I... disagree with pretty much everything you said.
Tolkien adheres to the black-white rule perfectly? What about Feanor? What about Turin Turambar? Even if you've not read the Silmarillion, what about Gollum or Denethor?
"does not presuppose that every bad guy be a priori treated as a fiend from Hell, which is what Tolkien consistently practiced."
This makes me doubt you've ever read Tolkien. Extreme *mercy* is always advocated towards bad guys: Gollum, Saruman, Grima, the good guys (Gandalf, Frodo, etc) treat these with consistent *mercy*, because they consistently argue that even *they* may be saved in the end.
Tolkien consistently beats you over the head with treating bad guys mercifully. Not as "a fiend from hell" -- unless you mean that even fiends from hell are treated mercifully (e.g. Morgoth being forgiven by Manwe, and Eonwe urging Sauron to return to Valinor for pardon, and the Elves being unwilling to torture even Orcs).
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Tolkien adheres to the black-white rule perfectly? What about Feanor? What about Turin Turambar? Even if you've not read the Silmarillion, what about Gollum or Denethor?
"does not presuppose that every bad guy be a priori treated as a fiend from Hell, which is what Tolkien consistently practiced."
This makes me doubt you've ever read Tolkien. Extreme *mercy* is always advocated towards bad guys: Gollum, Saruman, Grima, the good guys (Gandalf, Frodo, etc) treat these with consistent *mercy*, because they consistently argue that even *they* may be saved in the end.
Tolkien consistently beats you over the head with treating bad guys mercifully. Not as "a fiend from hell" -- unless you mean that even fiends from hell are treated mercifully (e.g. Morgoth being forgiven by Manwe, and Eonwe urging Sauron to return to Valinor for pardon, and the Elves being unwilling to torture even Orcs).