why did Celebrimbor allow Sauron?

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Originally Posted by alatar

What of the pride that you can play with evil, take a sip, grasp the sword, steal the bait, traverse the spider's web, and come through unscathed or unchanged? What if Celebrimbor knew, deep down, that Annatar was Sauron, or someone as powerful and as evil as Sauron, and yet thought, "I can handle this. I can allow it to go so far, and when I've had my fill, pull back."

There's certainly precedent for this in Tolkien's work. Look at Denethor and Boromir. They both believed they could use the Ring against Sauron without falling prey to it, reasoning that their intentions were good and noble and thus above corruption. Pride blinded them to the truth, that the Ring was evil and nothing good could be done with it that would not somehow turn to evil in the end. Celebrimbor could easily have had a similar failing. I think the fact that he made the Three entirely on his own was not so much because he wanted to show Annatar that he could do it by himself, but that he knew deep down that Annatar's motives were not as benevolent as he wanted them to appear. And yet he ignored any negative feelings he might have had because he wanted the knowledge and skills Annatar offered more than he feared the risk of taking them.