Įdedu nepilną variantą, kiek daugiau nei tūkstantis žodžių. Ir kodai dar nesutvarkyti, nekreipkit dėmesio dėl centravimo ir pan.
TAISA: va, įdedu beveik galutinį variantą. Bet į kodus vis tiek nekreipkit.
Opposition Post #2 (LTDK)
I am glad to be able to help my team as a substitute for Laiqualasse. Thanks to Elfhild for her first post and to our opponents and the judge for giving us a great chance to jog our minds!
Introduction
It is tempting to believe that Morgoth was a poor strategist, because he lost in the end, however, the fact that he caused a big headache for the Valar shows that he knew the weaknesses of his enemies and could use them strategically. In the following post, I will present evidence on Morgoth’s strategic achievements since the days before the creation of Arda until the beginning of the First Age. For the sake of clarity, I will split my main argument into three parts.
Main argument
I. The Creation of Arda: Setting the Scene
Morgoth, then Melkor, was among the mightiest of the Ainur. He was granted by Iluvatar the power and wisdom close to that of Manwë himself, and he had knowledge in all other arts and crafts as well. His characteristic feature was a lust to create things himself, not only through the will of Ilúvatar. Having this goal, he organized his actions in a way which was the most appropriate in given circumstances:
“<…> it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining <…>, for he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself.” – The Silmarillion, Ainulindalë.
The goal eventually proved to be far too ambitious, yet power over beings already created he did achieve, primarily in the Music itself:
”…many of the Ainur were dismayed and sang no longer, and Melkor had the mastery.” – ibid.
So, Melkor managed to overrule the general musical theme of the Ainulindale with that of his own – a huge, although shortly lived, victory for his part.
When Arda was already created and the Valar descended upon it, Melkor
“<…> feigned, even to himself at first, that he desired to go thither and order all things for the good of the Children of Ilúvatar <…>. But he desired rather to subdue to his will both Elves and Men, <…>; and he wished himself to have subject and servants, and to be called Lord, and to be a master over other wills.” – ibid.
This shows two important things: first of all, Melkor desired mastery in the newly created world, and wanted to have subjects; second, he already had a plan how to do this. Maybe he did not understand the plan itself, but he intuitively felt what would be some of the most important parts of it – subtlety, deceit and subterfuge. He employed these means throughout all of his reign in all parts of Arda. Such ‘intuition’ shows that strategy was inherent in his very nature.
II. Within Arda: Strategy of Exploitation
When the Valar had descended upon Arda, there was much work to be done for the convenience of the Children of Eru. Melkor, on the other hand, wished to subdue the Firstborn Children to his will as soon as possible, and strove to fulfill this.
Both for Morgoth and for the Valar, the Children were one of the main reasons for descending into Arda, because they had no a priori experience about this matter. Knowing this affection of the Valar, Melkor drew the conclusion that he could use the Children as either his weapon or his shield:
- weapon, by turning them against the Valar and thus foiling their deepest desires;
- shield, by bringing them close to himself so that he could not be harmed without harming the Children.
For the former case there are several examples in the pre-First Age period. Firstly, it was Melkor who first found the Elves, as written in The Silmarillion, and he knew that Oromë was most likely to hinder his initial desire (to subdue the Eldar to his will). Therefore he devised a cunning plan, sending a dark Rider to frighten Quendi and to cause suspicion in their hearts as soon as they see another rider – Oromë. Who could say this was poor strategy! Melkor did plan ahead and at least temporarily succeeded in blocking his opponents’ actions.
The second example is Melkor’s direct interaction with Noldor in Valinor. By spreading lies among them, he struck the weakest part of the chain – who could have hearkened better than the Noldor, rash and ambitious by their nature? He used the unfavourable circumstances wisely and caused the Noldor to serve his own intentions. In fact, he did the best he could:
* prepared a priori, spreading lies;
* chose the best time for the destruction of the trees, when everybody in Valinor was feasting. Also he chose a perfect weapon – who could destroy the Light better than the mistress of the Unlight herself!;
* struck the weakest part of the specific Noldor-chain, too: he stole their jewels and killed their lord. This shows he knew the nature of the Noldor, and with proper early preparation they became perfect for accomplishing his own aims.
Even if Melkor had not set all those factors a priori, he could not have achieved so much without having a plan with core points at the outset. The strategical genius of Morgoth managed to carry out this plan, even if with adding minor details in the process.
As for using the Children as a shield, the Noldor were physically brought close to Melkor. I will not elaborate further on this point since it is pretty straightforward. However, deviating from the Children, we may even claim that Morgoth’s shield was much of the matter of Arda, and this brings us to the third part of my arguments…
III. Shields and Ineradicable Traces: Dissemination of Power
Quoting:
“To gain domination over Arda, Morgoth had let most of his being pass into the physical constituents of the Earth - hence all things that were born on Earth and lived on and by it, beasts or plants or incarnate spirits, were liable to be 'stained'.” – HoME X, Myths Transformed.
Let’s not hurry to claim that his becoming wholly physical caused him lots of troubles. According to Tolkien, Melkor
“…did this so as to control the hroa, the ‘flesh’ or physical matter, of Arda.” – ibid, also everywhere below.
Yes, it was a dangerous attempt, just as later in the analogous case of Sauron and his Ring. In fact, Tolkien calls Arda “Morgoth’s Ring”. But does risk show poor strategy? Not at all! As pointed by the Professor,
“Thus, outside the Blessed Realm, all 'matter' was likely to have a 'Melkor ingredient', and those who had bodies, nourished by the hroa of Arda, had as it were a tendency, <…> towards Melkor...”
