actualelffucker:

cerulean-shark:

Aww, I’m so glad you like my blog! I’m down for any and all Silm questions or discussion starters you have ❤️

To answer this: I think Eru just changes his mind a lot. He strikes me as fairly capricious in how he treats the lives and fates of others. He might have realized that others could oppose him too late and decided not to back down. Kind of like making a mistake and then deciding that the path it put you on is interesting so you don’t fix it. After all, he knew that his knowledge of destiny is secure.

I personally think (if you don’t mind me taking this chance to talk about my own thoughts too, for anon) this is more of a commentary on how Tolkien designed good and evil in his stories, and on the concept of “eucatastrophe”. Tolkien’s decision to have all paths lead back to Eru’s music is (imo) about how the world is ultimately good, and even discord and evil shall eventually result in beauty and light. Chaos brings about change, and change can result in better things; examples can be seen throughout the legendarium.

The pressure of the War of the Ring is what results in Aragorn returning to claim the throne, and bring about an age of peace and new growth in Gondor (which, prior to this, was falling into gradual stagnation and decay). That new age of greatness would never have come about without that conflict, without evil being present in the world as well as good – without free will.

Whenever I read Tolkien’s work (but especially LotR) I am struck by the sense of hope and fate that runs through it all. In Arda, evil may take the path of the story and twist it beyond all recognition – but out of that, in the end, will come good again.

That is what I believe is meant by this concept of everything leading back to the music.

(And as for Eru himself, in my mind he is more of a metaphorical conduit for the moral base of Tolkien’s world, rather than a character with human-like emotions and characteristics.)

(btw, please don’t take this as me shutting down your interpretation, because it’s just as valid! I just wanted to add on to this so that anon could see another take on it ❤️)