The Silmarillion: Ch. 6: Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Maedhros
There was this guy Melkor who was a very powerful Vala, who perverted some of the Ñoldor, but that has been overlooked in this thread.

Maedhros has a good point here about Melkor. It was not only Fëanor who listened to and were stirred by Melkor's cunning talk and lies. Many of the Ñoldor had become proud and unrestful by the lies of Melkor, but it was only Fëanor who rebelled openly, and so he got the blame.

Originally posted by azalea
It is my opinion that those who value the retrieval of stolen jewels, no matter how beautiful, above all else, including one's own life and the lives of others, is someone who has a limited ability to love others, no matter how brilliant a craftsman of earth and language he is.

I see your point. But still Fëanor did love other people: His mother and father, and Nerdanel, and his sons. The Silmarillion says about Fëanor that

his father was dearer to him than the Light of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands; and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth?

Also, to give up the Silmarils may be harder than we can imagine. The words spoken by Aulë and Fëanor when the two trees have been slain and and Fëanor si asked by the Valar to break the Silmarils says something about that:

Then Tulkas cried: 'Speak, O Noldo, yea or nay! But who shall deny Yavanna? And did not the light of the Silmarils come from her work in the beginning?'
But Aulë the Maker said: 'Be not hasty! We ask a greater thing than thou knowest. Let him have peace yet awhile.'
But Fëanor spoke then, and cried bitterly: 'For the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may accomplish but once only; and in that deed his heart shall rest. It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain; first of all the Eldar in Aman.'

Fëanor is such a tragic character. He has this magnificent potential, but if everything he makes with his hands and his minds are wonderful, his personal relations ends with disaster, from the very beginning of his life.

[Maedhros]

I disagree. According to the Silmarillion he left Fingolfin behind because he feared the treachery that was predicted in the Doom of the Noldor.

There is a passage from the Shibboleth that states that Fingolfin was claiming the High kinship of the Ñoldor too in the time of the revolt.
Funny that he urged the needless baggage to come forth and then leave them behind.

[Rían]

I was re-reading Eärniel's excellent summary and came across Nerdanel's name, and I thought I would include this interesting little quote from HoME 10, Morgoth's Ring, for those that don't have it (it refers to when Fëanor was banished from Túna (why, oh why did JRRT give that city a fish's name!!) for 12 years for drawing his sword on Fingolfin:

But Nerdanel would not go with him, and she asked leave to abide with Indis, whom she had ever esteemed, though this had been little to the liking of Fëanor.

Rather interesting that Nerdanel the wise chose this course of action, isn't it? It also implies that Indis was not with Finwë anymore, since Finwë went with Fëanor.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by RÃ*an
Rather interesting that Nerdanel the wise chose this course of action, isn't it?

Her not following Fëanor, or her abiding with Indis? The first is straightforward enough, since she didn't support the actions that led to Fëanor's banishment from Túna. The latter is more subtle. She must have known that this would be a blow to her husband.

It also implies that Indis was not with Finwë anymore, since Finwë went with Fëanor.

Finwë and Indis became estranged, because Finwë's heart still was with MÃ*riel, I think.

[Attalus]

Originally posted by RÃ*an
(it refers to when Fëanor was banished from Túna (why, oh why did JRRT give that city a fish's name!!)

Tuna was the hill upon which Tirion the Fair was built. I admit it always gives me the mental picture of a beautiful elven city sitting atop a tuna salad on rye.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Just because I never wanted it to be the fish name, I always pronounced it (Twna). Oh well.

[Rían]

Originally posted by Attalus
Tuna was the hill upon which Tirion the Fair was built. I admit it always gives me the mental picture of a beautiful elven city sitting atop a tuna salad on rye.

And I can't keep the image of opened tin cans laying around the base of the hill out of my head, either - pass the pickles!

(You're right about Tuna/Tirion - thanks! - I get them mixed up)

[Attalus]

Well, RÃ*an my dear, i I guess and hope that we will get some more tomorrow. Awaiting it cheerfully yet impatiently.

[Rían]

What, more tuna? *heads off to the kitchen* Rats! out of pickles!

[Earniel]

I find it now kind of bothers me that Fëanor was such genius with no compare. In our world, in every field of technology, art or science there is never one genius that compasses them all. Everyone has to build on those that came before them. We have may individuals like Einstein or Archimedes that make great leaps forward but no one makes them all on their own.

In the Silmarillion we have Fëanor who -in his youth!- already improves their entire writing system all on his own. And then he goes on. He masters seemingly everything and then goes far beyond everybody else. Public speaking! Linguistics! Glassmaking! Lampmaking! Smithy-work of every kind! He even taught himself to make swords from scratch! And he gets to keep it all completely a secret. None of his own inventions or techniques are even guessed at by others. No one ever afterwards discovers his processes or re-invent them.

Even for mythology as this is, I'm finding this a bit much. If someone can make a scientific or technological discovery, so can others, sometimes even doing so at the same time. Not so with Fëanor, even in ages afterwards no one comes close. I'd like there to be at least something in which he didn't succeed at all no matter how much he tried. I'd would have made him more human. Or maybe I just think Fëanor is too much of a jerk to be so good...

[Valandil]

Maybe Feanor just had good PR. Or stole the inventions of others. Say... perhaps he just started with the written language aspect, and then started writing all kinds of good things about himself.

[Earniel]

Now that would be fiendish...