Editing Fëanor (section)

== Analysis ==

[[File:Brythnoth statue Maldon (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|The proud Anglo-Saxon leader [[Byrhtnoth]] may have inspired Tolkien to create Fëanor.{{sfn|Solopova|2009|p=42}} Statue at Maldon by John Doubleday]]

=== Pride and downfall ===

The [[Tolkien scholar]] [[Jane Chance]] sees Morgoth's corruption of Elves and Men as clearly Biblical, as it "mirrors that of [[Adam and Eve]] by [[Satan]]; the desire for power and godlike being is the same desire for knowledge of good and evil witnessed in the [[Garden of Eden]]."{{sfn|Nitzsche|1980|pp=131–133}} She treats the Silmarils as symbols of that same desire. She identifies Fëanor's wish to be like the Valar in creating "things of his own" as rebellious pride, and that, like Melkor, he "succumbs to a 'greedy love'" of his creations that causes his downfall. She points out that Fëanor's rebellion is echoed by that of the [[Númenor|Númenórean]] man Ar-Pharazon, and then at the end of ''The Silmarillion'' by the (angelic) [[Maia (Middle-earth)|Maia]], [[Sauron]], who becomes the [[Dark lord|Dark Lord]] of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.{{sfn|Nitzsche|1980|pp=131–133}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ [[Jane Chance]]'s comparison of Fëanor and [[Morgoth]]<br/>with [[Bible|Biblical]] characters in the [[Book of Genesis]]{{sfn|Nitzsche|1980|pp=131–133}}
! Tolkien !! Bible            
! scope="col" style="width: 225px;" | Action 
! scope="col" style="width: 225px;" | Result
|-
| [[Morgoth]] ||                  || corrupts [[Men in Middle-earth|Men]], [[Elves in Middle-earth|Elves]] || Exiled, his fortress of [[Angband (Middle-earth)|Angband]] destroyed, [[Beleriand]] drowned
|-
|         || [[Satan]]        || corrupts [[Adam and Eve]] || fallen [[angel]]
|-
| Fëanor  ||                  || rebellious pride, desire for pride and godlike being, creates the [[Silmarils]] || downfall: his death, disaster for his people, ruin of Beleriand
|-
|         || [[Adam and Eve]] || desire for godlike knowledge of good and evil || [[Fall of man]], expelled from [[Garden of Eden]] 
|}

The philologist [[Elizabeth Solopova]] suggests that the character of Fëanor was inspired by the Anglo-Saxon leader [[Byrhtnoth]], and in particular his appearance in the poem "[[The Battle of Maldon]]". The poem tells how he is slain in [[Battle of Maldon|that battle]], which took place in the year 991. Tolkien wrote a short play in verse, ''[[The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son]]''<ref name="Homecoming" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1966}}, "[[The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son]]"</ref> on the character's misplaced pride,{{sfn|Honegger|2007}} and described Byrhtnoth as misled by "pride and misplaced chivalry proven fatal" and as "too foolish to be heroic".<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1966}}, pp. 4, 22</ref> Fëanor is similarly driven by "overmastering pride" that causes his death and that of countless followers.{{sfn|Solopova|2009|p=42}}

=== Pride in sub-creation ===

[[File:The surprizing life and death of Doctor John Faustus Fleuron T182305-1.png|thumb|Fëanor's self-destructive pride in his own creation has been likened to that of [[Thomas Mann]]'s "Doctor Faustus", in the person of the fictional 20th century composer [[Adrian Leverkühn]], a reworking of the [[Faust]] legend.{{sfn|Ellison|2003}} 1740 English print of [[Faust|Doctor Faustus's]] pact with the Devil.]]

