The Spirit of Fire (The Fëanor discussion)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

One of Tolkien's most important - and puzzling - characters is Finwë’s oldest son, Curufinwë (“curu” meaning skill), better known by his mother’s name for him Fëanáro – “Spirit of Fire” – which in Sindarin is rendered as Fëanor. Tolkien himself indicated that Fëanor, along with Galadriel and Lúthien, was the ‘chief matter’ of the legends and histories of the Elves, as I have mentioned elsewhere. So an understanding of what this enigmatic figure stands for is certainly important in looking at Tolkien’s work.

The vast majority of readers of Tolkien’s work read the Lord of the Rings before the Silmarillion and other works about the Elder days. So the first encounter that most of us have with Fëanor are the brief mentions of him in LOTR. The first mention is at the gates of Moria:

’There are the emblems of Durin!’ cried Gimli.
‘And there is the Tree of the High Elves!’ said Legolas.
‘And the Star of the House of Fëanor,’ said Gandalf.

Immediately, there is a suggestion of Fëanor as an object of reverence. There is a progression of increased spiritual standing in this statement, Gimli > Legolas > Gandalf is matched by Durin > the High Elves > the House of Fëanor. The suggestion is that Fëanor’s standing is above even that of the High Elves, an object of reverence to Gandalf himself. The really discriminating reader would also note that in the illustration of the doors of Moria, it states that the words are written in “Fëanorian characters” further emphasizing that suggestion.

This sense of Fëanor being an object of reverence is only increased when we next encounter Fëanor, after Pippin has looked in the Palantír and Gandalf has whisked him away and is musing about the Palantíri of old:

The Palantíri come from beyond Westernesse, from Eldamar. The Noldor made them. Fëanor himself, maybe, wrought them, in days so long ago that the time cannot be measured in years.

Then, when talking about the pull on him that the Palantír was exerting:

And how it does draw one to itself! Have I not felt it? Even now my heart desires to test my will upon it, to see if I could not wrench it from him and turn it where I would–to look across the wide seas of water and of time to Tirion the Fair, and perceive the unimaginable hand and mind of Fëanor at their work, while both the White Tree and the Golden were in flower!’

Here we see Fëanor being described as being so skillful it is beyond the imagination of Gandalf the White, the highest being that we encounter in the Lord of the Rings. Quite a résumé!

Finally, in the beginning of Appendix A, we get a little taste of the true story:

Fëanor was the greatest of the Eldar in arts and lore, but also the proudest and most self-willed. He wrought the Three Jewels, the Silmarilli, and filled them with the radiance of the Two Trees, Telperion and Laurelin, that gave light to the land of the Valar. The Jewels were coveted by Morgoth the Enemy, who stole them and after destroying the Trees, took them to Middle-earth, and guarded them in his great fortress of Thangorodrim. Against the will of the Valar Fëanor forsook the Blessed Realm and went in exile to Middle-earth, leading with him a great part of his people; for in his pride he purposed to recover the Jewels from Morgoth by force. Thereafter followed the hopeless war of the Eldar and the Edain against Thangorodrim, in which they were at last utterly defeated.

Here, some of Fëanor’s negative qualities (his pride and willfulness) and some of the bad results of his actions (the long defeat, as Galadriel puts it) are mentioned. But still, he is referred to as the greatest of the Elder in lore and arts (not, for instance, in strength and battle). There is still the suggestion of him as being a very high being.

I had the impression before reading the Silmarillion that Fëanor was the main hero of the story. I was pretty surprised to learn how evil Fëanor’s actions were. I was even more surprised that he passed out of the story so soon after leading a great part of his people back to Middle-earth. Nonetheless, I think that his influence continues to be felt throughout the story (and even into the Lord of the Rings). So I think a discussion of his character and what it signifies would be a helpful thing.

Plus, Hobby has been asking for one.

[vison]

I used to think about Fëanor a lot:

Of all the Noldor, the most subtle in mind and the most skilled in hand………Fëanor………

Seven he made, seven the number of seeing.
Skill shaped them, and the wish to know.
Crystal they were, that might be ice
Or diamond, but was neither.
Thought and desire were their colour;
Their form was the globe of the Moon
That sails in the night sky.

The long Elven hands of Fëanor
Held them and turned them about
And his heart burned with pride
That he had made them, caused them
To have a kind of life.
Windows on time and space
For those whose eyes could see.

