"The Dark Fire Will Not Avail You"

[blantyr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Well, Saruman committed an egregious enough offense that upon the destruction of his incarnate form, his spirit was denied re-admittance to the Blessed realm. I'd say he didn't really escape the Valar's notice.

Very true. One would say they had to be aware enough of what he was doing to pass judgment. Still, with the exception of Gandalf, I can't say that the Valar or Maiar took direct action against him. It was only after he pretty much chewed the dead rind of spite to the point of causing his own death that they let their judgement be known. Dark lords too make their own choices.

Yet, I've played role playing games based on Tolkien where one tracks 'corruption points.' The more bad stuff a character does, the more you have to follow that road to its end. Once one starts drifting towards evil, the game mechanics push one towards becoming more evil. Wormtongue and Saruman might be two of the clearer examples of this in the books. These were clearly two intelligent, strong willed and subtle beings who in the end seemed like 1930s movie serial villains with everything but the cloak to swirl and mustache to twirl.

I wouldn't say this is Valar denying choice but perhaps the corrupting influence of the darker powers.