Tolkien and the Monsters

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by Bethberry

Or are you suggesting that this consuming and controlling are merely flips sides (ying/yang) of those who lack self-control?

Uhhh. . .sure. . .yes. . .that was precisely what I was suggesting. (Yeah, that's it, this was my idea!)

There is a tweak I would suggest to this however: that Sauron and Shelob do not lack self-control, but wish to control others according to the desires of the self. For them, there is no other except insofar as the other exists for the self.

Goldberry is an interesting character in this regard, I admit (and how surprising of you to introduce her here ). The control she weilds is not for the purposes of domination, however, but -- as you say -- to nourish and protect (which is what makes her 'magical' and not 'monstrous'). The ying/yang (I prefer to stick to the feminine/masculine terminology or, picking up on Renaissance formulations of this -- as I am hip deep in Shakespeare at the moment -- Mars and Venus; not as divisions between men and women, but as the two forms or modes of living for all people) at any rate, this interdependent relation of Sauron and Shelob is mirrored by Tom Bombadil and Goldberry on the mystical plane, and by Arwen and Aragorn on the historical plane (and by Sam and Rosie on the domestic?).

Hmmmm. . .it occurs to me that perhaps one possible definition of evil we might apply is that in LotR, the more a being is out of balance with this essential kind of interdependence, the more evil that being becomes. . .?