The Courage to Turn Back
Finarfin? A coward? Absolutely not! I agree with you that returning to Valinor took a great deal of courage on Finarfin’s part. I mean, anyone who’s ever turned themselves in for something (even something as simple as, say, stealing the last cookie, or breaking that vase), knows that what Finarfin did was very brave.
And keep in mind that Finarfin’s wife was of the Teleri, and that he’d lived in Alqualonde for years, raised his children there (who, by the way, did not turn back - and the decision to return home while your children leave without, perhaps never to return, could not be made lightly.) After the First Kinslaying, and hearing the Doom of Mandos, I think it was more a complete loss of motivation that made Finarfin turn back, more than any sort of fear. And this is definitely how Tolkien describes the event:
But in that hour Finarfin forsook the march, and turned back, being filled with grief, and with bitterness against the House of Feanor, because of his kinship with Olwe of Alqualonde; and many of his people went with him, retracing their steps in sorrow, until they beheld once more the far beam of the Mindon upon Tuna still shining in the night, and so came at last to Valinor… But his sons were not with him, for they would not forsake the sons of Fingolfin; and all Fingolfin’s folk went forward still, feeling the constraint of their kinship and the will of Feanor, and fearing to face the doom of the Valar, since not all of them had been guiltless of the Kinslaying at Alqualonde.
The language Tolkien uses here is telling - Finarfin and his people feel grief, bitterness, and sorrow, while Fingolfin and his people feel constrained and afraid. If I were to label either of these groups as cowards (which I wouldn’t do anyway), it would have to be Fingolfin’s people.
Finarfin is so important, and so interesting in so many ways (he’s definitely on my ever-growing list of characters I wish Tolkien had written way more about.) But, basically, Tolkien’s stories are filled with characters who agreed to quests that they didn’t really understand (Frodo going to Mount Doom, Bilbo to Erebor, the Noldor to Angband, etc.), and yet kept going even when it was clear they were in for way more than they’d signed up for. Finarfin is one of the very few characters (perhaps the only character?) who ever started a quest, learned more about it, and decided to return home. Call him a coward if you want (I strongly disagree with you, but whatever), but you have to admit he’s probably one of Tolkien’s smarter characters.
SOURCES: The Silmarillion
