The Root of all Evil.

[Boromir88]

We all know of that saying "Money is the root of all evil," but what is the "root of evil" in Tolkien? (If there is one). Well, it seems to be gold...

It is quite possible, of course, that certain 'elements' or conditions of matter had attracted Morgoth's special attention (mainly, unless in the remote past, for reasons of his own plans). For example, all gold (in Middle-earth) seems to have had a specially 'evil' trend - but not silver.~Morgoth's Ring

Gold seems to be the connection to the evil characters in Tolkien's stories. There's the Barrow-wights, Dragon's hoards, it almost caused Thorin's dwarves to cause much bloodshed. And of course the One Ring, being a simple "band of gold."

Then there is the case between Boromir's gold belts and Merry and Pippin's silver belts. They are laid directly one after the other in Farewell to Lorien. While, I don't think it's Tolkien trying to say Boromir's evil, I think it foreshadows and symbolizes his draw to gold, most specifically his lure to the Ring. Where Merry and Pippin were given belts of Silver and Tolkien goest out to specifically say that Silver has no evil trend like gold. It's sort of like the "ungold."

So, why does Tolkien choose gold to tie in with "evil?" What is it specifically about gold that Tolkien says it tends to have an evil trend? And why is Silver not evil? What makes it pure and good and not connected to evil the way gold is?