Fantasy

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by davem

And that's another interesting thing about Tolkien's world & the philosophy which underlies it - many 'sinners' are offered the chance of forgiveness & redemption, but how many of them actually take it? And why not - think of them - Gollum, Denethor, Wormtongue, Saruman? Not a one of them repents. What is Tolkien actually saying there - that offering forgiveness & the chance for repentance is good for the one who makes the offer & shows his 'enlightened' state, but is ultimately pointless, because once a bad guy always a bad guy?

According to Tolkien's faith, offering forgiveness is always good and never pointless, because it enhances the wellbeing of the person doing the offering (assuming it was offerred with a compassionate frame of mind and not with ulterior motives). It isn't a matter of showing off one's enlightened state or scoring rep points or pwning!, but of actively promoting good, even if it is refused. To call it pointless if refused is to apply the value system of materialism to the act--one might even say, if I am reading Tolkien correctly, Mordor's materialism.