I can't find it because my books are all packed up (I'm moving) and I can't get to my Silmarillion, but there is a section where Tulkas the Vala wants to go and contend with Melkor. The other Valar retain him and afterwards they chain Melkor and try him on the hill. Would Tulkas have gone just to be a gently rough police officer and bring Melkor back? I think that Tulkas had the power to outright kill Melkor or at least send him beyond their present realm of existence. Perhaps we are agreeing indirectly. Is not exiling Melkor to the Void in a sense like killing him? Sometimes when the elves die, they go to the halls of Mandos, and the men eventually go to Eru, so why not have the Valar and Maiar that are killed just whisp away to nothingness, like the case of Melkor, Saruman, and Sauron?
Again, I'm just rambling without a book, so feel free to laugh if I'm totally wrong.
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"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and with more knowledge comes more grief."
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