Wyatt Pokorny

Fëanor is a very famous character in the Silmarillion. He was the leader of one of the Houses of the Noldor, and he was the one who brought the Noldor to Middle-Earth. Many feel that he rebelled against the Valar unjustly, though others claim he was provoked: his father was killed, after all.

I am of the opinion that Fëanor started out good, but slowly deteriorated into what is called an antihero now, and ultimately became a villain before he reached Middle-Earth. To offer some background, he was the son of the oldest ever elf, Finwë. While living in Valinor, he was the greatest smith of the realm, and was envied by many. He made the palantiri, or Seeing-Stones, and of course the Silmarils. But he was too proud of the work of his hands, and when Morgoth poisoned the Two Trees, and Finwë was killed at Formenos, he called the Valar captors, and stirred the host of the Noldor. He and his sons swore an oath to ‘Pursue with hatred and vengeance anyone, Vala, Elf, or Man as yet unborn, angel or demon or any creature great or small,that the world should bring forth until the end of days, who should keep or hold of take a Silmaril from their possession.’. He led the Noldor to bargain with the Teleri for their ships, but when Olwë denied them passage, they slew the Teleri, and stole their ships. This was known as the Kinslaying, the first battle in Aman. He then proceeded to strand his brother in the middle of the frozen ocean, burn the stolen ships, and force his sons to fulfill their terrible oath even after realizing that it was hopeless.

The main argument saying he was provoked is the death of his father. I wish to bring to your attention that he was not driven by revenge: his father is not mentioned in the oath, it is only the Silmarils. He is driven by greed. When he swore this oath, his deterioration to greedy villain is complete. He had many chances to repent, but he chose to deny them. He cannot be considered a hero: everything he does he does out of greed and stubbornness.

Mae Govannen! Today I’ll be discussing the famous elf from both LotR and the Silmarillion, Glorfindel. Sadly, this amazing character was cut from the Jackson films and was replaced by Arwen, so… if you haven’t read the books (go read them), this may be of no interest to you.

The main point of contention is: are Glorfindel, Chief of the House of the Golden Flower, warrior of Gondolin, and Glorfindel of Rivendell, the same person, or different individuals altogether? Until fairly recently, nobody could definitively give an answer to this question. With the publication of HoM XII, we know that Glorfindel of Gondolin sacrificed himself to defeat a (wingless) Balrog, saving Idril, Tuor, Eärendil, and many of the other Gondolindrim. His fëa (spirit) came to the Halls of Mandos, as happens with fallen Elves, and was rehoused, but was then sent back to Middle-Earth, in the Second or Third Age, and dwelt in Rivendell before departing into the west during the War of the Ring with the rest of the Eldar.

Glorfindel is a fascinating character, both from a lore perspective and as a writer. Tolkien didn’t expect the Silmarillion to be published, so he merely ‘reused’ Glorfindel’s character. This, of course, did not satisfy him, so he united the two strands into one character for everyone to puzzle over.

When I first read the Silmarillion, I came across his name, and wrote a note on my Kindle: ‘Same Glorfindel as in LotR?’. Then when he died, I wrote ‘I guess not, haha.’ Now here I am, several years later, saying that yes, I was right the first time.