Really intriguing post
Turgon, and welcome too.
Elladan:
Quote:
|
I feel certain that if the Noldor had stayed home instead of chasing Morgoth and the Silmarils, the Sindar and the Edain would not have thus been doomed. I don't believe the Valar would neglect them and leave them to the tyranny and oppression of the Great Enemy, and even if they did, Eru Iluvatar certainly would not.
|
I do not know how you can be so absolutely certain given that:
a) The Valar displayed great naiveity when dealing with Melkor/Morgoth - they seemed to lack the ability to comprehend the nature and reality of his evil purpose. Even after he masterminded the destruction of the Trees, the rape of the Silmarils and the abhorrent slaying of Finwe in their Holy Realm, they were desperately inactive in their response. Surely the time for War of Wrath was before Morgoth had a chance to return entrenched to his fortress dungeon, rebuild his dark legions and ruin so many more innocents in the meantime?
b) Beleriand was about to fall anyway just before the timely and unlooked for return of the Noldo and their great victory at the Battle-under-Stars.
c) The only Valar who had any direct dealings with Men (before Tuors meeting with Ulmo on the shores of Nevrast) was Morgoth, and according to HoME this brought about their first - and in some cases permanent - fall.
d) The supposition that even if the Valar deserted Men, Eru would not, is based purely on faith. Everything came forth from Eru, good and evil besides, so relying purely on the goodwill of an unfathomable entity whose essense clearly contains both light and dark seems a bit like wishful thinking.
e) Tolkien was a Catholic but he stated time and again that he hated allegory and direct comparrisons between his Legendarium and his real world faith. So to say that the only way to view the rebellion of the Noldor is within the context of our worlds Catholicism seems seriously open to debate.
Maybe I'm too cynical today and I'm sorry if this seems a bit contentious
Elladan, its just that I cant remotely presume let alone be certain that: "if the Noldor had not left Valinor, everything would still have worked out all right (as all right as it can be, anyway) in the end."