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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
I believe that Tolkien himself said something to the effect that the situation in Numenor was not unlike that of the biblical Israel from the Old Testament Bible. Yahweh, as the comparable Eru is there named, commands the Israelites to destory whole nations: men, women, children, beasts, everything. When they obey these commands they are called righteous, for having obeyed; and those who do not obey, or not completely, are named unrighteous. Now, Tolkien didn't have his faithful Numenoreans wreaking death upon the Numenoreans that worshiped Sauron, but the comparisons are there.
The point is that we presume that the children are innocent. It appears, from the text of The Silmarillion, that "the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the third and fourth generation", seems to hold true. The Noldor have to deal with this, in terms of their oath.
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Hmm, but what is carried out in the Old Testament is just Jihad, Holy War, the same thing that some extremists are waging today - as seen by the actions of terrorists, they do not
care that they also kill those of their own creed and colour as they are doing it in God's name and are righteous in taking life. However in Tolkien's world it's not
people who wreak Jihad on other people, but
Eru who does it, which is a very different thing. In fact, when the Noldor rebel, they are in many ways enacting a Jihad, and they are punished for it heavily - and rightly. In the world Tolkien creates, it seems only Eru has the authority to do such things and if mere people attempt them then they are not deemed 'righteous' but are damned.
As for the children being innocent, I still can't find anything to say otherwise than that Tolkien thought children in his secondary world were innocents. And in terms of the sins of the fathers being visited on other generations, you could say that some things come out in character flaws when in adulthood, but likewise they often do not (witness the comparison of Boromir and Faramir).