Quote:
Originally Posted by Findegil
What he said too Melkor at the end sounds much more like redemtion then like nihilation, at least for me.
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I've got quite similar ideas in response to Dark Lord's post. And that reminds me about one ancient philosopher who Tolkien was, no doubt, aware of:
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Origen (pron.: /ˈɒrɪdʒən/; Greek: Ὠριγένης Ōrigénēs), or Origen Adamantius (184/185 – 253/254),[1] was a scholar and theologian of early Christian interest in Alexandria, and one of the writers regarding the early Church. During the fifth and sixth centuries, his orthodoxy was questioned, largely because he believed in the pre-existence and transmigration of souls, and apokatastasis, or universal reconciliation, ideas which were discussed among some patristic writers but which were later rejected as heretical... However, in recent years the idea has found some reconsideration[4] especially among Restorationist Christian groups. [...]
As in the beginning all intelligent beings were united to God, Origen also held out the possibility, though he did not assert so definitively, that in the end all beings, perhaps even the arch-fiend Satan,[7] would be reconciled to God in what is called the apokatastasis ("restitution").
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The words of Eru quoted by Findegil could be interpreted in different ways, thus we cannot say if the universal reconciliation is Eru's design but there might be such possibility and in that case Sauron is not excluded - presumably, after the end of Arda and Middle Earth. Before that, as Tolkien himself stated somewhere else, Sauron (and Saruman too) was sentenced to be present in the world until its end as a powerless spirit. May be we can imagine future adherents finding their way around to communicate with these spirits, obtaining some kind of important knowledge... Why not?