Seven he made, the number of seeing.
Skill shaped them, and the wish to know.
Fëanor, his subtle mind ever seeking,
Took up another task and put his hands
To shaping another kind of destiny.
He turned the stones out of his thought,
Let them roll like moons into darkness.

Of the seven one ruled all.
It waits yet, still and clear,
Unknowing of what might come,
Perfect in its quiet abiding.
The globe of seeing, a white flower
Glowing in its centre, the bloom
Not fading though ages pass.

The seven are parted, one from the other,
Their voiceless calls stilled.
No hands may now hold them,
Turn them about. Their orbits
Are motionless now, only circles
Where nothing turns, turns, turns
To the light of past or future.

They do not hold memories,
They are only openings to then.
They do not sing or speak,
But lie round and perfect somewhere,
Not waiting, but only being.
They did not feel the fire, nor the ice
Nor any pain, nor any joy.

Should I find one, should my hands
Shape themselves around the cool crystal,
And if I rubbed away the dust of ages,
And if I held it to the light,
And my heart’s longing sought……..
Fëanor! His fair Elven face,
And his eyes, lighted with wonder….

[Voronwë the Faithful]

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[Athrabeth]

Let me add to that review.

Amazing, powerful, moving verse...... as always, vison.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's what I meant to say, but I was too busy trying to get my jaw undropped.

[vison]

Thank you.

I thought how cool it would be to find the Master palantír. I could look into it and see Fëanor looking back at me.

Fëanor is a very attractive character, although attractive is perhaps the wrong word. We don't know nearly enough about him to suit me. I wish Gandalf had said more.

At any rate, Fëanor is worth more discussion. I'm going to go and dig out my Silmarillion and then I'll be back.

[Ethel]

Fëanor is a very attractive character, although attractive is perhaps the wrong word. We don't know nearly enough about him to suit me. I wish Gandalf had said more.

He is attractive. He's a fallen angel. They are irresistable.

[vison]

Fëanor is a very attractive character, although attractive is perhaps the wrong word. We don't know nearly enough about him to suit me. I wish Gandalf had said more.

He is attractive. He's a fallen angel. They are irresistable.

You're right, Ethel.

Mere virtue is just that: mere.

Fëanor is something like Phoebus Apollo to me. The gold, I guess, and the pride. (Although, offhand, I don't know that Apollo was particularly known for his pride.........gonna have to look that one up.)

These Noldor, with their pride and their quarrels! How much more interesting they are than bloodless, cool Elrond, or Celebrían. How much more exciting than greenclad Legolas. Would Fëanor have jogged across the Plains of Rohan? I think not!

Of course, of that kin we do have Galadriel. And she makes up for a lot.

[truehobbit]

So I think a discussion of his character and what it signifies would be a helpful thing.

Plus, Hobby has been asking for one.

Indeed, and I was almost going to see you'd started one without me, as it were, when I had meant to ever since we named this forum after the guy.

But I'm hopelessly behind in reading all the wonderful discussion in all the other threads here, so I'm happy to see the thread up!
And thanks for remembering I wanted such a discussion!

I'll even try to say something tomorrow.

[truehobbit]

The reason I've been wishing to discuss this character is because, when Fëanor's name appeared in the name of this forum, I went "ewww".
He's just about the character I like least in the whole legendarium.
And trying to explain that made me think about him.

Ethel and vison said he was a fallen angel, and I think what I feel goes in that direction, only I think "fallen angel" is putting it in a way that makes it sound much too romantic.

For me, Fëanor is the Melkor of the Elves.
Yes, he's the first, the best and the brightest, just like Melkor was. And, like him (or like our Lucifer, for that matter), he is consumed by ambition and pride so much that not only does all he touches turn to ruin, he even means to turn everything to ruin that doesn't do his will.
He exemplifies what happens when genius is not tempered by humility.

Voronwë, thanks for all the quotes from LOTR - I had forgotten about all those - they do add an interesting further layer, but I'm also wondering whether Tolkien had the same concept of Fëanor throughout his stories?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Voronwë, thanks for all the quotes from LOTR - I had forgotten about all those - they do add an interesting further layer, but I'm also wondering whether Tolkien had the same concept of Fëanor throughout his stories?

