Anyone who hasn't read the Silmarillion at least once won't have any idea what's going on in this thread. If you're reading it or plan on reading it there will be spoilers throughout this, if you care about that.
Tolkien gave Fëanor great gifts and talents, and because of this I think it's fair to expect great things from him. I think in this regard he blew it. He used his talents to do great things that no one else could do, not even the gods, but it seems that he always did everything out of selfish motives.
At one time Toliken wrote a version of the end of the world where after the final battle Fëanor was summoned from Mandos, and he surrendured the Silmarilli to the Valar and unlocked them to revive the Trees. This was abandoned for whatever reason and never published while Tolkien was alive. But at one time at least Fëanor was meant to repent and not be a villain, if not quite a hero.
Does the good that he did make up for faults like slaying the innocent, betraying his brother, and dooming all his kin to ruin? I love Fëanor as a literary character. But it's hard to like him as a person. Many of Tolkien's characters are like this, and I think that's what makes us like them so much, because we can identify with them. They might be elf-lords or whatever else, but deep down they're more like us than not. But Fëanor did some really terrible things that make it hard to even want to identify with him.
What do you think?
Tolkien gave Fëanor great gifts and talents, and because of this I think it's fair to expect great things from him. I think in this regard he blew it. He used his talents to do great things that no one else could do, not even the gods, but it seems that he always did everything out of selfish motives.
At one time Toliken wrote a version of the end of the world where after the final battle Fëanor was summoned from Mandos, and he surrendured the Silmarilli to the Valar and unlocked them to revive the Trees. This was abandoned for whatever reason and never published while Tolkien was alive. But at one time at least Fëanor was meant to repent and not be a villain, if not quite a hero.
Does the good that he did make up for faults like slaying the innocent, betraying his brother, and dooming all his kin to ruin? I love Fëanor as a literary character. But it's hard to like him as a person. Many of Tolkien's characters are like this, and I think that's what makes us like them so much, because we can identify with them. They might be elf-lords or whatever else, but deep down they're more like us than not. But Fëanor did some really terrible things that make it hard to even want to identify with him.
What do you think?
I've read it several times.
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