Feanor and the Silmarils

wow. Two whammies in a row! Now I feel tempted to take an oath to never take any oaths to get revenge on anybody. Nobody take any oaths like that, okay? They just give you big problems. And if you ever make any really fancy jewels and then some really powerful people want to take them back to save some trees, just give in! It's not that important. Trees are more important than jewels.

I cheated a bit quoting there. The quotes were already on my webpage so copy and paste and I can use them here. The rest of the message took all of 10 min to do.

...or make ANY oaths until my dying day!

I agree with what Finduilas said, or started to say. The Silmaril's where something not even the "gods" could comprehend, I think Iluvitar was probably the only one who did.

I know no-one has posted on this thread for quite a while, but as I have just joined this forum I hope no-one feels I am going over old ground.

People seem to view Feanor`s actions rather negatively. There seems to be a feeling that the theft of the Silmarils was the only reason for him pursuing his hopeless vendetta against Morgoth. I think this is wrong. The main reason was the death of his father, who was "dearer to him than the Light of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands." As the High King of the Noldor he had the right to lead his people in search of justifiable vengeance. Some of his later actions, especially the Kinslaying, are impossible to justify, but needs must as the devil drives, as they say.

If Finwe had not been slain by Morgoth, then Feanor would not have been High King and therefore would not had the authority to lead the Noldor to Middle-Earth. From what we know of Finwe, he most likely would have obeyed the wishes of the Valar and stayed in Valinor. I think it unlikely that Feanor would have disobeyed his father even under these extreme circumstances.

So, mere covetousness of the Silmarils, whilst a motivating factor, were not the main reason for Feanor`s actions after the events at Formenos. If someone killed your father, would you sit at home twiddling your thumbs, or would you hound them to the ends of the earth? I know what I would do.

Good point!
However, if you look at his actions after Morgoth was released in Valinor, you can see where many other actions of his lead to the attitude we have.

Th seed of evil was planted in him, that is what matters. Yes, the death of his father is an excuse for what Feanor did, but Melkor's wisperings of evil were what pushed him over the edge, and his lust for the Silmarils was what really mattered to him.

A bit overlate, but here goes.

Suppose Feanor agreed to give up a Silmaril? Then he finds his father murdered, the jewels gone.

He would still go to war against Morgoth, but he'd have the Valar's blessing. Heck, Tulkas and Orome would come over to Beleriand themselves. The whole kinslaying feud murder thing would have been unnecessary.

That depends partly on how you look at fate, the themes sung by the Ainur during the song of creation, and on Feanor's character too. Had Feanor been capable of allowing the use of the Silmarils to save the trees, he might not have run after Melkor in the heat of his own (well justified) grief and gotten himself and many others killed. Of course, we can argue the Silmarils could not have been used anyway since they had already been stolen, but Feanor had no way of knowing that. Note, the Valar had not said they wouldn't go after Melkor, just that time was needed to prepare.

As for fate and the song of creation, it is possible to argue that Feanor was born/created to be the most brilliant of the Noldorin Elves, and their downfall as well, so that Melkor ( and Sauron after him ) might be defeated. Can it be argued that we can turn from our fate and the evil that may come from it? Certainly. Feanor disciplined himself to master so many of the arts of his people, he was trained to rule in case he should become High King. He could have overcome that fate, had he not taken the first step of listening to the poison Melkor whispered in his ears.

I guess that was the tragedy. If Feanor had just a bit of self-restraint.... the Elves certainly lacked Zen in those days. Learning too much from Aule and too little from Nienna and Mandos. Clever but not wise.

NOte that among the Istari (each affiliated with some Vala) later sent, it was Saruman (sent by Aule) that failed. Something about the mentality of Aule's disciples (and possibly Aule himself)? SAuron was originally affiliated with Aule, wasn't he? And I seem to recall that Aule was the one most like Melkor in skill?

I suppose Gandalf and the rest were sent over partly to stop the High Elves from carrying out more rash actions, after that debacle with the Rings of Power. If the Elves were still rash after all that suffering, how does one expect short-lived Men to become wiser than the Firstborn?

Ai, if only there was a Buddha of Middle-Earth... Maybe Alatar or Pallando filled that role.