Today, with the starting of this thread, I am celebrating my 5555th post anniversary. You are all invited to commemorate the day with me at any given moment, even though the anniversary will only last until my next post. But at least this time I remembered to spend it on something more or less meaningful. Anyways, to open the can of worms...
In the legendarium, there are two main sources of the so called “absolute evil” – Morgoth in the First Age and Sauron in the Third, and perhaps somewhat in the Second. I place Sauron on par with Morgoth because, regardless of their origin and beginning (which have no bearing to this thread), they both end up as the “supervillain” figure at some point.
Next, there are dozens and scores of people who rise, or are lifted up against their will, to battle this absolute evil, be it directly or indirectly. These people all have different thoughts, motives, consequences, and etc. for battling evil. Moreover, some may be said not to be in the battle at all.
I am most curious about your psychoanalyses of different personas and discussions of thereof, but, as an extension of the topic, I decided to open it up to other questions. These are the points I want to touch on:
1. Discuss the motives, thoughts, and rationale behind the fight. Why are the characters battling evil? (Somewhat philosophically) Are they fighting against evil, or are they fighting for good? Is the character fighting for a specific purpose? Bottom line, are they fighting evil, or are they fighting the orc that is standing in front of them? Does the way that they choose to fight reflect any of the above? Etc.
2. Compare/contrast characters and the above information. Does the difference in the “fight” make one of them better than another (as a person, as a character to read about)? Do you think the character deserves the credit that he gets for the fight (either fame or lack of thereof, or changes in reputation)? Etc.
3. Are there any large-scale trends among certain groups of people or time periods (or other divisions)? Is there a reason for those trends?
4. Anything related you can come up with, discussions, disagreements, etc.
While we do have many interesting shades of grey among our Tolkien characters that choose to fight between themselves, this thread should stick to those that fight the “ultimate evil”.
As it is probably expected of me, I will provide a (1) analysis of my favourite character to analyze in such situations (hint hint wink wink), but that will come a bit later in the near future, time permitting. I don’t want this thread to turn into a one-character argument so early on.
Instead, I will provide a (1) and (2) Beren analysis.
1. Beren
Very little could be gleamed of why Beren fought before Barahir’s death. I would assume that it was for the same reasons as Barahir’s group in general – a true hatred of Morgoth’s creatures that invaded Dorthonion and a desire to defend their homeland, with the invaders part possibly being stronger than the Morgoth part. When his father and the others are killed, Beren pursues the orcs for revenge. As a “solitary outlaw”, he combats every creature of Morgoth, but does not slay any other living thing (was he vegetarian? What did he feed on?), since the fauna became his friend. If at first it’s not clear what is the overpowering force (hate of Morgoth and the invaders or love of Dorthonion), since his father’s death Beren did not necessarily fight for the good, he only fought the evil. Both ways, though, it seems as though Beren is not striving against Morgoth, but rather against the individual invaders.
Here I will skip in Beren’s story to the part about the Silmaril. He announced the challenge when he gave his oath to Thingol because of his love for Luthien. Right away we can place his greatest deed as something not done purposefully against evil. I won’t say he fought for the greater good either. He’s on a quest for his maiden’s hand, and IMO his oath helps him go on, since he would not back up from it. The question here would be (or my own personal bit of cynicism), what does he actually do except follow Luthien’s lead once the challenge begins? Not much, if you think of it, but at one point he dead seriously wants to give it a try on his own (when he sings Farewell sweet earth and northern sky). Beren shows himself for the first time (yes, I am that cynical about the Lay of Leithian) on their way out, when he faces Carcharoth and loses his hand. Here he is quite desperately trying to escape from Thangorodrim, and it’s only for his and Luthien’s lives that he challenges Carcharoth. All in all, the quest was not so much of a fight against evil as it was a personal quest for the Silmaril. The fight for evil lay in the challenge, the mere fact that someone would sneak up and cut a Silmaril out of Morgoth’s own crown.
The next and last time that Beren battles a representative of the absolute evil is during the Hunting of the Wolf. This Beren does more out of duty than anything else. He is fighting Carcharoth because he is a threat to Doriath standing in front of him, and he has no thought that a blow to the Wolf is an indirect blow to Morgoth.
Now I will proceed to...
2. Beren
I always thought that Beren’s role in the main story is a bit overcredited. Luthien gets the disguises, Luthien disposes of Carcharoth, Luthien tricks Morgoth and casts all of his court into a sleep, and Beren cuts the Silmaril. When looked on from the POV of the rationale behind the fight, the main fight here is in the daring – that certainly deserves whatever praise it got. Overall, too, Beren’s deeds are not so spectacular, and only his daring can be praised. The one part of his story that I think is not praised enough is the very beginning, until he comes to Doriath (which also happens to be the part of his life that I like best – warning: bias).
In conclusion, I do not consider the Quest for the Silmaril to be a fight against Morgoth, and, disregarding that, I think Beren gets too much credit. What he does deserve the credit for is his bravery (but ohhh the lack of actions to match it!) and for his deeds before Doriath, which also happen to be a fight against Morgoth.
I sincerely hope that I have not scared you all away with my long post and analysis – you need not make yours so wordy.
PS: finally I spend an anniversary post on something long and meaningful! Hurray!
