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eclectic-elf · 8 years

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Fascinating theory! Though I would argue that Feanor didn’t create life (the Silmarils) himself as he took it from the Two Trees, but still a fascinating idea. Also works with his body turning to ash when his spirit left it.

The curious case of Curufinwe Fëanáro

So this is a thought I’ve batted around once or twice but never brought up before for lack of research. But it’s bugged me ever since I started reading the Silmarillion. We’re all familiar with Fëanor, son of Finwë and Míriel, creator of the Silmarills, King of the exiled Ñoldor, chief pain in Melkors re:everyones ass - the list goes on.

He is the named as the best of elves: not just the ones alive at the time he was, but of all elves. Ever. Including the ones that would be born after his death and the ones who awoke in Cuiviénen. But lately I’ve been thinking: Eru is known for being a crafty fellow, so what if Fëanor wasn’t entirely an elf?

Recap: There are a few things we know about Arda’s earliest days.

1.) Melkor likes to wreck stuff. For some reason Eru never stopped him from going to Eä despite knowing this. So Melkor being in Eä is part of Eru’s plan.

2.) The elves are also part of Eru’s plan. The first elves are called the ‘Un-begotten’ because they were not born - Eru himself set them in the earth to mature and they have their uttermost source in him.

Now let’s pause and extrapolate a bit more on point #2.

When the elves woke at Cuivienen it was the males who roused first. Three males were the first to wake: named Imin, Tata, Enel. Now after they awoke they went around gathering elves to themselves to form three groups that later became the Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri. Given that 3 elves were chosen to go to Valinor as representatives to the Ainur - and that those elves were stated as being made cheiftains over the three groups I think it’s reasonable to surmise that Imin, Tata, and Enel are none other than Ingwë, Finwë, and Elwë.

With that in mind, the next thing we learn about the elves at Cuiviénen is that they woke beside their pre-ordained spouses: meaning that alone of all elves the first elves had their mates chosen for them by Eru Ilúvater himself. That includes Finwë. Which means if Finwë is the elf once known as Tata, that Míriel is Tatië and they were married by Eru before they even awoke.

Now this is important. Let’s review what we know of Elvish marriage and childbirth.

“For all the Eldar, being aware of it in themselves, spoke of the passing of much strength, both of mind and of body, into their children, in bearing and begetting. Therefore they hold that the fëa, though unbegotten, draws nourishment from the parents before the birth of the child: directly from the fëa of the mother while she bears and nourishes the hrondo, and mediately but equally from the father, whose fëa is bound in union with the mother’s and supports it”

I know Tolkien states that the drawing of nourishment is equal - but yeah no. Having a kid inside you is FAR different than having a kid inside your spouse. The mother feeds the child directly, but the fathers essence feeds the mother which in turn is passed onto the child.

But what if the nourishment’ requirements are so high that they deplete the mothers reserves faster than the father can replenish them? I think this is likely what happened to Míriel. As she states that 'the life that would have nourished many has gone forth into Fëanor.” coupled with the fact that she languished in both body AND spirit - indicating that damage was done to both. And that’s weird. Weird because Míriel is the only elf this has ever happened to.

For a while I thought it might be a result of her marrying an un-begotten. Those who woke at Cuiviénen were powerful beyond even the reckoning of elves. The tales state that the union of Míriel and Finwë occurred in Valinor so when I first started reading I assumed that they had met and married in Aman.

But if Finwë is Tata and Míriel is Tatië then they were already married before waking.

This further implies that Eru PLANNED for Míriel to bear a child her body wasn’t capable of handling. Which implies even further that Eru had a distinct plan he wanted Fëanor to complete.

italsoimpliesEruisadick

Now we note something else stated in Tolkiens LACE:’

“Therefore they hold that the fëa, though unbegotten-”

Unbegotten. Which means that the spirits of all Elves come originally from Eru, and are merely nourished to completion by their parents - primarily by the mother and secondarily by the father. If even the unbegotten themselves were weakened dramatically by the very act of 'completing’ this child’s birth then what sort of Fëa did Eru put into Míriel? What super charged kind of spirit is strong enough to deplete an unbegotten elves: the strongest of elven-kinds, body so badly that death was the literal only option?

Flash forward and Fëanor is born. The literal strongest of all elves.

“- but by his mother he was called Fëanor, Spirit of Fire; and thus is remembered in all the tales of the Noldor.”

Fëa-Náro. To my knowledge he is the only elf to have the word ‘spirit / soul’ in his name. Because you could easily say his name also means ‘Soul of Fire’. Míriel’s naming of him might just be very very literal.

