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Originally Posted by Nikkolas
There are also other quotes about how Sauron's tyranny started out with noble intentions.
Was what Sauron did evil? Certainly. That doesn't mean Sauron believed it was wrong. To him, enslaving the world was the only way to help it.
Free will breeds selfishness and evil. If you could min control the human race to only think and act for the whole and not for themselves, you could very readily eradicate evil. It's just a price too great for some to fathom.
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But some might argue such an act would be, in itself, evil. Are "mind-controlled" people, with no will of their own, even people at all?
I don't think Tolkien meant that Sauron's initial good intentions included enslaving everyone. That was surely a product of Sauron's later corruption– though no doubt he still presented it to himself in the same terms you do. But then, I rather suspect real-world dictators are often pretty good at kidding themselves, too.
As for your contention that Morgoth had no choice but to be evil– well, your argument there rests on a belief in absolute determinism (which you apparently later reject– see the above). Unfortunately for you, that would apply equally to every other character– including the "good" who "suck so much"– making the entire discussion null and void.
In general:
Nikkolas, what you seem to be getting worked up about, basically, is that the characters aren't completely black-and-white. Is that really a problem?