The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] comments that Fëanor and his Silmarils relate to ''The Silmarillion''{{'}}s theme in a particular way: the sin of the Elves is not human pride, as in the [[Fall of man|Biblical fall]], but their "desire to make things which will forever reflect or incarnate their own personality". This Elvish form of pride leads Fëanor to forge the Silmarils, and, Shippey suggests, led Tolkien to write his fictions: "Tolkien could not help seeing a part of himself in Fëanor and [[Saruman]], sharing their perhaps licit, perhaps illicit desire to 'sub-create'."{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=273–274}}

John Ellison, writing in [[the Tolkien Society]]'s journal ''[[Mallorn (journal)|Mallorn]]'', draws a comparison between Fëanor and the [[Faust]] legend, in particular [[Thomas Mann]]'s version in his 1947 novel ''[[Doctor Faustus (novel)|Doctor Faustus]]''. In Ellison's view, the life history of both characters is of "genius corrupted finally into insanity; the creative drive turns on its possessor and destroys him, and with him a good part of the fabric of society."{{sfn|Ellison|2003}} He describes as parallel Mann's depiction of his Faust character Leverkühn in a collapsing Nazi Germany and Tolkien's starting his mythology amidst the collapse of pre-1914 Europe in the [[World War I|First World War]]<!--: he likens the "Good German" narrator Zeitblom (who does not support the Nazis) to one of "the Faithful" (like [[Elendil]]) among the gone-bad [[Númenórean]]s-->. Fëanor is, he writes, not an exact equivalent of Doctor Faustus: he does not make a [[pact with the devil]]; but both Fëanor and Leverkühn outgrow their teachers in creative skill. Ellison calls Leverkühn "a Fëanor of our times", and comments that far from being a simple battle of good versus evil, Tolkien's world as seen in Fëanor has "the creative and destructive forces in man's nature ... indivisibly linked; this is the essence of the '[[fall of man|fallen world]]' in which we live."{{sfn|Ellison|2003}} He adds that Fëanor is central to the whole of [[Tolkien's legendarium]], "the hinge on which the whole great Tale ... turns."{{sfn|Ellison|2003}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ John Ellison's analysis of Fëanor's resemblance to Leverkühn<br/>in [[Thomas Mann]]'s version of the [[Faust]] legend{{sfn|Ellison|2003}}
|-
! scope="col" style="width: 225px;" | Tolkien's Fëanor 
! scope="col" style="width: 225px;" | Mann's Leverkühn 
|-
| colspan=2 | {{center|"genius corrupted finally into insanity"}}
|-
| colspan=2 | {{center|"creative drive turns on its possessor and destroys him", and much of society}}
|-
| Tolkien sees England's "green country ruined and despoiled by industrial or commercial development"
| Mann sees early 20th century Germany "about to slide into barbarism"
|}

Like Shippey, Ellison relates Fëanor's making of the Silmarils to what he supposes was Tolkien's own belief: that it was "a dangerous and impermissible act" that went beyond what the Creator had intended for the Elves.{{sfn|Ellison|2003}} Further, Ellison suggests that while Fëanor does not directly represent Tolkien, there is something about his action that can be applied to Tolkien's life. Tolkien calls Fëanor "[[wikt:fey|fey]]"; Ellison notes that Tolkien <!--mistakenly, but that's not the point here--> analysed his own name as ''tollkühn'', with the same meaning. Further, Tolkien seems, Ellison writes, to have felt a conflict between his own "sub-creation" and his Catholic faith.{{sfn|Ellison|2003}}

