[Raynor]

Thus, any restrictions on his actions imposed by a desire not to remove their free will are obviated.

However, as I have pointed previously, it may be that Eru could not or would not remove corruption in creation until the end of time. This is something which is mentioned in the Atrabeth; Myths Transformed also notes that the eradication of Melkor (or, if I may note, of his corruption) is not possible without the destruction of Arda - which points again to the end of the world.

That an action which is 'morally wrong' for a human is morally right for God?

No, that is not how I understood Tolkien; God remains the ultimate source of good; however, we may not assume his omniscience, therefore not his judgement - and we also sin; to hope to have our sins forgiven, we must have mercy too. He was talking about being "extravagantly generous" in this aspect. In this, I believe he was also reffering to the Christian mercy, or to the love which forgives everything. In his comments to Frodo, he was indeed talking about two scales of morality which we must apply: absolute ideal for ourselves - and mercy for others.

And, being aware of that fact, I stated it was in the '40's that the account of Numenor was introduced & developed

He goes from a story to a full manuscript in that period, if I read Hammod correctly. However, I will pick no more on this and where you're heading with it. As far as I know, there is no evidence, so it's not worth my effort until it surfaces; debating almost alone with 3 other persons is challenging enough.

I thought we were to refrain from telling each other what our 'points' were.

Forgive me if I was unclear; I was reffering to presuming personals values. I certainly don't want anyone to be executed; in this debate, I am following a line of argument which, for the time being, I believe it is correct. However, debating should not resort to painting the other persons in bad colors. I appologise in if I have done so.

Again, I think the problem is that are ignoring the spirit & implications of statements made.

Ok, please present the context from which you derive that children like cruel justice.

You refuse to accept that Miriel was one of the faithful because no-one has yet given you a quote in which Tolkien wrote 'Miriel was one of the faithful.' Does Tolkien anywhere say 'Frodo was a good person who sacrificed himself for others'?

False analogy; there is massive evidence that Frodo was good and was sacrificing himself, direct and indirect, in the books and letters; zero on Miriel behalf being a faithful.

Now, the 'situation' referred to is clearly not the general behaviour of the Numenoreans - which had been going on for a good while. The situation, clearly, is the attack of the fleet - this is clear because the result of the Valar's action is to open a chasm & engulf the fleet. The fact that the fate of Numenor is described in the passive (its on the edge of the rift & topples over) implies that it was a side effect, not a direct consequence.

Since this provides a further deviance from the story, Tar Calion engulfed, before I answer I will go back to my HoME V to see what this could possibly mean.

Throw up all the quotes you want but it won't address the real issue of how many readers feel about what happened.

If this is your final position, then fine by me. If no mather the evidence, you persist in a certain personal interpretation, it is your own right and choice and I respect that. However, if you imply there is "objective" (if I may say so) fault, then there is ground for discussion.