#feanoreans

[immorally-ambiguous]

The Silmarils Burned Them

A small Maglor Doodle

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Okay, this is really nitpicky, but I have to say it. When the Fëanoreans landed in Middle-earth, Celegorm did not lead an army south and relieve the siege of the Falathrim. I’m seen that referenced or mentions in a lot of meta and fics, but it never happened. And there is no indication that Celegorm even met Círdan or any of his people, or was even aware of them prior to Fingolfin’s forces arriving.

What happened was that Morgoth reacted to the Fëanorean forces’ arrival by pulling his army besieging the Falathrim away and sending it north towards Ard-galen. And then, when it was in the north, far from the Falas, attacking the Fëanoreans, Celegorm defeated that army.

Yes, this is minor, and yes, it’s beneficial to the Falathrim that the arrival of the Fëanoreans made Morgoth decide he needed that army more elsewhere, but there is no direct “showing up and rescuing them” moment, and none of the Fëanoreans are anywhere near the Falas during the Battle-under-Stars, and Celegorm has no more to do with the benefit to the Falathrim than anyone else does (though he gets the Fëanorean forces out of a tight spot) and this just seems to be a weirdly common fanon misconception?

Under the cold stars before the rising of the Moon the host of Fëanor went up the long Firth of Drengist that pierced the Echoing Hills of Ered Lómin, and passed thus from the shores into the great land of Hithlum; and they came at length to the long lake of Mithrim, and upon its northern shore made their encampment in the region that bore the same name. But the host of Morgoth, aroused by the tumult of Lammoth and the light of the burning at Losgar, came through the passes of the Ered Wethrin, the Mountains of Shadow, and assailed Fëanor on a sudden, before his camp was full-wrought or put into defence; and there on the grey fields of Mithrim was fought the Second Battle of the Wars of Beleriand. Dagor-nuin-Giliath it is named, the Battle-under-Stars, for the Moon had not yet risen; and it is renowned in song.

The Noldor, outnumbered and taken at unawares, were yet swiftly victorious; for the light of Aman was not yet dimmed in their eyes, and they were strong and swift, and deadly in anger, and their swords were long and terrible. The Orcs fled before them, and they were driven forth from Mithrim with great slaughter, and hunted over the Mountains of Shadow into the great plain of Ard-galen, that lay northward of Dorthonion. There [in Ard-galen] the armies of Morgoth that had passed south into the Vale of Sirion and beleagured [EDIT] Círdan in the Havens of the Falas came up to their aid, and were caught in their ruin. For Celegorm, Fëanor’s son, having news of them, waylaid them with a part of the Elven-host, and coming down out of the hills near Eithel Sirion drove them into the Fen of Serech.

If you will indulge my very bad edit of the Beleriand map:

The orcs coming from across Ard-galen from Angband cross the mountains and attack the Fëanoreans up at Mithrim, in the top. The Fëanoreans drive them back over the mountains into Ard-galen. The orcs that were besieging the Falas, brought up as reinforcements for the other orcs, come up all the way into Ard-galen. Celegorm, attacking from Eithel Sirion (which is north of the Fen of Serech), drives them south into the Fen.

At no point in this are the Fëanoreans - Celegorm or other - anywhere near the Falas. Celegorm's actions have no more impact on the Falas specifically than anyone else's.

[laerthel]

I left my GrumpyCounsellor alone for two years, and it shows.

[so-mitzycal]

Inspired by a very intellectual conversation with @nxcryptids

[cinemairon]

Young Celegorm-Puppy Huan Young Caranthir The Dark

For Feanorian Week ^u^

Yea, late, I know, but I was out of town without laptop so I drew these two now I am back quickly for the days I was missing.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Posting a poll because I’m curious about the Silm fandom’s thoughts on this:

Who is morally worse, Fëanor or his sons?

Fëanor is worse

Sons of Fëanor are worse

Fëanor is worse than Maedhros & Maglor but less bad than Celegorm & Curufin

Fëanor is worse than some of his sons but less bad than Maedhros & Maglor

Fëanor is worse than Caranthir but less bad than the the rest of his sons

Fëanor is worse than Amrod, less bad than some of the others (crispy Amrod)

Some other combination (say in tags)

See results

Voting ended onFeb 19, 2024

I’ve tried to include what I think may be the most likely combinations, but I’m interested if there are others. In cases where not all sons of Fëanor are mentioned, the placement of the non-mentioned ones is flexible.

Potential rationales underlying the options:

Option 1: Fëanor is the one who kicked everything off with the Oath etc., and deliberately making his sons swear it a second time right before his death.

Option 2: Sons of Fëanor killed a lot more people in total.