“-strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth into Fëanor.”

Indis bore Finwe five children without languishing. Nerdanel bore Fëanor seven sons without languishing. So either Míriel was somehow atrociously underpowered for an elf-woman: or her son was something stupidly overpowered to cause such a catastrophic failure of both her body and soul that bearing him alone literally killed her.

“-Fëanor grew swiftly; as if a secret fire were kindled within him.”

'Secret Fire’ is a curious choice of words; as it directly references THE Secret Fire held in only Eru’ possession - the very spark of life itself given to the Ainur in their creation and the Children in theirs. The spark that allowed Eä itself to be brought into reality. And then this elf does something more amazing than making a new script, palantirs, new gemstones. He makes three Silmarills.

“-no violence could mar it or break it within the Kingdom of Arda. Yet that crystal was to the Silmarills but as the body to the Children of Ilúvater: the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life. And the inner fire of the Silmarills Fëanor made of the blended light of the Trees of Valinor, which lives in them yet…they were indeed living things…”

The Silmarills are not just gemstones: they are living beings.

Take that in a moment: Fëanor created a living thing.

The importance of that realization cannot be overstated. And on top of that Varda hallowed them. The list of things Varda has 'hallowed’ goes as follows: Stars. Trees. Rocks. Water. The Valar only hallow that which an Ainur has created up until the Silmarills - because without the inherent divinity of the objects creation a 'hallowing’ could not even take place.

Mandos then goes on to foretell that the Fate of Arda is bound to them - a Valar who’s foresight comes from Eru himself. Eru is where Mandos got the revelation that Arda: not just Aman, not just Middle Earth, would be bound to the Silmarills fate. This is beyond the level of what a Quendi should even be capable. It didn’t just push the limits - it destroyed them and keeps going.

What Fëanor created was tantamount to a literal force of nature in it’s own right; a living immortal and indestructible being. Seriously; no Elf could ever, ever do that -they are bound to the fate of Arda as long as it exists and the rules of Arda are law to them as all else. A mortal might be able to annihilate Arda’s rules but not an elf - and there’s the catch. Not. An. Elf.

What else does the Silm say about Fëanor?

“In that hour the voice of Fëanor grew so great and so potent that even the herald of the Valar bowed before him as one full-answered, and departed; and the Noldor were over-ruled.”

There is only one Herald of the Valar we know of whom Manwe would allow to speak on his behalf: Eonwë who is a maia. Not just a maia - the strongest of the maiar in the Valars service.

Eonwë literally bowed to an elf in acknowledgement as if he had been properly addressed by his equal.

“Thus it was that he drew far ahead of the van of his host; and seeing this the servants of Morgoth turned to bay, and there issued from Angband Balrogs to aid them.”

Balrogs. Plural. Fëanor was a lone elf riding straight toward Angband with such a fury that an entire army of orcs ran away from him in terror and Morgoth sent a literal battalion of fire-maia to stop him from getting to his fortress. At the end of this battle it is Gothmog: known also as Kosomot who Tolkien even once conceived of as being a son of Morgoth himself who was able to finally wound Fëanor enough to kill him. Nothing short of Morgoths second strongest Maia was able to even stop this elf.

I don’t think even the Valar realized exactly what was happening right under their noses when they tried to lay claim to the Silmarills as they had everything else in Arda. Their ability to think outside the box is laughably inadequate and they are bound by often inaccurate notions of how things 'are’ - only to be continually surprised when Eru throws something unexpected at them. Of course they wouldn’t imagine that the Silmarills could be the sole dominion of Fëanor because they were obviously alive - because if it was living it was obviously the dominion of the Ainur.

And they consistently missed every single signpost that Eru left pointing them toward scenario they would have deemed impossible.

Yeah. Imma say it: his body may have been flesh and bone like any other elf - but I am almost certain his Fëa was that of a maiar. I headcannon that Eru placed a Maiar into a mortal form to be born as one of the Children for the sake of his greater plan for Arda. A maia that no one really knew that well; that no one would recognize. Not the strongest of the maiar - but strong enough for the task he was to complete.

But bearing a maia in an elfs body would require so much in sustenance that it would destroy the elven host. A maia in an elfs body wouldn’t be bound by the laws of Arda the way an elf would - they could defy the Valar as kin - not as one of the Children. A maia in an elfs body would be able to do something only the Ainur could do: sub-creation with the inclusion of life.

Seriously. Fëanor might just have been an Ainur.

{have I written on this theory before? I feel like I might have - I’ve definitely thought it before}

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