Actually, one of the best-known examples is the Orcs. Although the issue of their creation is very complex, it is generally agreed that Melkor was involved in making them such a hideous race. It is said further in the same text that Melkor’s corrupting always started in the moral level, making the victims believe in him as Lord and causing the corruption of fëa to spread through hroa. Strategy? Definitely, and a good one. Planning ahead, using one’s best methods.
But let’s return to the quote above. By risking Melkor actually did that which proved to be disastrous to his own strength, but gained “a terrible grip upon the physical world”. The latter was infused with ‘melkorness’ and to conquer Melkor one had to fight by physical force and eventually cause “enormous material ruin”. By incarnating himself, Melkor made Middle-earth his shield, and hindered the Valar in making war upon him, since they did not want to damage Arda. Just as Sauron’s Ring had to be destroyed, for destroying Morgoth one had to completely desintegrate the ‘matter’ of Arda. Who can say that all traces of Morgoth have been eradicated? If this is not ‘planning ahead’, than I am Galadriel!
Finally, if we have already touched the material given in Morgoth’s Ring, it also says there that Sauron was first attracted by Melkor because of his “apparent will and power … to effect his designs quickly and masterfully”. These qualities are definitely those of a great strategist!
Conclusion
Drawing the threads together:
* Judging by the examples in the Ainulindalë, strategy was inherent to Melkor. He thought ahead and was working towards his purpose in the best way he could.
* While the Valar tarried in Valinor, Melkor watched for the Elves and made correct moves to hinder his enemies. He understood that he could use the Elves both as a weapon and a shield, and made this exploitation of the Firstborn possible by striking perfect spots.
* Melkor left ineradicable traces behind him and used the matter of Arda as a shield. In doing this, he prevented the actions of the Valar.
I am confident in telling you – Melkor was a super strategist, and it can be proved by dozens of examples!
Rebuttal #1
As the Latvian team has correctly noted, we first have to draw the boundaries of the terms we are discussing. The explanations Nulukkizdin has given are pretty self-explanatory, however, I must note that this is not the only interpretation of ‘strategy’ ant ‘tactic’.
I totally agree that
“strategy involves the “big picture” – overall plan, while tactics are activities specifically created and selected to reach specific and measurable short term goals.” The problem is what we define as ‘the overall plan’ and ‘short term goals’. Nulukkizdin interprets these terms as Morgoth’s Great Plan and specific battles, respectively. I will show that ‘the overall plan’ does not necessarily have to be as long-term as our opponents imagine it.
Again, some definitions:
Strategy – 1. (art of) planning and directing an operation in a war or campaign <…> 3. plan or policy designed for a particular purpose.
Tactic(s) – <…> 2. art of placing or moving fighting forces in a battle
– Oxford Encyclopedic Dictionary
The main point our opponents may have missed is that battles are not only about ‘placing and moving fighting forces’. ‘Battle tactics’ is planning how your forces are going to move. ‘Battle strategy’, on the other hand, is a wider term. While the primary goal of ‘tactics’ is to win the battle, ‘strategy’ looks at the purposes of the battle itself. Therefore I think that
the planning of specific battles refers not only to ‘tactics’, but to ‘strategy’ as well.
Given this, I would like to say that in case of ‘strategy’ I do not necessarily have to look for the ‘ultimate goal’, which Morgoth presumably did not have (as shown in Nulukkizdin’s post). I can just as well analyze Morgoth’s strategical abilities in a smaller span of time. By the way, I have to note that discussing the ‘ultimate goal’ is also irrelevant in the case of the Valar. If
“The Valar were like architects working with a plan ‘passed’ by the Government”, this only proves that there was neither an ‘ultimate goal’ for the Valar. The plan is not theirs, they did not comprehend it fully. Melkor also was a part of Ilúvatar’s plan, so why not include him in the same paradigm as the Valar? Thus, the strategic abilities of both Melkor and the Valar can be assessed on shorter-term goals as well, because both were lacking a fully-comprehensive “Great Plan”.
***
Taip pat pažiūr, jie čia šį tą citavo, bet nukando paskutinį sakinį, kuris yra mūsų naudai:
Morgoth had no 'plan': unless destruction and reduction to nil of a world in which he had only a share can be called a 'plan'. But this is, of course, a simplification of the situation.
Worm, beje, tu sakei, kad 'baigi susipirkti HoME', tai gal netyčia skaitei visą Morgoth's Ring? Tuomet būtų smagu, jeigu galėtum vėliau pakomentuoti apie mano logiką, ar ji pernelyg nenukrypsta nuo visumos. Skaičiau tik tą sekciją, kur nurodė Indraja.
man tai labai įdomu, kaip Elkui patiko tas mano "Elkness" 
) Pridėjus dvi paras, išeina kovo 2d. 23:04. Viskas gerai, mums davė 48h 
X tomas turi ateit kitą savaitę, tada liks nusipirkt kada nors tik VI-VIII dalis (na dar Letters, a biography, ir dar kelias knygutes). O visa kita turiu taip pat, kaip ir Elfhild... (o iš kur, tu manai, ji tai gavo, a? 
Būtinai reikės pasitikrinti prieš dedant ten.
Svarbu, pati žinutė gera 