Option 3: Celegorm and Curufin do the most evil with the least remorse (usurping Finrod; kidnapping and attempted forced marriage of Lúthien; second attempted kidnapping of Lúthien and attempted murder of Beren and Lúthien; threatening to kill Thingol; Celegorm as leading impetus for Second Kinslaying; Celegorm’s servants leaving 6-year-olds to die of exposure); Maedhros and Maglor show more positive qualities and remorse than the other brothers.

Option 4: Maedhros and Maglor commit largest number of total kinslayings (due to the others dying earlier)

Option 5: Carathir commits the fewest evil deeds of any of the Sons of Fëanor (Celegorm and Curufin also have everything during the Leithian, the others also have the Third Kinslaying).

Option 6: For those who prefer the Amrod-dies-at-Losgar version, in that version he is the least guilty of the Sons of Fëanor, having been involved only in the First Kinslaying and wanting to return to Valinor and repent.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

1, 13 and 25 for the choose violence asks please!

the character everyone gets wrong

Let's see, I already did Maedhros, and and I did posts about most of the other Fëanoreans as well (but seriously, everyone does get Celegorm wrong, he's politically ambitious and dangerous, not dumb and feral).

I think much of fandom gets the Valar wrong. The thing that I always come back to about the Valar is that everything they do is about love for the Eruhini and wanting them to be happy and safe and well. They err (because the Eruhini are meant for more than just being happy and safe), but it's all coming from that place of love and care. They ask the Elves to come to Aman so that they're not exposed to the dangers of Middle-earth. (I think they don't stay in Middle-earth in part because they remember Almaren and the destruction of the lamps, which ruined continents.) They let the elves do basically what they want - they've got virtually no rules besides "don't threaten to kill people" and "don't kill people", both of which come up in response to situations they really never anticipated. The rescue of Maedhros by Thorondor and the foundation of Nargothrond and Gondolin shows that they are clearly willing to help the Noldor, even after the Kinslaying and the Doom.

The difficulty is, in part the nature of their power. The Valar are at the same time tremendously powerful, to the point where they cannot have a direct war with the forces of evil without it levelling continents, and much less powerful than we expect them to be. They can't stop the Kinslaying by snapping their fingers and pulling all the elves' weapons out of their hands; that's not an ability they have, and getting involved would mean personally killing large numbers of elves, something they are clearly unwilling to do. They're far from omniscient; they don't always know what's happening outside Valinor. So people get confused and aggravated by them, because they simultaneously have the powers of gods and lack the powers of comic book superheroes.

13. worst blorboficiation

Finrod!! I get so tired of seeing him portrayed as a ditz, as a flake, as naïve, as sleeps-with-everything. Finrod is probably both the most intelligent and the most intellectually curious character in The Silmarillion (come on, the longest scene we get with him an an extended philosophical debate!), as well as being the wisest and most thoughtful. He's the linchpin of diplomacy for all Beleriand and things fall apart without him. He's not naïve; he walks to his death knowing that's what he's doing (he's already foreseen that his oath to Barahir will destroy him and that Nargothrond will not survive).

I think where it comes from is the fact that he's kind, and there's a sort of assumption running through society that kindness and intelligence/awareness are opposed to each other; that someone who is ruthless must also be intelligent, and that someone who is kind must also be dumb. (I partly blame House and Sherlock.) Neither are true.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

"Yes but the Silmarils are the Fëanoreans' property!" When did tumblr of all places start believing in the absolute sanctity of property rights? No need to go all stand-your-ground/libertarian about it.

I don't care. I really don't. I think that Beren and Lúthien achieving the impossible feat of getting one out of Angband, at overwhelming personal cost and in the teeth of Fëanorean opposition, does give them a right to it, and I think the Fëanoreans cease to have any right to make any demands whatsoever of the people they attempted to rape and murder, or of those people's son. The Silmaril itself accepts Beren's claim, in despite of the Silmarils being hallowed against "mortal flesh", even as it later rejects the Fëanoreans'. Beren and Luthien suffer greatly in order to obtain the Silmaril, they are meant to have it, and the fact that it is part of their family line enables the salvation of Middle-earth. That's enough for me.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

You know what, quick poll:

The right way to respond to someone freeing a greatly-valied artifact of yours from your worst enemy at great personal risk, despite your followers’ attempts to rape and murder them, is:

Thank them

Apologize

Thank them AND apologize

Thank them, apologize, and offer substantial concessions in return for item

Thank them, apologize, offer concessions AND restitution for harm done

Ignore all the above and threaten to murder them if they don’t hand it over

Voting ended onSep 20, 2023