[Zigûr]

Hello all,
Lately for my academic research I've been looking into Tolkien's theodicy, and something struck me while reading the account of the First Fall of Man in Morgoth's Ring. Now in the published version of The Silmarillion we are told this:

But it was said afterwards among the Eldar that when Men awoke in Hildórien at the rising of the Sun the spies of Morgoth were watchful, and tidings were soon brought to him; and this seemed to him so great a matter that secretly under shadow he himself departed from Angband, and went forth into Middle-earth, leaving to Sauron the command of the War. (p.141)

In the 'Tale of Adanel' in Morgoth's Ring the figure who arrives to corrupt Men is described thus:

Then one appeared among us, in our own form visible, but greater and more beautiful (Morgoth's Ring p.346)

Does that sound like anyone we know? I realise that the Tale is both a) unpublished material as far as the Professor was concerned, and b) a rather sketchy account by those who fled into the West, but the idea that Morgoth came among Men in "great and beautiful" form does appear to contradict the notion in the published Silmarillion that before Melkor even left Aman, before even killing the Trees and therefore precluding the existence of the Sun he "put on the form that he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno: a dark Lord, tall and terrible. In that form he remained ever after." (p. 73) The Tale also says that the corrupter of Men referred to himself as the "Giver of Gifts" (Morgoth's Ring p.346).

I also realise that Professor Tolkien eventually had an impulse to drastically overhaul the timeframe of the awakening of Men, such that perhaps in a revised history Morgoth could have come among Men in a beautiful form, and the published Silmarillion specifically mentions that Sauron was at home minding the shop while Morgoth was out on his corrupting rounds. It just seems to me that whoever came among Men seems in many ways to bear noticeable similarities to Sauron, who didn't lose his ability to assume a pleasing form for thousands of years afterwards and who called himself Annatar, Giver of Gifts, to the Elves of Eregion. Of course the fact that this figure establishes a religion worshipping himself in the 'Tale of Adanel' is more consistent with Morgoth being there in person rather than a servant doing the work, and perhaps the similarities I'm seeing are just another way in which Sauron came to be a more and more direct imitator of his old Master. I suppose he's even responsible for the Second Falls of Elves and Men (Eregion and Númenor) the same way Morgoth was for the First Falls (Valinor and Hildórien) although in both cases the 'Fall' was of course much more overt for Men than it was for Elves.

I find these parallels extremely interesting and I thought I'd share them with you. I don't suppose I really think that it was Sauron who went and corrupted Men; I kind of have an image in my head of Morgoth doing the mythic equivalent of hastily packing a suitcase and reeling off instructions to Sauron like how often the dogs need to be fed and what the emergency numbers are and things after hearing about the rise of Men. Nonetheless I think the similarities are intriguing, especially considering Morgoth's apparent circumstances. Is the element of mystery surrounding the identity of the corrupter of Men deliberate, do you think, or was Professor Tolkien recycling old ideas in his characterisation of Sauron to emphasise the stale, recursive nature of Evil?