Well, Fëanor's basic story, including his most evil deeds such as the kin-slaying, were already formed at the time that the Lord of the Rings was written. So I don't think his concept of Fëanor changed.

I don't really see Fëanor as a "fallen angel" per se. That is (to my way of thinking) Melkor's role. But I do see Fëanor's fall as a reflection of, or result of, Melkor's fall.

not only does all he touches turn to ruin, he even means to turn everything to ruin that doesn't do his will.

But all he touches turns to ruin even before his will is formed. I think one of the critical things to remember about Fëanor is that his mother Míriel is unable to survive bringing such a mighty son into the world. I think that these words of Manwë's about Míriel's death (from Morgoth's Ring) are very instructive:

And Manwë spoke to the Valar, saying: 'In this matter ye must not forget that you deal with Arda Marred -- out which you brought the Eldar.'

Turning to the text of the Silmarillion itself, after Fëanor has refused (as it seems) to allow the Silmarils to be broken in order to heal the Trees:

Then Mandos said: Thou has spoken.' And Nienna arose and went up onto Exellohar, and cast back her grey hood, and with her tears washed away the defilements of Ungoliant; and she sang in mourning for the bitterness of the world and the Marring of Arda.

I seem to recall (though I can't seem to locate it now) a comment somewhere to the effect that one of the results of Melkor's malice that the Valar most rued was the marring of Fëanor, for who can say what great works he would have gone on to achieve if he had not been consumed by the heat of his own firey pride?

Yet I do not hold Fëanor blameless for his own fall. I do believe that there were certain choices that he could have freely made that would have possibly prevented the cementing of his feet on the road to evil. As Tolkien says in regards to Fëanor's refusal to agree to give up the Silmarils for the good of all:

The Silmarils had passed away, and all one it may seem whether Fëanor had said yea or nay to Yavanna; yet had he said yea at the first, before the tidings came from Formenos, it may be that his after deeds would have been other than they were. But now the doom of the Noldor grew near.

I believe that Fëanor and Galadriel were very much cut from the same cloth. She too was both brilliant and willful. However, she managed to temper her pride, and enduring through the ages developed a degree of wisdom and understanding far beyond Fëanor's grasp.

[Tinsel_the_Elf]

The reason I've been wishing to discuss this character is because, when Fëanor's name appeared in the name of this forum, I went "ewww".
He's just about the character I like least in the whole legendarium.

Is it too B77 for me to just pop in here and say that I totally SW000000N for Fëanor?

Actually, he's one of my favorite characters in Tolkien's mythology (which isn't to say that he isn't responsible for a lot of violent and tragic events). While I try to dig out a paper I wrote in college comparing Fëanor to (among other figures) Prometheus in an examination of the relation between language and apocalypse, for now let me just point another aspect of his person that Voronwë mentioned in passing: Fëanor's deep interest in language and refinement of Rúmil's writing system. I believe this is another indicator of his power and pivotal role in the history of the Elves.

The idea that the word in itself is powerful, and gives its speaker the power to create and power over creation, crops up in literature and mythology again and again, including the Book of Genesis where God gives Adam the power to name the animals (and thus have dominion over them). Later, in the same Book, God's way of breaking the power of man and stopping the building of the Tower of Babel is to scramble the tongues of men so that they can no longer understand one another. In the Christian tradition the significance of language is carried into the New Testament, where John's Gospel opens by stating God's authority through logos, the Word: (from memory) "In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was made flesh."

Although Christopher Tolkien left out a lot of the material on Fëanor's manipulation of the spoken and written word (the Shibboleth, for example, again, if I'm remembering correctly), it's clear from Tolkien's workings and reworkings in The History of Middle Earth series that he paid as much attention to Fëanor's wordsmithing as he did his creation of the Simarils.

[Rowanberry]

For me, Fëanor has always been a tragic character, rather than evil.

He was a genius, bound for greatness, one of a kind; even the Valar acknowledge that, and it also comes out in Gandalf's words about him. He must also have been very charismatic; that is shown well in the relative easiness of how he gets the majority of the Noldor to follow him. But, he was also deeply flawed, and like in the case of the main characters of many classical tragedies, his inability to overcome his own flaws is what triggers his downfall - the way to blind hatred and fanaticism, unforgivable actions, and finally, total madness.

Fëanor was a sum of extremes.

[Tinsel_the_Elf]

I think "fallen" is a better description than evil or tragic.

