Some Philosophical Considerations during Re-read

[Toral Delvar]

Also, how much memory does the Dark One have? If he is eternal, does he remember every encounter? Surely he knows nothing works? Or is he not really conscious, just some sort of reflection of man's worst aspects (Can't say I like either of those ideas). We see how he is defeated in these books, and while that might vary a little, with an infinite number of previous attempts, this version has played out an infinite number of times already. Or if there was a start, (despite there being no beginnings or endings), maybe millions or even billions of times

 

[Elrond Iluvlatar]

Also, how much memory does the Dark One have? If he is eternal, does he remember every encounter? Surely he knows nothing works? Or is he not really conscious, just some sort of reflection of man's worst aspects (Can't say I like either of those ideas). We see how he is defeated in these books, and while that might vary a little, with an infinite number of previous attempts, this version has played out an infinite number of times already. Or if there was a start, (despite there being no beginnings or endings), maybe millions or even billions of times

Well, if we look at some of the background on this, (the WoT fandom is awesome for this) we learn that Ishmael joined the shadow after learning that TDO is fated to fight the Dragon for eternity, and that the TDO should win eventually. However, he didn’t know that TDO can’t adapt and learn, so TDO canc make new decision.