Whilst rereading Unfinished Tales by J. R. R. Tolkien (edited by his son Christopher Tolkien) I came across this footnote. (You do read the footnotes right?) From the chapter “History of Galadriel and Celeborn”:
In a letter written in September 1954 my father said: ‘At the beginning of the Second Age he [Sauron] was still beautiful to look at, or could still assume a beautiful visible shape – and was not indeed wholly evil, not unless all “reformers” who want to hurry up with “reconstruction” and “reorganization” are wholly evil, even before pride and the lust to exert their will eat them up. (254n8)
In Morgoth’s Ring Tolkien distinguishes between Morgoth/Melkor and his lieutenant Sauron. They differ not only in status (Melkor was a Vala – indeed the most powerful Vala until he dissipated his power throughout Arda whereas Sauron was a Maia). But in motivation. There is a sense in which Melkor/Morgoth was wholly evil – his ultimate goal was to reduce everything to chaos. But Sauron – at least at first – was interested in order and control.
Nothing wrong with being a “reformer”. But perhaps a warning.
