules (SS, 153-158, 209-213; COS, 164-165) lies (POA, 289) steals (COS, 165-166) break wizard laws (SS, 237-241; COS, 69) uses profanity/swears/off-color slang (COS, 259)
Hermione disobeys school rules (COS, 164-165) steals (COS, 165-166) cheats (GOF, 338-339)
Hagrid disobeys conditions of his employment (SS, 59, 64) breaks wizard laws (SS, 230-233, 237-241; GOF, 438) encourages children to break rules (SS 64, 237) cheats (GOF 329)
Mr. Weasley breaks wizard laws (COS, 31; GOF, 45, 61) lies to wife (COS, 66) uses profanity/swears/off-color slang (GOF, 43)
Fred & George disobeys school rules (POA, 192) disobeys parents (COS, 30; GOF, 88-89, 117, 367) breaks wizard laws (COS, 30) lies to parents (COS, 32)
Dumbledore lies (POA, 353)

In Lord of the Rings, there are consequences for our heroes when the good guys do the wrong things or give into temptation (i.e. every time Frodo uses the ring). In Harry Potter, the "good guys" do the wrong things / bad things but with no consequences. I like the ethics of LotR better than "Potter-ethics"!

Your friendly neighbourhood elf,
*River* Jordan