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Re:Discworld Rules by jon_richards on Saturday March 08, 2025 @10:29AM (#43300943)
My favorite analysis of lotr is this:

> good does not need to destroy evil; good needs only to resist evil, and when it does that, evil destroys itself

Re:Discworld Rules by xandrius on Saturday March 08, 2025 @10:44AM (#43301043)
In LotR, good did indeed destroy evil (or rather its boss) by destroying the one ring.
Re:Discworld Rules by lolinder on Saturday March 08, 2025 @11:45AM (#43301485)
No. Good took the ring all the way to Mount Doom, resisting its Evil all the way up until the end, and then once more the Good person failed to destroy the Ring. Frodo stood at the precipice and took the Ring for himself.

The only way the Ring was destroyed was by accident when Gollum attacked Frodo to claim the Ring. The Evil that the ring stoked in the hearts of those it touched is what ended up destroying it in the end, not the Good people who took it to Mount Doom.

Re:Discworld Rules by jon_richards on Saturday March 08, 2025 @11:58PM (#43306402)
Interestingly, the author of my quote also mentions this:

> Tolkien in his letters insists that Frodo did not fail – that his captivity to the Ring was inevitable

Re:Discworld Rules by monkeydreams on Monday March 10, 2025 @04:47PM (#43325889)
Gollum took back the ring after Frodo - possessed by the spirit of the ring and in its voice - cursed him with death if he should ever break his oath. Gollum did so the ring did, bringing about his downfall.
Re:Discworld Rules by Cornbilly on Saturday March 08, 2025 @11:33AM (#43301388)
If you read Tolkien’s other works, you’ll find that evil cannot be destroyed as Melkor/Morgoth corrupted the very nature of the world and that evil will remain until the end of the world.
Re:Discworld Rules by Trasmatta on Saturday March 08, 2025 @03:53PM (#43303408)
You have to go deeper than that, though. Eru Ilúvatar said this to Melkor:

> No theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.

The idea being that the evil that Melkor commits ultimately just builds towards the creators greater and secret purpose. It's kind of an attempt to deal with the "problem of evil".

Re:Discworld Rules by ViktorRay on Saturday March 08, 2025 @04:09PM (#43303561)
Worth mentioning that Tolkien was a devout Catholic and the idea you are talking about is something Catholic theologians would probably agree with.

(I’m not a Christian though so somebody please correct me if I am wrong)

Re:Discworld Rules by weard_beard on Sunday March 09, 2025 @04:52PM (#43313667)
The work is mysterious and important. (-Severence, the motto of the business/cult enslaving people on the show)