Let's Talk Morgoth

Melkor= The quenya name for the great rebellious vala, the beginning of evil, in his orgin the mightiest of the ainur. afterwards named Morgoth,Bauglir,the dark lord,the enemy, etc. The meaning of melkor was "He who arises in might" ; the Sindarin form was Belegurth 'great death' after the rape of the silmarils he got the title of morgoth. Morgoth "the black enemy" name of melkor given to him by Feanor (during rape of silmarils)...

[Noxomanus]

Call me literally the (ME) Devil's Advocate, but I think it was inevitable for a being as great,wise and powerful as Melkor,given so much initiative,capability and pride by its creator to have his own ideas.

I think that certainly before he Entered, Melkor was not evil or wrong in any way. Instead of blindly following what was dictated by Eru, Melkor used the gift of free will which was given to him,to think and act as he himself thought best. It is only natural for a child to rebel against authority,rules and parents (Father,in this case) when he can think and act on his own. To me, Melkor was as a teenager that did not neccesarily disagree with what Father says,but nevertheless sees room for improvement and is certain that Father sees certain things wrong.
And as any teenager, Melkor wanted to break free.

Melkor was, in my opinion, the only Vala to show a real free will. If Eru knew all, he must have seen this coming and I can not imagine a wise, in fact all-knowing, being as Eru not foreseeing that the greatest among his children would rebel.

I dare say that Eru was restrictive. He gave free will,yet seemed to expect all freewilled beings would still follow the rules as he set them. He gave free will, but no freedom. When comparing Eru,Melkor and Manwë to a father and his sons, Manwë would have been the rule-abider who was happy with the situation as it was and did not seek to find his own way. A being that follows only the will of another and does not think for itself,ends up limited. And this is what we see happen, Manwë can not understand evil (which is by its nature in Arda, 'something that goes against the will of Eru') and indeed Manwë could not understand this, because he himself had never done anything against Eru's will. He was limited and he was limited because he had allowed himself to be limited.

Melkor on the other hand, was the rebel of the two brothers. He sought to find his own way and as he did, he let the other Valar know what true free will was. Whereas the other Valar,in the Shaping of Arda, did not go against each other and followed the same plan, Melkor used his own free will to show the others there was more then just their will. As they raised mountains,he leveled them and so he made Arda different from what the others had in mind and in the end, he must have made it more varied and more marvelous and greater then it could have been with only one will dominating and directing the Shaping.

I dare say that it were those Maiar that had most free will of their own,that joined Melkor. They saw there was room to complement and add to what allready was.

Fall of Melkor

I think that Melkor only turned bad or 'bad' when he chose to try to dominate the Children and when he started breeding them into his own designs. He had been ordered to help the Children and to tutor them, not to rule them. He failed to see that he took away their free will by taking them under his wing and trying to make them into what he saw as something Better. As time progressed, he became more and more fixed into his ways untill no longer Acting By Free Choice and A Better Arda were his goals, but Obstruction and Arda Ruled By Melkor became.

I think it was the Coming of the Children was what truly kickstarted Melkors ways (and those of his Maiar) becoming wrong rather then alternative.

I still think Melkor was the only Vala ( I would not say Ainu) that really made use of the free will that was given to him by Eru.