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Originally Posted by Raynor
Davem, if I understand your argument correctly, you say that there are no ideas/feelings/propensities which are evil/immoral/wrong in and of themselves, regardless whether they are put to action or not. Please confirm.
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Then it seems you haven't understood my argument at all.
Of course there are
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ideas/feelings/propensities which are evil/immoral/wrong in and of themselves, regardless whether they are put to action or not.
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when those ideas/feelings/propensities relate to the primary world. In the case of a fictional creation though one has much greater imaginative freedom. As I have repeated, one may side with Melkor as a rebel against Eru if one finds Eru a narrow minded, totalitarian megalomaniac. One may also side with the Orcs if one finds the Elves boring, self satisfied & smug. One may also decide to think oneself into the mindset of an Orc or Nazgul just out of curiosity. One may just like Dragons. Tolkien's creation is not the be all & end all. One is not required to 'choose a side' as if one's immortal soul depended on the choice. One may (if one is a Christian) may have to choose the side of God & His angels in this world if one is to save one's immortal soul from hell, but choosing to side with Melkor over Eru will have no effect on one's soul & at most provide a new & interesting angle from which to approach the story.
In short, this thread is dealing with a question of psychology rather than morality. Why would a reader choose to side with the 'bad guys'? Why not? The idea that someone who thinks Morgoth is a cool dude & wishes he had stomped the Elves into the mud is placing their immortal soul at risk is so far fetched as to be unworthy of being taken seriously. Players of Middle-earth strategy & role playing games regularly adopt the role of the Witch-king or Sauron himself (in many cases because the game is a two hander & someone has to be the bad guy, in some cases just because they want to rule the world - of Arda!), but the idea that that person, in throwing him or herself fully into the game is risking becoming a psychopath & running amok with a scimitar in the street is absolultely laughable.