The Trickster in LotR

[davem]

Originally Posted by LmP

Don't know what to make of your Saruman comments, though.

Me neither. I just wonder whether, as a Maiar, bound forever within the circles of the world, he envied Men's freedom. Men are not bound by the Music 'which is as fate to all things else' - which probably means that within Arda things will happen & those bound within it cannot leave it & so are bound to live with its fate. Perhaps Saruman simply wants freedom over his life, freedom from destiny. I wonder if this was what originally inspired Melkor.

Its not much fun, being bound to fate, living within a controlled universe. Maybe Saruman just wanted to be allowed to 'grow up' & make his own choices? He makes the wrong ones & suffers for them, but he is something of a 'free-thinker'. He is a rebel against authority who is brought low & destroyed by his hubris - more & more like Milton's Satan, proudest, wisest & most beautiful of the angels destroyed in the end by his refusal to serve & his desire for freedom.

Perhaps in Tolkien's universe, like Milton's, the is no room for the Trickster only for the servant of, or the rebel against, The Authority...