[GaladrieloftheOlden]

Never is the enemy an equal human being (or hobbit, or whatever, you get the point),

The Scouring of the Shire. Some of the Hobbits had gone over to "the evil side".

We think the enemy is evil, and usually they think we are, which leads to both sides claiming to be fighting evil while, in a way, both sides are evil.

But one of the roots of fantasy is that there is a "somebody" who is really and truly evil. In real life, everybody has a good side. (Oh, how sweet... [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] ) But in Middle Earth... well, the closest to that that you can get is having once been good, and then gone bad (eg, Saruman.) You're not going to be able to tell us that Melkor had a peaceful side to his heart, that he spent his free time gardening and going to anti-war demonstrations.

Tolkien was very religious. Maybe he is trying to reflect these mysteries?

...but that would be allegory, which we know Tolkien very much denied.

There must be a right. And there must be a wrong. And those must be discernible.

If you're talking about fantasy, I agree. If you're talking about real life, I most certainly don't. Could you say which one you mean?

Killing isn't wrong, when the thing you kill is compleately evil, is it?

Once again, the fantasy vs. reality problem. If you're talking about fantasy, but of course, go ahead. But in real life, there isn't anybody who is really and truly evil, and doesn't have something good abut them. (I sound like a sappy Disney movie, don't I?)

I think it's very hypocritical. You say it's wrong to kill, then you kill that person for killing.

Well, my comment to that is a bit off-topic, but still: I, 'in general', disagree with the idea of a human bein able to decide whether another lives or not, whether in war or court. But sometimes I think that it's much worse to live your whole life in jail, because a life ended is a life snapped out, a life in jail is a life wasted. Wouldn't it be terrible waking up every morning knowing that you woudn't choose what you did that day, that it had all been planned out and you couldn't change it? I think I understand peole who go mad in jail.

Just because they had hopes and ambitions doesn’t make them good folks

Of course not! But it makes them human, which is something already, because being human means that there is a chance, however small, that you won't always be the way you are. Humanity allows for change.

This is seen in the very subtle wording of Exodus, in the Ten Commandments, when the Hebrew word, usually translated as “kill”, is actually a legalistic term that is better translated as “murder”.

If you mean the word "leharog", it is actually a word that is used for both, so we can't really know what it is supposed to mean in the Bible, I think.

~Menelien

Edit: I believe that was the longest post I have ever written. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ May 05, 2003: Message edited by: GaladrieloftheOlden ]