Predestination in Middle-Earth

[Lord of Angmar]

I return from a short leave of absense (my electricity was taken away from me yesterday by Hurricane Isabel) and find a thread in the midst of extremely deep philosophical discussion. I probably should not be so bold as to jump into the middle of such a debate, but I feel the need to make a short post on behalf of my earlier reply and in defense of several members.

"This is a contradictory statement as 'beings of free will' implies that these are beings who have power over their future within the context of their surroundings."[Lord of Angmar]

I don't agree. Free will simply means that one is free to make decisions. One has no control over what will happen in life, but one does have control over the decisions one makes. (Eladar)

I do not follow your line of thinking. I never implied that free will means having complete control over the course of one's life. I define free will as the exertion of power through decision-making over one's surroundings. This does not mean that one controls their surroundings, merely that one can and will influence them with one's actions.

This theory is not sound. If each being had a free will, then they could essentially change what was going to happen to themselves. Then when it is said that Eru knew the future,... well he could not. (Gurthang)

Wrong, Gurthang. The mortal elf's point was that Eru, being a creature of eternity who can see everything before, during and after it happens, would be able to see the actions that one of the creatures of Middle Earth has taken, is taking or will take, without actually influencing the continuum that would lead that creature to the action. Very simply, he would be foreseeing the definite future (as if it had already taken place) without influencing any of the variables that would inevitably lead to that future.

I tend to agree with the Saucepan Man on most of the points made thus far within this thread, but I have not the time to reply to all, and I feel it would be an injustice to this fine topic to begin delving deeper into the subject matter without giving everyone's post a more thorough read.

Cheers!
-Angmar