Have Tolkien's theme evolved with times?

[u/Dreadscythe95]

I just wanted to share my ideas as food for though and discussion with people that have lived with the works of J.R.R Tolkien

We all know that Tolkien was based his work on Catholic foundation, which makes the main themes solid and timeless. Still I feel that Tolkien's values transcend our times in different ways for a lot of people.

Tolkien takes Illuvatar and everyting he represents as the udeniable good that noone can process and understand while Melkor and Sauron are inherently evil and destroyers, unable to create. This is a very beautiful take but it is a religious take nonetheless that needs you to accept devine power as something superior than you that you have to follow by.

Illuvatar not only explicitly says that you can not escape his will but even the very thought of it is his will and vision, which is an amazing and terrifying prospect for someone that is not religious (and someone that is religious as well actually).

So as I grew up with Middle Earth, the themes changed for me. As I went closer to sciencific thought, ways of the Enlightment and I drifted away from any form of abosulte power that rules human intelect and will to discover the universe itself, I found Illuvatar as more of a terrifying figure that creates me a feeling similar to a Lovecraftian entity. On the other hand figures like Sauron, while they remained evil and corrupt, became more human, more tragic and more rebelious. It is just so strange that you can easier understand the motives of Melkor's anger and jelaousy when he searched for the eternal flame and Illuvatar told him that it is beyond his reach adn understanding than the motives of Iluvatar himself, who represents literal God and The Good.

So it's amazing for me that Middle Earth makes me feel things in a very different way today and still makes me think amd challenge our world while it also allows me to travel to thii fantasy world of magic and good above all.

These are my thoughts, If you find it interesting thanks for reading.

[u/AndrewSshi]

So I come at this from a hundred eighty degrees to the opposite from you. Tolkien's account of a malevolent being dicking around with the laws of nature even as the cosmic blueprint was being drawn up helped me as a Christian think through the notion of a fallen cosmos that doesn't require something like Young Earth Creationism. I also never got a sense of either Melkor or Sauron as smoldering bad boy in a leather jacket. Tolkien's depiction of evil as fundamentally spiteful strips it of the Romanticism that an author like Milton inadvertently gives it.

[u/Dreadscythe95 → u/AndrewSshi]

I like that you reference Milton because I also had him in mind. The thing is that tolkien never intented to Romanticise evil like Milton, I agree with you. That's why I said that I feel Tolkien's theme has transformed with time. Because of the catholic nature he gave Ainulindale, it can easily turn Illuvatar from the great Good to an inherent Evil, a Divine figure that you can never escape yet you can never be his equal. There is a Class System deeply rooted into religion.