Was Melkor Bipolar?

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Ren the Unclean

I have always found the evil characters interesting.

Wouldn't have guessed that from your screen name...

Originally Posted by Nerwen

At most you can say something like, "he had the symptoms of X" or "might have been diagnosed with Y if he'd been a real person".

Or you could have been charitable and assumed that this was what he meant. I know what you mean though concerning the hype about some disorders - back in the good old days it was en vogue to talk and write about Hamlet's Oedipus complex, nowadays it's ADHD, Bipolar and Asperger's. (I dimly remember a thread from some years ago that proposed Bilbo and Frodo were Aspies...)

Originally Posted by Cirdan

And was Melkor tired, depressed and suicidal? -the other "pole"?

This is were Ren's diagnosis fails, I think. I'm sure Melkor was a hell unto himself, but he had lots of energy, and all his aggression was turned outside, none on himself.

Originally Posted by Morthoron

I wonder if one can even state a divinity or angelic being (albeit, a fictional deity) can exhibit any form of mental illness or ailments whatsoever.

If I remember correctly, Tolkien himself said somewhere in Morgoth's Ring that M. was insane by the time of the War of Wrath, contrasting him with Sauron, but I don't have the book to quote it.

Anyway, welcome to the Downs, Ren! Being undead by nature, you should feel at home here.