Aulë = trouble!

[Angry Hill Troll]

What is it about Aulë that seems to get himself and people associated with him into trouble?

Consider that following:

--Aulë himself nearly had a falling out with Eru a la Melkor when he created the dwarves, until redeeming himself at the last moment by offering to kill Durin. Other than Melkor himself, Aulë was the only vala to get seriously crosswise of his creator.

--Sauron seems to have been working for Aulë at one time. Certainly he claimed this to Celebrimbor (with a few key details changed!). Sauron's skill at ringmaking seems consistent with this. One of the footnotes to The History of Galadriel and Celeborn in UT says that

...the probability is that Sauron was in fact one of the Aulëan Maiar, corrupted 'before Arda began' by Melkor.

--Curumo (Saruman) was Aulë's nomination for the Istari. Ummm...bad choice! While all the other Istari save Gandalf failed in their mission, either wandering off never to be heard from again or being preoccupied with semi-irrelevant things, Saruman seems to be the only one who actually himself caused a great deal of harm.

--Fëanor was one of Aulë's greatest pupils (and one of my greatest failures, we can hear Aulë saying in his best Obi-wan Kenobi impersonation). I am personally fond of Fëanor, notwithstanding all of his faults, but it is indisputable that he ended badly, and didn't fulfill his potential.

--More generally, it was the Noldor of all the elves who were most closely associated with Aulë. Unfortunately, they ended up as the "problem children" of Eru. The relative few who really weren't, or who later redeemed themselves (Finarfin, Fingolfin, Finrod, Galadriel, etc.) all had as much Vanyar ancestry as Noldor.

So, what's the deal with Aulë? Why does everyone associated with him seem to get into trouble? If I hadn't read in various posts on this board that

TOLKIEN DISLIKED ALLEGORY!!!

I might be tempted to think the story of Aulë and his proteges was allegorical (or metaphorical?) for Tolkien's view of technology--or perhaps of the character flaws (in Tolkien's opinion) of the types of personalities who are attracted to technology.

Thoughts anyone?

[Legolas]

Saruman wasn't nominated by Aule. Saruman and Alatar volunteered when Manwe requested three step forward.

[Angry Hill Troll]

UT "The Istari"

But only two came forward: Curumo, who was chosen by Aulë, and Alatar, who was sent by Oromë

But in any event, Saruman was the only Istar associated with Aulë, and the only one (as far as we know) who caused serious problems.

[doug*platypus]

Good call, O Angry One. Aulë himself, IMO, wasn't really too much of a problem. But certain bad seeds were attracted to him and his knowledge. Materialism is of course a source of many of the terrible things that occur in our world on a daily basis. And delving too deeply into science and technology corrupted Sauron and Saruman.

What was the saying applied to Fëanor, something like "Love not too greatly the work of thine hands". True words. I bet he would have given up all three Silmarils for a chance to get his father back. Oh, wait, elves can come back from Mandos - what am I saying?!

Aulë is the Workshop teacher at every school. Those damn workshop boys - so evil (myself excluded of course).

[Dain]

I think that Aule and the beings associated with him were just the most inquisitive about the way things worked--artisans and scientists, even. I think these beings were just driven to figure things out, and some got way too obsessed with the results of their research and craft. Now, lets not start blaming science for all this bad stuff just because there were a few mad scientists out there... For me, I find Aule the most interesting of the Valar, and his children the most interesting as well...but then, I'm a physicist... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Angry Hill Troll]

I find Aule the most interesting of the Valar, and his children the most interesting as well...but then, I'm a physicist...

Hail and well met, Dain, fellow Aulendil. I am a physicist also, at least by education, although I have gone off in some slightly different directions since then.
I should explain my login name--it's the answer I got from the BD "Who were you in Middle-Earth page?" And it wasn't taken already! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Interesting comments from the Duck-Billed One also. I am struck by the similarity between Aulë's personality and Melkor's (at least in the very beginning of the story).

The description of Melkor wandering into the void:

for desire grew hot within him to bring into Being things of his own.

and of Aulë making the dwarves:

so greatly did Aulë desire the coming of the Children, to have learners to whom he could teach his lore and his crafts, that he was unwilling to await the fulfillment of the designs of Iluvatar.

Of course Aulë eventually makes up with Iluvatar, whilst Melkor becomes resentful and eventually evil.

Tolkien strikes me as taking the view that people driven to create things and/or enamored of technology seem to be likely to get into trouble. Given my choice of study in school, this is (obviously) a view I personally am somewhat in disagreement with.

To be fair to the dwarves, though, they don't seem to be more prone to turning evil than other races, certainly not humans (compare the Seven dwarf-lords to the Nine Nazgul).

[Dain]

I also noticed the similarity between Melkor and Aule, and was going to say something about it in my last post. Morgoth doesn't seem to refine his art to the degree that Aule does, since he uses it most for destruction after a while, and drafts in Sauron (one of Aule's best students) to do all the complecated work (like breeding orcs, building Angband, etc). The difference between Melkor and Aule is made clear in the Silm, since Aule is not jealous or covetous but just likes crafting things. If only this had been carried over into the Dwarves, as it is their one fatal flaw. I wonder where that came about, then, if it wasn't in their maker? Probably that stinking Morgoth... Then again, the major incedence of Dwarven greed are in the Nauglamir tale, and that involved a silmaril, right? Always blame the elves! [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]