[Raynor]

Originally Posted by skip

Because if he was, he did not have a free will and was only doing what Eru created him to do.

Then again, even we are capable of predicting a certain behavior, given certain characteristics. And Eru knew Melkor better than anyone could; even if Melkor retained free will all throughout, Eru could still predict quite easily what he would do, at least in certain circumstances (as we could too, if we had that knowledge, I would venture to say) - and I do not presume in this case prescience, simply a very good use of psychology.

I don't think it fits the mythology to have Eru himself as the prime cause of "evil" as your resoning would suggest, even if the evil in the end will make the world a more beautiful place.

I disagree, since this mythology sees Eru as the source of everything there is or could be; and I would add that this is "exonerated" by his omnipotence - if I may quote:

Originally Posted by Letter #212

A divine 'punishment' is also a divine 'gift', if accepted, since its object is ultimate blessing, and the supreme inventiveness of the Creator will make 'punishments' (that is changes of design) produce a good not otherwise to be attained

So it's not even a zero-sum "game", it's plus-sum.

So death, grief and sorrow would not exist in the perfect vision that is Arda Unmarred

I disagree with your reasoning. First, this death is of an Elf - death definitely happens for all Men, and even Elves could still die by whatever material means (killed, by accident or not as they are not invulnerable). Moreover, this particular death raised concern because it was willed, to a certain extent.

Why were they surprised? If the Eldar could do wrong, then the Valar would surely not have been surprised to find that they eventually faulted, even in the Blessed Realm.

Then again, the Eruhini were a mistery to the valar, I doubt they would presume they could really understand them.

Moreover, at least for Men, I would expect a certain level of "entropy"; that is, even if they would have good intentions, their mind is failable, and left to their own devices they would build societies, structures and rules that would come to, gradually, degrade conditions for at least some of them. Thus, grief and despair are not out of the question, and a great deal of them (or at least wrongly perceiving, since, again, their minds are failable) could lead to a loss of hope in Eru, which, by and large, is a fundamental sin.

(don't we have anything better to do?)

Well, for me, it beats other hobbies, such as tweaking Xubuntu or learning Python; ceteris paribus, I bet we will be at this for years to come .

This, however, is the basic idea: What Morgoth brought into creation is a lower path to choose, apart from the high road ordained by God.

True, but, as argued in a previous post, there can be other paths, in normal circumstances, still below the "moral" optimum, which do imply or require moral choice, no matter how mundane they are. Nobody will ever come so low as Melkor, nor will one test others as he did; but tests and testers always exist, even if only because of diversity.

I don't agree that the thoughts of pride and rebellion that arose in Feanor could have done so without the marring.

Then again, even in a Arda Unmarred it is possible for an accumulation of circumstances that would stress one's limits, understanding or faith, too much; simply statistically speaking. Accidents are still possible, and the capability of Men, esspecially, to deal with them is limited; they are the frailest of all Eru's Children.