Broke:- Melkor was pure evil
Woke:- Melkor became evil because of Eru’s lack of ability to grow tf up
Food for though please respond or DM if u wanna discuss, but Melkor was avoidable. I hate that in the silmarilion all the characters just see him as the purest form of evil (unless they physically can’t like Manwe who’s a Dumbass on the principle of him being too nice). Like right off the bat I’m not sympathetic to his cause and actions in any way. Him killing Finwe, creating the orcs through torture etc... that was all completely unforgivable and thus Melkor should’nt be forgiven for his actions in those regards, however I’m focusing more at the start of his life during the great song.
To start off, all the valar and maiar are expressed at the start of the silmarilion to be created from Eru’s thought (mind), meaning essentially all the valar and maiar (including Melkor) are parts of Eru’s personality. This means from the start, if a being like Melkor can exist then essentially Eru himself is corrupted by the selfish desire to rule over all and generally all that Melkor is. Melkor is the opposing thought questioning authority, Eru’s creative side given life, and his desire to rule. Now inherently those things aren’t evil, and at the start Melkor was the same as all the other maiar, but thanks to his inability to be what he was, corrupted him. He was Eru’s creativity, and yet he couldn’t create his own creations. (Now the reason Eru can create is because he is the flame imperishable, or life itself). From the start he was doomed to feel inadequate because his nature was at odds with him not being life itself.
Eru could’ve solved this though. Melkor wanted to create, and if Eru had simply allowed Melkor to go off to somewhere into the forever nothing outside the timeless halls and make his own creations (with Eru bringing them to life) then maybe that would’ve quenched Melkor’s need to rule and create. Sure he couldn’t bring them to life himself, but all he would have to do is ask Eru and boom it existed (though I doubt the inadequacy of not having this power himself would sit on his mind, but would be much more manageable if he was able to still create what he wanted without being interrupted).
Instead, Eru sat back, did nothing to acknowledge this problem that he knew existed since it was himself, and anytime Melkor created something (like his discord during the great song), he selfishly claimed it as his own, and always forced his ideas on everyone (which some obviously liked, but for those like Melkor this would’ve been a middle finger to their individuality). Eru failed his children by trying to squash their creativity through dismissal and even the hint of threat (all the valar are forced to create towards the goal of arda, and when the creations don’t match the image they get criticised , like sauron’s volcanoes) and thus failed Melkor through his inability to share.
