Evil in Middle-earth

Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic, created what he came to feel was a moral dilemma for himself with his supposedly wholly evil Middle-earth peoples like Orcs, when he made them able to speak. This identified them as sentient and sapient; indeed, he portrayed them talking about right and wrong. This meant, he believed, that they were open to morality, like Men. In Tolkien's Christian framework, that in turn implied that they must have souls, so killing them would be wrong without very good reason. Orcs serve as the principal forces of the enemy in The Lord of the Rings, where they are slaughtered in large numbers, such as in the battles of Helm's Deep and the Pelennor Fields.^[7]

If Tolkien wanted killing Orcs not to be such a problem, then they would have to be without any moral sense, like ordinary animals. That would place them as fierce enemies, but not sapient. Both Tolkien and other scholars have been aware of the contradiction implied by this position: if Orcs were essentially "beasts", then they should not have had a moral sense; if they were corrupted Elves, then treating them as "other" to be slaughtered was straightforward racism.^[7][8] Tolkien made repeated attempts to resolve the dilemma,^{[T 5][T 6][T 7]} without arriving at what he felt was a satisfactory solution.^[7][8]

Middle-earth's first

Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan, once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer, but fallen through pride; he rebels against his creator.^[10][1] Morgoth has been likened, too, to John Milton's fallen angel in Paradise Lost, again a Satan-figure.^[11] Tom Shippey has written that The Silmarillion maps the Book of Genesis with its creation and its fall, even Melkor having begun with good intentions.^[9] Marjorie Burns has commented that Tolkien used the Norse god Odin to create aspects of several characters, the wizard Gandalf getting some of his good characteristics, while Morgoth gets his destructiveness, malevolence, and deceit.^[12] Verlyn Flieger writes that the central temptation is the desire to possess, something that ironically afflicts two of the greatest figures in the legendarium, Melkor and Fëanor.^[13]

In the

Sauron too escapes, and takes on the mantle of dark lord for the Third Age. He helps the Elves of Middle-earth to put their power into Rings of Power, which they intend to use for good. He deceives them by secretly forging the One Ring, putting much of his own power into it, and gaining power over all the other Rings. The Elves perceive him and hide their three Rings, preventing him from controlling them. He gives seven Rings to the Dwarf-lords, and nine Rings to lords of Men. The nine become Ringwraiths, the Nazgûl, corrupted and enslaved to his will.^{[T 15]} Sauron uses the One Ring to build the Dark Tower of Mordor, Barad-dûr, and to amass armies of Orcs, Men, Trolls, and other beings. Elves led by Gil-galad, and Men led by Elendil, make war on Mordor. The two of them defeat Sauron, at the cost of their own lives; Elendil's son Isildur cuts the One Ring from Sauron's hand, but fails to destroy it.^{[T 15]}

Centuries later, Sauron rematerialises, and rebuilds Mordor and its armies. He learns that the One Ring has not been destroyed, and sends the Nazgûl to find it: if he regains it, his power of evil will dominate the whole of Middle-earth.

Joe Abbott describes the dark lords Morgoth and Sauron as monsters, intelligent and powerful but wholly gone over to evil. He notes that in

The evil power of the dark lords brings about successive falls in the

The

Gollum is, Burns writes, "a thieving, kin-murdering, treasure-hoarding, sun-hating, underground dweller who ought to be dead," much like the Barrow-wight.^[20] As Gollum states: "We are lost, lost... No name, no business, no Precious, nothing. Only empty. Only hungry; yes, we are hungry".^{[T 21][21]} Verlyn Flieger suggests that Gollum is Tolkien's central monster-figure, likening him to both Grendel and the Beowulf dragon, "the twisted, broken, outcast hobbit whose manlike shape and dragonlike greed combine both the Beowulf kinds of monster in one figure".^[22] Burns comments that Gollum has other attributes from the undead of Norse myth: supernatural strength, demanding that he be wrestled; he may appear to be black, but has "bone-white" skin.^[21]

Saruman is the leader of the

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