The reason I hesitate from using the "tragic" description is because Fëanor's downfall (due in large part to his flaws, as well as can be argued the morally ambiguous choices of both his parents) is still, fundamentally, his choice. And not only does he compromise himself, he brings violence, suspicion, suffering, and death (of the genocidal variety, no less) to generations of elves and men on Middle-Earth.

I'd be more inclined to describe his two eldest sons' (Maedhros and Maglor) fates as tragic, because while they have a role in the bloodshed and sorrow, they are initially caught up in for seemingly noble and loyal reasons, and then are bound to their father's bloody oath even after they are both weary and sickened by it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Well said, oh * sparkly * one. I agree with what you say about both his parents and his eldest sons. (I'm sure I'll have more to say about this at some point, but I'm not feeling particularly loquacious right now).

[Semprini]

I seem to recall (though I can't seem to locate it now) a comment somewhere to the effect that one of the results of Melkor's malice that the Valar most rued was the marring of Fëanor, for who can say what great works he would have gone on to achieve if he had not been consumed by the heat of his own firey pride?

Fëanor epitomizes the marring of Arda. He was himself, a concentrate of the substance of Arda, a condensation of all Arda's greatness and tragedies. He was the fire as it is to be found in the center of Arda, both physically and metaphorically. It is not by chance that he returns to Arda when he dies, his body not to be found, it is because he is he: the fire within the earth. Even though he dies early in the Sil, the thought of his destiny throws a tragic light over all the remaining events to unfold. The marring of Arda meant that all the beauties that surrounded Men and Elves could only come with their downsizes. Such an extraordinary concentrate of the creative abilities of a creature of Arda, such as Fëanor, could only come with an extraordinary concentrate of the character flaws that Tolkien deemed so disastrous in Men: arrogance, the thirst for domination, etc...So had Fëanor a choice, with all the dangerous gifts he had? Not much more than Frodo at Mount Doom in a way. He was doomed from the start in Arda marred.

That is why we can relate to Fëanor. Talent or genius always come either with a price to pay (the cursed artist is no quiet or reliable man) or with a debt (the indebted artist pays his debt by fulfilling his destiny with hard work. But for whom?). Fëanor was in the former category.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Jnyusa]

I am reading all of this with fascination!

Thank you, Voronwë, for creating this thread.

Jn

[Rowanberry]

Semprini, that was more than just well said. I think that you caught something very essential about Fëanor.

The reason I hesitate from using the "tragic" description is because Fëanor's downfall (due in large part to his flaws, as well as can be argued the morally ambiguous choices of both his parents) is still, fundamentally, his choice.

I see his tragedy in that, despite his indisputable greatness, he made all the wrong choices, even against his better knowledge, because of his equally indisputable flaws of character that he couldn't overcome.

[MaidenOfTheShieldarm]

The reason I hesitate from using the "tragic" description is because Fëanor's downfall (due in large part to his flaws, as well as can be argued the morally ambiguous choices of both his parents) is still, fundamentally, his choice.

Although much of his downfall did result from his own freely made choices, these choices were made because of his flaws: i.e. pride, anger, etc. According to my good friend, the OED, a tragic flaw is "The fault or error which entails the destruction of the tragic hero." He claims the Silmarils for his own because of pride and love of his own work. He flies from Valinor for the same reason. Tolkien says of his speech to the Noldor: "Fierce and fell were his words, and filled with anger and pride. (Bold mine.) Tolkien says it flat out. As for the kin slaying, that I do not think was free choice but rather a result of the marring of Arda, of Melkor. However, perhaps it does all come down to pride, for when the Doom of the Noldor was spoken, Fëanor only replied that "the one thing is not said: that we shall suffer from cowardice." Many, if not all, of Fëanor's sins, if you care to call them that, seem to result from pride. This, I think, makes Fëanor a classically tragic figure, akin to MacBeth and others who I cannot think of at the moment.

On the other hand, one could argue that he is fallen or marred, and that all of this is not his fault because it came from the marring of Arda, from Melkor. In which case he would be more fallen than tragic. Perhaps only his tragic flaw, pride, came from Melkor. In which case, much is still his own fault.

I'm afraid I haven't said much that hasn't already been said, but I do love Fëanor and wanted to post here. That's all I've got to contribute to this interesting discussion.