This article is a bit lore-heavy, so if that is not your cup of tea, be warned.

A few weeks ago I was part of a debate about Eru Iluvatar, the Creator God of JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth, and his role and powers. I objected to the following ideas voiced by a fellow gamer (who has extensive knowledge of MERP in addition to the Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion)

Thesis

Iluvatar, says my fellow, “is not able to enter Middle Earth. He is dependent on the Valar to act as agents and intermediaries. So he is weak … maybe he is even dead; walking out into the void. Dead like Morgoth who was cast out into the void to perish.”
Eru Iluvatar is, so spaketh this gamer, “dimwitted” (!!) because he “could not see 5 minutes into the future”.
“That he had to step in against Númenór is proof that he did not have things under control.”

“My ingenious plan is a flat world, but now I have to make it round to fix the problems I failed to see at the start.”
“A real god would have made the world round to begin with. Perfection does not need fixing!”
If he was all-knowing and all-powerful, none of the later nonsense would have happened because he could have erased flaws.

Secondary: About Sauron it was said that he was strifing for power because he wanted to replace Morgoth.

Counter-Thesis

My own opinion:
Iluvatar can enter Middle Earth or even erase it any time he wants, he just decided to hand it over to the Valar for administration and busies himself elsewhere.
He knows very well all that will happen in the ages – due to the music of the Ainur: in this song the fate of Middle Earth and the three Ages of Ainur, Maia and Elf is already set. But he lets them play out, and lets them lead to the eventual Dominion of Men. Which is NOT scripted in the music, by the way.
So: the music ran “bad” and had to be restarted twice. Why did he not erase the music and start it anew, send Melkor away on some chores and let the others sing fresh and clean? The same reason he let Melkor join the choir in the first place: because the strife and struggle is an integral part of the music and always was since the beginning. (And will remain so in the Dominion of Men)

Secondary: About Sauron I claimed that he was strifing for power because he wanted to free Morgoth and bring him back to Middle Earth. And that neither Morgoth nor Iluvatar are dead. The void does not kill a creator of worlds, nor his most powerful Ainur.

Obviously there were also multiple tangential arguments drawing from the Greek Pantheon, Christianity and Judaism, but those shall not be part of this piece, nor of this blog as a whole. Games and Literature are the topics here, not the religions followed on this planet Terra.

Now, “fact”-checking through the Silmarillion.

Original Source

Re-Reading the Ainulindale and the Valaquenta, the first chapters of the Silmarillion, the song did have its three themes, which maps to the three ages. The three musical themes each start prompted by Eru Iluvatar, and in each case they started to sing them in harmony, but in each case, Melkor chose to introduce contrarian ideas and created disharmony, which continued until it had to be resolved in a great crescendo.

Melkor, to whom “among the Ainur had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge”. He had grown discontent, and he had begun to conceive thoughts of his own.

What is notable is that Iluvatar reacts differently to each of these three chaotic meddlings in the harmony. After the first flaundering of the melody, Iluvatar “arose, and the Ainur perceived that he smiled”.
He started a new theme, and again there is a war of sound, and several Ainur are so confused they stop singing altogether, so Melkor’s discord dominates clearly. “Then again Iluvatar arose, and the Ainur perceived that his countenance was stern.”
Then the third theme starts, but it is actually two variant themes that grow at the same time, but independently of each other. This time “the halls of Iluvatar shook” under the crashing of the warring harmonies, and “Iluvatar arose for a third time, and his face was terrible to behold”.
At this point the music ceased and Iluvatar explained himself to the Ainur:
“Migthy are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Iluvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see that 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.”

Then Iluvatar shows them the world they have sung into existence.
“Each of you shall find contained herein, amid the design that I set before you, all those things which may seem that he himself devised or added. And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but part of the whole and tributary to its glory.”

So what does it mean?

This seems clear enough (if we believe Iluvatar’s words and do not discount him as an unreliable source) going by his words, but there is a moment of uncertainty in Iluvatar’s facial expressions.
Obviously he allowed Melkor and the others to add their own personalities. He wanted them to shape this world, and he wanted them to bring in their own character. Only, in the effect of his counter-melodies, Melkor seems to have gone farther than Illuvater is comfortable with. Farther than he is comfortable with (explaining the ire visible in his face) but still within the bounds of being “an instrument of mine”.

So that sounds as if all the strife and discord was all right with Iluvatar, intended and accepted, and so he could have handed the world over to the Valar and move on, never to look back.
And yet, he did, didn’t he?

While in a Terra/Earth context, the Abrahamitic God handed over the world and now it is our domain (“The Dominion of Men”), given to our stewardship, so was the World of the Silmarillion handed to the Valar (those Ainur who chose to dwell in Ea, that World) and, later, the Elves, and, later still, Men.

Foreshadowed, not fixed

An important passage is found early on when the Valar dwell in Ea, where it says: “The Valar perceived that the World had been but foreshadowed and foresung, and they must achieve it. So began their great labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, until in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Ea there came to be that hour and that place where was made the habitation of the Children of Iluvatar.”

There we have a path between thesis and counter-thesis: The future of Arda has been sung, but only as a theme. To make this song a reality, work has to be put in. The Valar and Maia have to bend their backs and sing trees and plants and raise generations of animals in order to prepare the ground. Likewise, Melkor has to dig his fortress in the cruel wastes of the north, and has to assemble his legions, because the singing of the song doth not a kyngdom make.

