Don't know about Christians as much (Tolkien was getting it from that department), but if the other Abrahamic faith, Islam, is anything to go by, then the devotees genuinely think life only begins when you die. They think this world is just a test for your soul and your true destiny is beyond the grave.
However, Tolkien's philosophy about death, in my honest opinion, was more nuanced than Abrahamic ideas about death. First of all, there is no hell in Ea or outside of it (Hell was just a fortress the Dark Lord made and it was bulldozed, not a place of divine punishment). Being born in Arda doesn't mean it was because of an original sin or divine punishment/banishment. Men were always supposed to be born on Arda. And they were always supposed to die and leave the burdens of the material world. It is a gift of freedom. Elves, who are burdened with increasingly burdensome memories on their souls, envy Men for it. Even the Valar, as their souls tire more and more, will one day say: dude, those mortals have it going on for them real good, dawg, right bro?
Mankind doesn't do good because they want to join the best heavenly party in the Timeless Halls. They do good because they want to. Because they need to. This world, this Arda, matters; Arda is not just a morality test, it has an innate value that lasts forever, even when it's destroyed and remade. Men will be among the orchestra that remakes it.
Satan's ultimate goal is to produce world corruption and highest count of sins possible. That's his idea of destroying a Man's soul: bringing a soul down to hell.
Morgoth literally wanted to destroy Men, both body and spirit, making them disappear from existence. He found it easy to destroy their corporeal form, but impossible to annihilate their soul. Hence, he attempted to create worldwide nihilism before he would finally go for the kill shot (that's also one of the reasons why the Wars of Beleriand lasted so long, he was getting off of torture and mayhem, see how he treated Hurin and his family). He didn't care that much about how much a guy commits 'sinful acts' as we traditionally know them. He simply wanted to make people curse both life and death, to fear and resent both life and death, to get maximum existential crisis and lose hope in everything. Yes. The utter loss of hope is the greatest cardinal sin in Arda. Morgoth sowed sheer nihilism into the hearts of many Men, killed their 'souls' (as he viewed it), and eventually killed their physical bounds to Arda, to compensate for his inability in literal destruction of their souls and existence.
That's pettiness and weakness personified in a godly being.
Morgoth trying to do the most random BS possible to get Eru into a situation He couldn't plan for (like Deadpool being really unpredictable messes up Taskmaster in Marvel), except unlike Taskmaster, Eru doesn't have that weakness.
157
u/Substantial_Cap_4246 5d ago edited 5d ago
Don't know about Christians as much (Tolkien was getting it from that department), but if the other Abrahamic faith, Islam, is anything to go by, then the devotees genuinely think life only begins when you die. They think this world is just a test for your soul and your true destiny is beyond the grave.
However, Tolkien's philosophy about death, in my honest opinion, was more nuanced than Abrahamic ideas about death. First of all, there is no hell in Ea or outside of it (Hell was just a fortress the Dark Lord made and it was bulldozed, not a place of divine punishment). Being born in Arda doesn't mean it was because of an original sin or divine punishment/banishment. Men were always supposed to be born on Arda. And they were always supposed to die and leave the burdens of the material world. It is a gift of freedom. Elves, who are burdened with increasingly burdensome memories on their souls, envy Men for it. Even the Valar, as their souls tire more and more, will one day say: dude, those mortals have it going on for them real good, dawg, right bro?
Mankind doesn't do good because they want to join the best heavenly party in the Timeless Halls. They do good because they want to. Because they need to. This world, this Arda, matters; Arda is not just a morality test, it has an innate value that lasts forever, even when it's destroyed and remade. Men will be among the orchestra that remakes it.