The Thread on Which Doom Hangs: Free Will, Disobedience, and Eucatastrophe in Tolkien's Middle-earth
Abstract
Scholar Guest of Honor speech, Mythcon 41. Reviews theological concepts underlying the ideas of war in heaven and free will and, touching briefly on Stanley Milgram’s experiments in obedience along the way, examines various examples of disobedience in Tolkien’s legendarium, their consequences, and their ultimate subservience to the eucatastrophic fate of Arda.
