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But in the midst of the war a spirit of great strength and hardihood came to the aid of the Valar, hearing in the far heaven that there was battle in the Little Kingdom; and Arda was filled with the sound of his laughter. So came Tulkas the Strong, whose anger passes like a mighty wind, scattering cloud and darkness before it, and Meldor fled before his wrath and his laughter, and forsook Arda, and there was peace for a long age.
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Sorry about quoting the passage again, but I've been wondering about Tulkas' laughter. There are various causes for laughter, fun, joy and merriment, but also gloating, haughtiness or disdain. The latter are feelings that were surely known to Melkor, even though he probably wasn't used to be at the receiving end of them, so we can ignore that. But even for joy there can be various reasons.
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And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the city.
~ The Ride of the Rohirrim
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I see a similarity here between the joy of the Rohirrim and the joy of Tulkas. Tulkas came to Arda because he heard there was a battle in the Little Kingdom, not because the Little Kingdom was in danger or Melkor became too powerful or something like that. Not even for the love of the vision of Ilúvatar alone. Of course Tulkas is no Ares, who enjoys battle and slaughter not caring for the victims or for the sides who fight. He fights for the Valar and the vision of Ilúvatar, and when the fight is over he does not search for the next, though of course he's always there when there's a new opportunity, though this could also be due to his being slow to forgive.
Would Tulkas have come at all if there was no battle? The power of his laughter was essential in his victory over Melkor, but I don't think the source of his laughter was comedy and lightness of heart, but enjoyment of battle (and lightness of heart too, but for a different reason).
I'm straying a bit off topic now, but I think it's interesting that Tulkas enjoys battle, but the higher Aratar, like Oromë, don't (at least we're not told they did when at the same time it's emphasized in the case of Tulkas). At the same time, the Rohirrim sing in battle, but I don't recall* the higher Elves or (Dún-)Edain sing when killing orcs anywhere. Am I right to follow that, though Tolkien clearly had no disfavour to enjoy the slaughter and killing (of orcs), he did not let characters or people who "stand higher in a moral way" do it?
*which does not mean a lot.