As a first time poster and with only a moderate knowledge of the Tolkien works, though I hold a deep appreciation for them, let me give my take a couple of points in this thread.
As to whether I feel that the Valar held some measure of responsibility for middle earth…. it depends. Certainly in matters concerning the actions of Sauron, the role should be a more active one, as he is one of the Ainur. Let me highlight an example: If I live on a farm far into rural areas beyond the concern of any police force and I have one neighbor who also lives on a farm that borders my own. If he goes out and perpetrates actions of his own free will and thought that cause his yearly crop to fail (say spreading hydrofluoric acid over his field for reasons that no one else could comprehend), it is not my responsibility to care about his predicament or assist him in any way. If I want to, it is only something that I do freely out of my good nature. However, if his crops are failing because one of my teenage sons is sneaking onto his property and spreading the acid, then I suddenly have a responsibility connection to the failure of his crops. Since I am too far out to have a law enforcement intervention, I have two choices –
1. Intervene and use my power to prevent my family member from destroying the property of others knowing full well that I can stop him.
2. Say – “Well I don’t live there and I don’t like to hassle with that hell raiser, so take care of the situation yourself and here are 5 dogs who while not assisting you, could bark if they see anyone on your land.” (or they could turn on you and help my son, run off, or forget their mission)
I don’t think that the Valar should take an active role in ME. Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, etc. are responsible for the all of the terrible things they have wrought. But if a member of the Ainur is causing the sorrows, then I think the Valar have a personal stake in the matter and should get more actively involved. Remove all of the influence of the Ainur from ME and let the fates of the remaining races play out as they will. This example does not cover all the small points of the Sauron situation, but at least details where I am coming from.
Maybe Sauron’s problem was that he bound his power into something so obvious on his personage. Rings, and circles in general, have powerful mythological meanings but he did have other jewelry options. Lord of the Bracelets, Lord of the Anklets, Lord of the Broaches, but if he really wanted to hide his powerful object it would have been Lord of the Tongue Barbells. Yep, with his head to toe jet black appearance a glowing gold ring would be about as unnoticeable as a balrog at the long expected party. Sauron’s appearance was hideous enough, even if you took him down, would you want to act as a dentist to retrieve it? Oh well just a couple of my rambling thoughts.
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