{{anchor|Aredhel}}

=== Ancestry as guide to character ===

{{further|Ancestry as guide to character in Tolkien's legendarium}}

Shippey and the Tolkien scholar [[Verlyn Flieger]] both note that Tolkien intended ancestry to be a guide to character.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=282–284}}{{sfn|Flieger|1983|pp=88–131}}  Shippey writes that ''The Silmarillion'' echoes [[Norse mythology]] in this belief, and that one perhaps needs to study the family trees to see clearly how it all works:{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=282–284}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ [[Tom Shippey]]'s analysis of the [[Ancestry as guide to character in Tolkien's legendarium|effect of ancestry on character]]{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=282–284}}
|-
! Character !! Ancestry !! Effect
|-
| '''Fëanor''' || pure [[Noldor]] from both father and mother || Creative, headstrong, selfish
|-
| Fëanor's half-brothers [[Finarfin]] and [[Fingolfin]] || mother (Indis) is of "'senior' race", [[Vanyar]] || "Superior" to Fëanor "in restraint and generosity"
|-
| Finarfin's children [[Finrod]] and [[Galadriel]] || [[Galadriel#Relationships|mother (Eärwen)]] is of "junior" race, [[Teleri]] || Relatively sympathetic
|-
| Fingolfin's children, e.g. Aredhel || "mixed Noldor/Vanyar" || "Reckless"
|- 
|  Fëanor's sons || pure Noldor || Aggressive, unsympathetic
|}

=== "Subtle" and "skilled" ===

Flieger writes that Fëanor's fire drives his creativity, making the beautiful letters of the Fëanorian script, and jewels, including, fatefully, the Silmarils. She comments that Tolkien, choosing his words very carefully, calls Fëanor both "subtle", by etymology from [[Latin]] ''sub-tela'', "under the warp (of a weaving)", hence the crosswise weft threads that go against the grain, a dangerous part of the fabric of life; and "skilled", by etymology from [[Indo-European]] ''skel-'', "to cut", like the Noldor as a whole tending to cause division among the Elves; and indeed his choices, and the Silmarils, lead to division and war, to the [[Kinslaying]] of Elf by Elf, the theft of the Telerin Elves' ships in Aman, and in turn to further disasters across the sea in Beleriand.<ref name="Flieger 1983">{{harvnb|Flieger|1983|pp=95–107}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ [[Verlyn Flieger]]'s analysis of Tolkien's choice of terms for Fëanor<ref name="Flieger 1983"/>
|-
! Tolkien's terms !! [[Etymology]] !! Implications
|-
| "subtle" || Latin: ''sub-tela'', "under the [[Warp and weft|warp]]" of a weaving || A person who goes against the grain, dangerous
|-
| "skilled" || Indo-European ''skel-'', "to cut" || A divisive person, one who causes conflict
|}
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== In popular culture ==

The name of the album ''[[Oath Bound]]'', by the [[black metal]] band [[Summoning (band)|Summoning]], comes from the [[Oath of Fëanor]];<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showinterview.php?id=1304 |title=Summoning: Interview |website=Lords Of Metal |issue=58 |date=April 2006 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606085418/http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showinterview.php?id=1304 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the lyrics are about the ''[[Quenta Silmarillion]]''. [[Blind Guardian]]'s song "The Curse of Fëanor", featured on the album ''[[Nightfall in Middle Earth]]'', tells of Fëanor swearing to go after Morgoth.<ref>{{cite media |title=[[Nightfall in Middle Earth]] |author=[[Blind Guardian]] |publisher=[[Virgin Records]]/[[Century Media]] |type=CD |date=1998 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AOS74uZTasYC&pg=PA134 |author-last=Sturgis |author-first=Amy H. |chapter='Tolkien is the Wind and the Way': The Educational Value of Tolkien-Inspired World Music |title=Middle-earth Minstrel: Essays on Music in Tolkien |editor-last=Eden |editor-first=Bradford Lee |editor-link=Bradford Lee Eden |date=2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786456604 |page=134}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=72r0AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA185|title=Middle-earth Envisioned: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: On Screen, On Stage, and Beyond |last1=Robb |first1=Brian J. |last2=Simpson |first2=Paul |date=2013 |publisher=Race Point Publishing |isbn=978-1627880787 |page=185}}</ref> The Russian [[power metal]] band [[Epidemia]] has a song entitled "Fëanor" about the character's campaign against Morgoth, and his death.<ref>{{cite web |title=Феанор (Feanor) (English translation) |url=https://lyricstranslate.com/en/feanor-%D1%84%D0%B5%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%80-feanor.html-0 |publisher=Lyrics Translate |access-date=18 November 2020}}</ref>-->