Aulë = trouble!

[Angry Hill Troll]

What is it about Aulë that seems to get himself and people associated with him into trouble?

Consider that following:

--Aulë himself nearly had a falling out with Eru a la Melkor when he created the dwarves, until redeeming himself at the last moment by offering to kill Durin. Other than Melkor himself, Aulë was the only vala to get seriously crosswise of his creator.

--Sauron seems to have been working for Aulë at one time. Certainly he claimed this to Celebrimbor (with a few key details changed!). Sauron's skill at ringmaking seems consistent with this. One of the footnotes to The History of Galadriel and Celeborn in UT says that

...the probability is that Sauron was in fact one of the Aulëan Maiar, corrupted 'before Arda began' by Melkor.

--Curumo (Saruman) was Aulë's nomination for the Istari. Ummm...bad choice! While all the other Istari save Gandalf failed in their mission, either wandering off never to be heard from again or being preoccupied with semi-irrelevant things, Saruman seems to be the only one who actually himself caused a great deal of harm.

--Fëanor was one of Aulë's greatest pupils (and one of my greatest failures, we can hear Aulë saying in his best Obi-wan Kenobi impersonation). I am personally fond of Fëanor, notwithstanding all of his faults, but it is indisputable that he ended badly, and didn't fulfill his potential.

--More generally, it was the Noldor of all the elves who were most closely associated with Aulë. Unfortunately, they ended up as the "problem children" of Eru. The relative few who really weren't, or who later redeemed themselves (Finarfin, Fingolfin, Finrod, Galadriel, etc.) all had as much Vanyar ancestry as Noldor.

So, what's the deal with Aulë? Why does everyone associated with him seem to get into trouble? If I hadn't read in various posts on this board that

TOLKIEN DISLIKED ALLEGORY!!!

I might be tempted to think the story of Aulë and his proteges was allegorical (or metaphorical?) for Tolkien's view of technology--or perhaps of the character flaws (in Tolkien's opinion) of the types of personalities who are attracted to technology.

Thoughts anyone?