The atrocity of the Akallabêth

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Legate

P.S. What was the original question of this forum?

The best conversations always end up going off on mad tangents!

Now about the Fall happening at the point where Melkor adds his discordancies to the Music, I can go for that. But firstly it means that in Tolkien's creation, The Fall was not due to Man but to a God, which is interesting. And secondly, it still leaves me wondering if Eru placed the possibility there anyway, as all themes came from him; this allows room to discuss whether Eru planned this to happen or if he simply laid possibilities in the essence of his Ainur and then allowed them the free choice of which themes to sing. But in that direction discussions of Free Will lie and that's even thornier.

There is an interesting point to consider - if Eru drew a distinction between good/evil then who or what framed these concepts to Eru? Obviously the answer is nobody as Eru is The One, the beginning and end of creation in this world. In that case, there are simply an infinite number of possibilities of thought, behaviour etc and can Eru decide which ones he wants his creations to do? Which ones he wants to reward and which to punish? Can Eru change the rules? He clearly can exercise which rules he likes, as shown by his intervention in Numenor, at the pleading of the earth-bound Valar. Scary.