Sauron vs. Your Mama - A Discussion of Power in Middle-earth

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by alatar

Seems to me that, in the beginning, Melkor was the one-stop-shop for evil. Sure, he had his crew, but, in the First Age, if you were looking for evil's source, you drove northward. In later ages, as Morgoth sold franchises and subfranchises ad nauseam, you needn't drive for more than a few miles to get some evil. Sure, this evil wasn't as pure (or powerful) as stuff from that one store way up north that existed long ago, but it still did the job, especially as you didn't need the same amount like in the past when those pesky elves and Edain were around.

With Hurin, you had to drive north, but with Ted the drive wasn't so long.

So my question is, in both Tolkien's view of Christianity and in his created world, were Men more apt to resist evil in the beginning (or not), and was evil itself more powerful in the past?

As I see it, if we graphed the trends, in one view you would see the following (see graph, and note that the lines are just to show trends and do not relate to each other...much):

Thoughts?

Gives me the willies thinking of poor Santa up North there all alone, resisting Melkor.

What if you look at this question a slightly different way, in terms of the conservation of energy. Is Evil a perfect machine, capable of transforming 100% of energy to its output? or does it simply transform into different kinds of evil? If Evil = Energy, then the Law of Conservation of Evil would state that Evil cannot be created or destroyed. Assuming Middle-earth is a closed system without anything leaking in from the Void, which is probably an incorrect assumption as Ungoliant did leak in.

I don't think the question of genetic imperfection would have pertained in Eden, because, if Adam and Eve had not 'fallen', would they still have reproduced? Was Paradise an endlessly expanding concept or would it have gotten really crowded? On the other hand, if Adam and Eve were made in the image of the Great Creator, wouldn't that have meant they would naturally want to sub-create? Friction of course changes energy.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I found al's post a fascinating conundrum. And, oblo, God was just an inexperienced Parent. As any parent has learnt, the quickest way to get your child to do something is to forbid it.