Fëanor (Part 1)
Considered the most splendid elf who ever lived, the figure of the king of the Noldor was the ultimate exponent of the hardships of his race and the fatal destiny of those
The story of Fëanor is that of a character whose pride caused the misfortune of all his descendants. The elf, perhaps the greatest who ever lived, was a victim of his impulses and the fatal destiny he imposed on himself.
His story has all the elements of the classical literary tradition, such as a long journey, the pain of death, or the power of the destiny that we forge.
Without a doubt, Fëanor could have been a Homeric character since his misfortunes combined the themes born in that Greek tradition and later became the foundations of Western literature.
Born in Valinor, the land of the Valar, he was the son of Finwë, the High King of the Noldor. With such a lineage, he was predestined to have a life worthy of praise and to be remembered as one of the most extraordinary elves.
It was so partly because he was the most magnificent of all the Sons of Ilúvatar (Elves and Men), but that greatness brought with it some terrible counterparts.
As soon as he was born, he already felt the cold blow of tragedy because due to the powerful spirit of Fëanor (which would turn him into someone extraordinary), he absorbed a significant part of the vital energy of his mother Miriel, whose spirit after the birth decided to leave her body and challenge the world of the living.
There is no doubt that growing up in the absence of his mother had two consequences: the first and most straightforward was that Fëanor became very close to his father, Finwë, whom he idolized and loved more than anything else in the world. The other consequence, though never specified in Tolkien’s writings, left some clues in Fëanor’s reaction to family events that took place years later.
His father, Finwë, remarried (an unusual event among the Elves and one without much controversy) to Indis, an Elf of Vanyar royalty. They had four sons (Finarfin, Findis, Fingolfin, and Irimë) who were half-siblings of Fëanor.
Perhaps affected by this maternal absence, Fëanor never accepted his father’s remarriage. Although he loved his father madly, he never loved his stepmother or half-siblings, with whom he had little contact and, of course, did not live with them.
With a somewhat complicated family outlook, Fëanor focused on his productive and personal side.
He developed an unequaled gift in craftsmanship and also language. So much so that Fëanor invented the Elvish writing system (known as Tengwar) that his entire race would use for millennia. In addition, he became a student of the blacksmith Mahtan (who had learned his arts from Vala Aulë himself), with whom he exploited his skills and, in a short time, surpassed his master.
Years later, he married Nerdanel, the daughter of Mahtan himself, with whom he had seven sons: Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorn, Caranthir, Curufin, Amrod, and Amras. All of them endured and suffered for the sins of their father while not escaping the fate of their entire race that Fëanor himself brought about.
That fatal destiny began to be forged when Fëanor created the marvelous jewels ever seen (and never to be seen again): the Silmarils. Also called Great Jewels. In them, Fëanor captured, in a way that no one ever knew, the light of the Two Trees of Valinor and encased them in three gems.
Fascinated by his creation, Fëanor gradually distanced himself from the rest of the Noldor, believing that among them, some wanted to steal them. Although at first, he wore them proudly among his own, little by little, this unfounded fear caused him to hide the Silmarils until they finally ended up locked away.
Fëanor’s character changed and became more taciturn, with little given to social interaction, and his thoughts always focused on the Silmarils.
The day came when Melkor, the most powerful of the Vala and also the cause of the great evils of Arda, was released from three ages of imprisonment. He could dwell freely in Valinor, and again his evil plans (h hadn’t repented of his deeds in the past and had deceived the rest of the Valar with feigned good intentions) were aimed at the Elves.
They were the cause of his downfall, and he would satiate his revenge on them.
Among the three races, he chose the Noldor (because the Vanyar were too powerful to be manipulated and the Teleri were too weak), whose tendency to seek knowledge and open-mindedness facilitated Melkor’s strategy.
With subtle trickery, he introduced among the Noldor a disturbing idea: that the Valar kept them imprisoned in Valinor. At the same time, the Men reigned throughout Middle-earth, forbidding the Elves a glory they could never achieve.
Fëanor, who initially did not trust the Vala, was handicapped by his vanity and ego. He ended up being one of the Noldor who most manifested Melkor’s theories; the Valar, who did not notice the manipulations of the Dark Vala, thought that Fëanor was acting of his own free will and began to be a troublesome agitator in Valinor.
Melkor saw that the son of the King of the Noldor fell for his manipulations and intensified in him his palaver. He secretly coveted the Silmarils and hated Fëanor so that his plan had become even more perfect.
As time went by, tension and lies grew among the Noldor until a severe point was reached: Fëanor learned of a rumor that Fingolfin, one of his half-brothers, was planning to become the heir of the Noldor (a position that belonged to Fëanor as the eldest of Finwë’s sons) and, in addition, to take possession of the Silmarils.
Alienated by the option of losing his most precious treasure (even more than his royal inheritance), Fëanor went mad and threatened Fingolfin with death in front of all the elves.
This act, which had never happened before in Valinor, not even among the elves, was the last thing the Valar needed to banish Fëanor to the north, specifically to Formenos. The act had been so severe that even when Melkor’s manipulation had been discovered, it was not a mitigating factor for the elf’s behavior.
He left for exile with many treasures, including the Silmarils, accompanied by his father, Finwë. The King renounced his throne and royal rights during his eldest son’s exile.