"Do You Hate Women?"

[Marwhini]

I am not sure that the reference here to "The Devil" is indeed directly to Sauron.

I need to go dig up the video interview of Tolkien, but in it he tends to refer to anything associated with Morgoth as being "in league with the Devil."

Thus when referencing Mordor, he is addressing its allegiance to Morgoth.

I tend to side with Tom Shippey in that regard.


Here is the First video where he refers to "The Devil" (at 3:40 - 4:00):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFcjBzP7H-E


And here, where Sauron is a "Petty-Lieutenant" of the "Prime Evil, Morgoth" (between 5:50 - 5:60):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFexwNCYenI


I cannot find the other two (One of them might be Christopher Tolkien, and not JRR). I shall continue looking over the next few days, as I know that there is an explicit discussion of "Satan" and "The Devil" in the interviews or documentaries.

But as for "Sauron being the Devil..."

It would be strange for Tolkien to be referring to Sauron as "The Devil" and a "Petty-Lieutenant of the Devil" simultaneously.

As I said before.... I think that the reference in Letter 175 is referring to "Servants of the Great Evil" when it says "in League with The Devil."

This is often a feature of Khabbalistic and Occult writings as well:

When they discuss "Evil" they tend to refer to the Ultimate Evil, as it is the Origin of All Evil.

And, Mordor remains in League with Morgoth, even if ruled by Sauron.

MB