The struggle

“They built lands and Melkor destroyed them. Valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up. Mountains they carved and Melkor threw them down. Seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them. And naught might have peace or come to lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it.”

Thus the answer is that Iluvatar is not “dimwitted” and “cannot see 5 minutes into the future”, nor is he omnipresent and all-knowing; by choice. He gave Ea and Arda to those who dwell there and let them get creative with it; work at cross-purposes; suffer and experience joy.

It is as close to the Christian interpretation of Creation as you can get, yet it is not 1:1 the same.

Mistakes

Men are found on either side of the great conflict between Good and Evil, and there are also men who refused to choose. The Edain in the west had been schooled by the Elves (who knew the Valar personally), and so they fought on the side of the Valar. Other men had been subjugated by Morgoth (Melkor’s Elven name), so they fought (had to fight) on his side.
Others yet, out east, had no skin in that game so they refused to choose a side and stayed out of the conflict. That went bad for them later because the Valar forsook those Men who did not choose to stand with them; and so they were left at the mercy of the evil hordes, who enslaved them, ruled over them as evil kings and forced them to stand with Chaos.

This is an important mistake of the Valar, which greatly strengthens the side of Evil; especially in the days of Numenor, when the Numenorans themselves – who started out as great creators and men of peace – in time become too strong and powerful for their own good. Forbidden to sail westwards to Valinor, they sailed east and found the Men of various lands. First they brought tools and knowledge, and that could have been wonderful for all lands, but over time (and under bad influences) they grew arrogant in their power; first they demanded tribute of the “lesser” kingdoms in Arda, then they became slavers and necromants, and subjugate the people all over the world – who in turn learn to hate them, and when then Numenor falls (that’s no spoiler, is it?) and Gondor arises, the history of the Easterlings and Southerlings is full of tales of woe they suffered at the hands of Numenor, so they are easy to enlist for Sauron, on the promise of delivering some well-deserved ass-kicking against their ancient tormentors.

Many mistakes are made — and these mistakes the Children of Iluvatar are allowed to make.
It is an aspect of the much-argued freedom; alas, given that the Valar forsook the Men of the East and South, and the Elves never went to teach them, their freedom to choose was much diminished.

Transparency: So important for true freedom of choice.
How easy would it have been to counter Sauron if the realms of men had dealt with each other freely and fairly, and all had known of the Ainur and their enmity.
Well, they did not, and so the fight against Sauron was hard. Were these mistakes too foreshadowed in the music of the Ainur? If so, we can guess that some of that may have clouded Iluvatar’s mood, and made his visage “terrible to behold”. And yet, he let them make their mistakes and did neither help nor hinder them.

The exceptions

But there are exceptions, are there not?

Iluvatar did observe Aule form the dwarves, who were not part of the plan. Aule was anxious for the Children to arrive, but it took so long, so he formed creatures after his own tastes, sturdy miners, against the orders of nature, and against the intended order of appearance of the creatures: Elves were supposed to come first, then Men last. Aule worked in secret, but Iluvatar knew it and asked him what he was doing. Aule had not the gift to lend true life to the dwarves, they were only simulacra. But when Aule expressed regret that he had stepped out of line, and was ready to destroy his own creation; but Eru Iluvatar showed mercy (a parallel to the biblical Abraham ready to sacrifice Isaac) and gave the dwarves life and minds of their own. Alas, with the caveat that they could not yet walk Middle Earth. They had to lie dormant until those fated to come before them were already active.

Also, when the mighty fleet of Numenor set out, guided by Sauron, to conquer Valinor and wrest the secrets of eternal life and devinity from the Valar, and the Valar felt overwhelmed by the unprecedented might of the little, but strong and ingenuous humans, Iluvatar did enter the fray in force on their behalf. This time he did much more than before. He changed the shape of the world, so that the west and the east were connected, and he toppled the island, sunk Numenor and their fleet, and broke their power in an unprecedented cataclysm.

Did he see that coming?
Probably not, at least not early on after the song, or in exact detail.
But does that make him “dimwitted”?
No way.
Neither does it make him “know all the things”.
We were both wrong.

Other instances of Iluvatar’s guiding hand are mentioned throughout – for example Beren’s passing through the girdle of Melian, or the resurrection of Gandalf – but they are considerable more small scale and subject to individual interpretation, so doubting if they are actually Iluvatar acting or just plain luck is in order. The material does not give us an easy answer.

Conclusio: Eru Iluvatar is not a railroader, he wants to be surprised, and he wants an emergent story built on individuals’ decisions. Only when the game threatens to break down he goes meta to reboot the situation. And, as he has told Melkor in no uncertain terms: ultimately all things, as good or bad as they may be, and even those designed by one as powerful and talented as mighty Melkor, lead to the fulfillment of Iluvatar’s greater design.

Secondary: When Sauron was captured by mighty Numenor and he poisoned their minds with lies, told them that Eru Iluvatar was just a figment of imagination put forth by the sneaky Valar, he told them the true Lord of All, the Giver of Freedom, who shall make you stronger than the Valar all, is Melkor.
So I will take that as my small victory: Even at the cusp of throwing down the Valar with the aid of the Numenoreans, he spoke of his former master in such high terms. He had no need to do so, but did, and I read that as his desire to free Melkor and bring him back “home” to Arda.