Replies

Tolkien was a Christian, knew that humans are fallen, and understood the axiom: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The Valar sent the Five Wizards (Maiar) not to fight Sauron spirit to spirit, but to inspire the peoples of Middle Earth to oppose him.

Although Tolkien disliked allegory, and resisted thinking of the Valar and Maiar as “angels,” they were in essence similar: A Vala was more powerful than a Maia; the Valar, the rulers in Valinor, were fewer in number than the Maiar, their servants.

Both were eternal spirits with great powers who could incorporate (use a body), but did not have to do so. Gandalf of the Third Age, who took the form of an old man, was Olorin of the First Age. In that earlier time, he often influenced the Elves by planting thoughts in their minds, although he sometimes assumed the form of an Elf; he never declared himself as a being of higher power, because he did not want to arouse either terror or worship.

Sauron (The Abhorred) was originally Mairon (The Admirable); he was a Maia. Although he is certainly a type of Lucifer, who became Satan, the truer archetype of the Devil is Melkor (He Who Arises in Might), who became Morgoth (Black Foe of the World).

Morgoth was one of the two most powerful Valar; he chose evil. He seduced many lesser spirits, some of which became Balrogs, and one of the greatest Maiar, who became his most powerful servant, Sauron.

Morgoth was defeated by the Valar at the end of the First Age, but Sauron survived, and remained. He later took his former master’s place in Middle Earth as a despot.

The Valar later sent five Maiar (as Wizards) to deal with their fellow evil Maia, Sauron.

Both Gandalf and Galadriel - the second most powerful Elf of all time (after her cousin, Feanor) - understood that absolute power corrupts, and both of them refused to take the Ring - even to do good, and to stop Sauron.

Because each was already enormously powerful, the Ring would have enhanced that power far more than it would someone like Frodo, whose innate power was much less. (Think of a sledge hammer: A very strong man can do far more damage with it than a very weak one.)

In other words, both Gandalf and Galadriel refused a “usurpation” of Sauron’s power (the Ring) in order to overthrow Sauron. They knew that risking Sauron’s victory over Middle Earth was actually the lesser evil!

Although Tolkien was heavily influenced by Nordic Myth, his tales are clearly in a moral universe that is tacitly monotheistic: The “angels” are not gods; the One, Eru/Iluvatar, is the only true God, the Creator of the Valar, Maiar, Elves, and Men.